News
Business barely makes a mark in Padma roll call
Summary
- The share of businesspersons in the Padma honours list has dwindled since a high of 10.9% in 2010. In 2024, just 3% of the 132 recipients were from the field of ‘trade and industry’, not much of an increase from 2023
Just four persons from the world of business were named for the country’s top civilian honours ahead of Republic Day, the least-represented major field for the Padma awards this year. Their share among all recipients—3% of 132 awardees—has been tiny for two years in a row, a Mint analysis of data from the home affairs ministry showed.
Last year, three of the 106 Padma awardees (2.8%) were from the “trade and industry" category, a sharp decline from a 7.8% share in 2020 and 7.1% in 2022. This number had hit a peak of nearly 11% in 2010.
The four “trade and industry" Padma awardees this year were: Jindal Aluminium Ltd chairperson Sitaram Jindal; Taiwanese electronics major Foxconn’s chairperson Young Liu; veteran banker Kalpana Morparia; and serial entrepreneur Shashi Soni, currently chairperson of digital marketing firm IZMO Ltd.
While Jindal and Liu were conferred the Padma Bhushan, the other two received the Padma Shri.
The 2024 honours list, released on Thursday, named 55 individuals from the field of art, 19 from literature and education, 13 from medicine, 12 from social work, seven each from sports and science, and six from public affairs.
Historically, art has been the biggest recipient of the four top honours in India (the Bharat Ratna and the three Padma awards), with 23% of all 5,236 awardees so far, followed by literature and education (19%).
‘Trade and industry’ has been given 221 awards so far, as many as 139 of which have come in the 21st century, indicating the rising importance of businesspersons in a post-liberalization India. Only one businessperson has ever been named Bharat Ratna: industrialist J.R.D. Tata in 1992.
The distribution of Padma awards in 2024 reflects a diverse pattern across India’s 36 states and union territories, with 32 of them represented at least once. Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra received the most Padma Awards (12 each), closely followed by West Bengal (11) and Karnataka (nine).
The five recipients of the second-highest civilian honour, Padma Vibhushan, came from Tamil Nadu (two), Andhra Pradesh (two), and Bihar (one). Maharashtra had the highest number of Padma Bhushan awardees, while all 12 of the recipients from Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, got the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian honour.
Historically, Maharashtra has taken the centre stage with 843 winners (or 16% of total) across the four top honours, closely followed by the national capital, Delhi (833). The next state on the list is Tamil Nadu with 448 honours.
Foreign nationals are also given the honours. The US boasts of the biggest number of such awardees historically (116), followed by the UK (43), France (19), and Japan (14). This year, eight winners were from other countries, including Foxconn’s Liu.
