Distinguished members from the IIT Madras family were conferred with the Padma awards recently. Pradeep Thalappil, a professor at the Department of Chemistry; and Prem Watsa, Founder-Chairman, Fairfax Financial Holdings, and Distinguished Alumnus, Batch of 1971; won the Padma Shri while Venu Srinivasan,  Chairman, TVS Group and Honorary Professor of Practice, IIT Madras, was conferred the Padma Bhushan.

'The Institute congratulates all three awardees for this well-deserved honour in recognition of their work and contributions' the Director of IIT Madras Bhaskar Ramamurthy said in a statement.

A total of 141 citizens received the Padma award this year which comprises seven Padma Vibhushan, 16 Padma Bhushan and 118 Padma Shri awards. Congratulating the recipients for their contributions in the respective fields, Prime Minister Modi wrote on Twitter, “Congratulations to all those who have been conferred the Padma Awards. The awardees include extraordinary individuals who have made exceptional contributions to our society, nation and humanity.”