| Padma Bhushan | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | National Civilian |
| Country | India |
| Presented by |  Government of India |
| Ribbon |  |
| Obverse | A centrally located lotus flower is embossed and the text "Padma" written in Devanagari script is placed above and the text "Bhushan" is placed below the lotus. |
| Reverse | A platinumState Emblem of India placed in the centre with the national motto of India, "Satyameva Jayate" (Truth alone triumphs) in Devanagari Script |
| Established | 1954 |
| First award | 1954 |
| Precedence | |
| Next (higher) |  Padma Vibhushan |
| Next (lower) |  Padma Shri |
← Padma Vibhushan "Dusra Varg" (Class II) | |
ThePadma Bhushan is the third-highestcivilian award of theRepublic of India.[1] Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service of a high order", without distinction of race, occupation, position, or sex.[2] The recipients receive aSanad, a certificate signed by thePresident of India and a circular-shaped medallion with no monetary association. The recipients are announced every year onRepublic Day (26 January) and registered inThe Gazette of India—a publication used for official government notices and released weekly by the Department of Publication, under theMinistry of Urban Development.[3] The conferral of the award is not considered official without its publication in theGazette. The name of a recipient, whose award has been revoked or restored, both of which require the authority of the President, is archived and they are required to surrender their medal when their name is struck from the register.[4] As of 2019[update], none of the conferments of Padma Bhushan during 2010s have been revoked or restored. The recommendations are received from all thestate and the union territory governments, as well as fromMinistries of the Government of India, theBharat Ratna and thePadma Vibhushan awardees, the Institutes of Excellence, theMinisters, theChief Ministers and theGovernors of State, and theMembers of Parliament including private individuals.[3]
When instituted in 1954, the Padma Bhushan was classified as "Dusra Warg" (Class II) under the three-tierPadma Vibhushan awards, which were preceded by the Bharat Ratna in hierarchy. On 15 January 1955, the Padma Vibhushan was reclassified into three different awards as the Padma Vibhushan, the Padma Bhushan and thePadma Shri.[3] The criteria included "distinguished service of a high order in any field including service rendered by Government servants", but excluded those working with thepublic sector undertakings with the exception of doctors and scientists. The 1954 statutes did not allow posthumous awards; this was subsequently modified in the January 1955 statute.[4] The design was also changed to the form that is currently in use; it portrays a circular-shaped toned bronze medallion1+3⁄4 inches (44 mm) in diameter and1⁄8 inch (3.2 mm) thick. The centrally placed pattern made of outer lines of a square of1+3⁄16 inches (30 mm) side is embossed with a knob carved within each of the outer angles of the pattern. A raised circular space of diameter1+1⁄16 inches (27 mm) is placed at the centre of the decoration. A centrally located lotus flower is embossed on the obverse side of the medal and the text "Padma" is placed above and the text "Bhushan" is placed below the lotus written inDevanagari script. TheState Emblem of India is displayed in the centre of the reverse side, together with the national motto of India, "Satyameva Jayate" (Truth alone triumphs) in Devanagari script, which is inscribed on the lower edge. The rim, the edges and all embossing on either side is of standard gold with the text "Padma Bhushan" of gold gilt. The medal is suspended by a pink riband1+1⁄4 inches (32 mm) in width with a broad white stripe in the middle.[3][4] It is ranked fifth in the order of precedence of wearing of medals and decorations ofthe Indian civilian and military awards.[a]
As of 2026, a total of 81 individuals have been conferred with the award and have been conferred upon six foreign recipients – one from Bangladesh and Mexico each and six from the United States of America. Individuals from ten different fields were awarded, which includes one from medical field, two civil servants, sportspersons and from Science & Engineering field each, three from social work, seven artists, eight from literature and education, nine from trade and industry, eleven from public affairs, and six from other fields. Most recently on 25 January 2026, the award has been bestowed upon thirteen recipients.[6]
|
|
|---|
+Naturalised citizen recipient | * Non-citizen recipient | # Posthumous recipient |
| Year | Image | Laureates | Field | State / country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 |  | Sri M | Others | Kerala |
| 2020 | .jpg) | Syed Muazzem Ali*#[i] | Public Affairs | Bangladesh |
| 2020 |  | Muzaffar Hussain Baig | Public Affairs | Jammu and Kashmir |
| 2020 |  | Ajoy Chakrabarty | Arts | West Bengal |
| 2020 | .jpg) | Manoj Das | Literature and Education | Puducherry |
| 2020 |  | Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi | Others | Gujarat |
| 2020 | Krishnammal Jagannathan | Social Work | Tamil Nadu | |
| 2020 | .jpg) | S. C. Jamir | Public Affairs | Nagaland |
| 2020 | .jpg) | Anil Prakash Joshi | Social Work | Uttarakhand |
| 2020 |  | Tsering Landol | Medicine | Ladakh |
| 2020 |  | Anand Mahindra | Trade and Industry | Maharashtra |
| 2020 |  | N. R. Madhava Menon#[ii] | Public Affairs | Kerala |
| 2020 |  | Manohar Parrikar#[iii] | Public Affairs | Goa |
| 2020 | Jagdish Sheth* | Literature and Education | United States | |
| 2020 |  | P. V. Sindhu | Sports | Telangana |
| 2020 |  | Venu Srinivasan | Trade and Industry | Maharashtra |
| 2020 |  | Sumitra Mahajan | Public Affairs | Madhya Pradesh |
| 2021 |  | K. S. Chithra | Arts | Kerala |
| 2021 |  | Tarun Gogoi#[iv] | Public Affairs | Assam |
| 2021 |  | Chandrashekhara Kambara | Literature and Education | Karnataka |
| 2021 |  | Nripendra Misra | Civil Service | Uttar Pradesh |
| 2021 | .jpg) | Ram Vilas Paswan#[v] | Public Affairs | Bihar |
| 2021 |  | Keshubhai Patel#[vi] | Public Affairs | Gujarat |
| 2021 | Kalbe Sadiq#[vii] | Others | Uttar Pradesh | |
| 2021 | .jpg) | Rajnikant Shroff | Trade and Industry | Maharashtra |
| 2021 | Tarlochan Singh | Public Affairs | Haryana | |
| 2022 |  | Ghulam Nabi Azad | Public Affairs | Jammu and Kashmir |
| 2022 |  | Gurmeet Bawa#[viii] | Arts | Punjab |
| 2022 |  | Natarajan Chandrasekaran | Trade and Industry | Maharashtra |
| 2022 |  | Madhur Jaffrey* | Others | United States |
| 2022 | _2016.jpg) | Devendra Jhajharia | Sports | Rajasthan |
| 2022 |  | Rashid Khan | Arts | Uttar Pradesh |
| 2022 | .jpg) | Rajiv Mehrishi | Civil Service | Rajasthan |
| 2022 | .jpg) | Satya Nadella* | Trade and Industry | United States |
| 2022 | .jpg) | Sundar Pichai* | Trade and Industry | United States |
| 2022 |  | Cyrus S. Poonawalla | Trade and Industry | Maharashtra |
| 2022 |  | Sanjaya Rajaram*#[ix] | Science and Engineering | Mexico |
| 2022 |  | Pratibha Ray | Literature and Education | Odisha |
| 2022 |  | Swami Sachchidanand | Literature and Education | Gujarat |
| 2022 | Vashishth Tripathi | Literature and Education | Uttar Pradesh | |
| 2022 |  | Krishna Ella | Trade and Industry | Telangana |
.jpg) | Suchitra Ella | |||
| 2022 | %2c_in_Panaji_(cropped).jpg) | Victor Banerjee | Arts | West Bengal |
| 2023 |  | S. L. Bhyrappa | Literature and Education | Karnataka |
| 2023 |  | Kumar Mangalam Birla | Trade and Industry | Maharashtra |
| 2023 | Deepak Dhar | Science and Engineering | Maharashtra | |
| 2023 | .jpg) | Vani Jairam | Arts | Tamil Nadu |
| 2023 |  | Chinna Jeeyar | Others | Telangana |
| 2023 |  | Suman Kalyanpur | Arts | Maharashtra |
| 2023 |  | Kapil Kapoor | Literature and Education | Delhi |
| 2023 |  | Sudha Murthy | Social Work | Karnataka |
| 2023 | .jpg) | Kamlesh Patel | Others | Telangana |
| 2024 |  | Fathima Beevi#[x] | Public Affairs | Kerala |
| 2024 | Hormusji N. Cama | Literature and Education | Maharashtra | |
| 2024 | .jpg) | Mithun Chakraborty | Arts | West Bengal |
| 2024 | Sitaram Jindal | Trade and Industry | Karnataka | |
| 2024 | Young Liu* | Trade and Industry | Taiwan | |
| 2024 | Ashwin Balachand Mehta | Medicine | Maharashtra | |
| 2024 | .jpg) | Satyabrata Mookherjee#[xi] | Public Affairs | West Bengal |
| 2024 |  | Ram Naik | Public Affairs | Maharashtra |
| 2024 |  | Tejas Patel | Medicine | Gujarat |
| 2024 |  | O. Rajagopal | Public Affairs | Kerala |
| 2024 |  | Rajdutt | Arts | Maharashtra |
| 2024 |  | Togdan Rinpoche#[xii] | Others | Ladakh |
| 2024 |  | Pyarelal Sharma | Arts | Maharashtra |
| 2024 | .jpg) | C. P. Thakur | Medicine | Bihar |
| 2024 |  | Usha Uthup | Arts | West Bengal |
| 2024 |  | Vijayakanth#[xiii] | Arts | Tamil Nadu |
| 2024 | Kundan Vyas | Literature and Education | Maharashtra | |
| 2025 | .jpg) | A. Surya Prakash | Literature and Education | Karnataka |
| 2025 |  | Anant Nag | Arts | Karnataka |
| 2025 | .jpg) | Bibek Debroy#[xiv] | Literature and Education | Delhi |
| 2025 |  | Jatin Goswami | Arts | Assam |
| 2025 |  | Jose Chacko Periappuram | Medicine | Kerala |
| 2025 | .jpg) | Kailash Nath Dikshit | Others | Delhi |
| 2025 |  | Manohar Joshi#[xv] | Public Affairs | Maharashtra |
| 2025 | .jpg) | Nalli Kuppuswami Chetti | Trade and Industry | Tamil Nadu |
| 2025 | .jpg) | Nandamuri Balakrishna | Arts | Andhra Pradesh |
| 2025 |  | P. R. Sreejesh | Sports | Kerala |
| 2025 | .jpg) | Pankaj Patel | Trade and Industry | Gujarat |
| 2025 |  | Pankaj Udhas#[xvi] | Arts | Maharashtra |
| 2025 |  | Ram Bahadur Rai | Literature and Education | Uttar Pradesh |
| 2025 | .jpg) | Sadhvi Rithambara | Social Work | Uttar Pradesh |
| 2025 |  | Ajith Kumar | Arts | Tamil Nadu |
| 2025 |  | Shekhar Kapur | Arts | Maharashtra |
| 2025 | .jpg) | Shobana | Arts | Kerala |
| 2025 | .jpg) | Sushil Kumar Modi#[xvii] | Public Affairs | Bihar |
| 2025 |  | Vinod Dham* | Science and Engineering | United States |
| 2026 | .jpg) | Alka Yagnik | Arts | Maharashtra |
| 2026 | .jpg) | Bhagat Singh Koshyari | Public Affairs | Uttarakhand |
| 2026 | K. R. Palaniswamy | Medicine | Tamil Nadu | |
| 2026 | .jpg) | Mammootty | Arts | Kerala |
| 2026 |  | Nori Dattatreyudu* | Medicine | United States |
| 2026 | .jpg) | Piyush Pandey#[xviii] | Arts | Maharashtra |
| 2026 | S. K. M. Maeilanandhan | Social Work | Tamil Nadu | |
| 2026 |  | Shatavadhani R. Ganesh | Arts | Karnataka |
| 2026 |  | Shibu Soren#[xix] | Public Affairs | Jharkhand |
| 2026 |  | Uday Kotak | Trade and Industry | Maharashtra |
| 2026 |  | Vijay Kumar Malhotra#[xx] | Public Affairs | Delhi |
| 2026 |  | Vellappally Natesan | Public Affairs | Kerala |
| 2026 | %2c_Water_Resources%2c_River_Development_and_Ganga_Rejuvenation%2c_Shri_Vijay_Goel%2c_in_New_Delhi_on_April_11%2c_2017_(cropped).jpg) | Vijay Amritraj* | Sports | United States |
The President is pleased to institute an award to be designated 'Padma Vibhushan' in three classes, namely: 'Pahela Varg', 'Dusra Varg' and 'Tisra Varg'
All persons upon whom the decoration of 'Padma Vibhushan' ('Dusra Varg') was conferred under the Regulations issued with Notification No. 2-Pres./54, dated the 2nd January, 1954, shall, for all purposes of these regulations, be deemed to be persons on whom the decoration of Padma Bhushan has been conferred by the President.