By IANS,
Chennai: Two of the Padma Shri awardees belonging to the trade and industry category are from Tamil Nadu – Venu Srinivasan, chairman TVS Motor Company Ltd, and T.N. Manoharan, past president of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).
Both are overwhelmed by the honour.
“I am little bit overwhelmed as I did’nt expect the honour,” Venu Srinivasan, also president of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), told IANS.
For 57-year-old Srinivasan, Chairman of two-wheeler company TVS Motor Company Ltd., it is his second honour in as many days.
A day after South Korean President Lee Myung-bak bestowed Srinivasan with a distinguished civilian honour ‘Order of Diplomatic Service Merit’ in recognition of his valuable contribution in promoting Korea-India bilateral ties, the Indian government named him for the Padma Shri award.
He expressed happiness at Pratap C. Reddy, executive chairman Apollo Hospitals, getting the Padma Vibhushan – the second highest civilian honour.
City-based chartered accountant T.N. Manoharan, the first accountancy professional from Tamil Nadu to be conferred with the Padma award, said he feels very humbled.
“I feel very humble. However such awards are a morale booster as it reinforces that the path one travels is right,” Manoharan told IANS.
Son of T.L. Narayana Chowdhry, a 93-year-old a freedom fighter, Manoharan, 52, is a partner in Manoharan Chowdhry Associates, a city-based auditing firm.
Also a qualified lawyer, Manoharan is past president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).
He shot into the limelight when he was appointed as a board member of the scam-hit Satyam Computer Services and later made as its chairman before the company was taken over by the Mahindra group.
To a question whether he would use the Padma Shri or CA title before his name, he laughed aloud and said: “I will be what I am now.”