TORONTO: Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella to be conferred with Padma Bhushan

TORONTO: Microsoft chief executive officer (CEO) Satya Nadella and Alphabet chief Sundar Pichai will be conferred with the prestigious Padma Bhushan award.

The government on Tuesday announced the full list of awardees who will be conferred with Padma awards.

Nadella was named as CEO of Microsoft in 2014. Prior to it, he held various leadership roles in both enterprise and consumer businesses across the company.

He hails from Hyderabad and currently lives in Washington. He earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Manipal Institute of Technology and a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. He also holds an MBA from the University of Chicago.

While Pichai was born in Chennai in the year 1972. He earned degree from IIT Kharagpur in metallurgical engineering.

He moved to the US to study masters in material sciences and engineering from Stanford University and then went on to pursue MBA from Wharton Business School.

Pichai worked with McKinsey before joining Google in 2004. He became the CEO of Google in 2015.
Serum Institute chairman Cyrus Poonawala has also been conferred with Padma Bhushan. SII has played a key role in India’s fight against Covid-19. It is local manufacturer of Covishield vaccine.

Meanwhile, Tata Group chairman N Chandrasekaran will also be awarded the Padma Bhushan.

Chandrasekaran started his career with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which he joined from university. At TCS, he rose through the ranks to become its CEO. Thereafter, he was appointed as chairman of the $100 billion-plus Tata Group.

Further, Bharat Biotech chairman Krishna Ella and co-founder Suchitra Ella will also be conferred with Padma Bhushan. Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech is the manufacturer of Covaxin, the indigenous vaccine against Covid-19.

Padma awards are one of the highest civilian awards of the country. They are conferred in 3 categories, namely Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri.

They are given in various fields of activities including art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service.

It is conferred by the President of India at ceremonial functions held at Rashtrapati Bhawan usually around March/ April every year.