Roshni Nadar of HCL Tech honoured with France Highest Civilian Award
Award and Honour
4 min read
HCL Technologies chairperson Roshini Nadar has been conferred with France's highest civilian award, the Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur or the Knight of the Legion of Honour.
The French ambassador to India, Thierry Mathou, conferred the award to Roshini Nadar on behalf of the French president on 8 July 2024 at the French Embassy in New Delhi.
Roshini Nadar was honoured for her outstanding contributions to the business world, her constant endeavour to promote economic ties between France and India and her unwavering commitment to social and environmental causes.
Order of Légion d'Honneur (Order of Legion of Honour)
The Order of Légion d'honneur is the highest civilian award conferred by the government of France. The award was instituted by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802.
The Order of Legion of Honour has been divided into five degrees: Grand Croix (Grand Cross), Grand Officer, Commandeur(Commander), Officier and Chevalier (Knight)
The Grand Cross is the highest-ranked award, followed by Grand Officer, Commander, Officer, and Knight.
The award is given to a French citizen or a foreigner for outstanding contribution in the recipient’s field of expertise.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi received the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour in 2023.
Prominent Indians to receive the Award
Durga Charan Rakshit was the first Indian to receive the Legion of Honour award. He was conferred the award in 1896.
Since then, the French government has conferred the Legion of Honour award on many noted Indian personalities from diverse fields.
Some of the famous recipients are:
Narendra Modi (2023), E Sreedharan (2005), JRD Tata (1983),Pandit Ravi Shankar (2000), Zubin Mehta (2001), , Amitabh Bachchan (2007), Lata Mangeshkar (2007), , Satyajit Ray (1987), Shah Rukh Khan (2014), Kamal Haasan (2016), Ratan Tata (2016), Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (2016), Azim Premji (2018), Natarajan Chandrasekaran (2023),Sashi Tharoor (2022), Swati Piramal(2022),Narednra Modi (2023).
Satyajit Ray, Pandit Ravi Shankar, and Dr Amartya Sen were decorated as commanders with the third highest rank.
Amitabh Bachchan and Lata Mangeshkar were decorated as Officers with the fourth highest rank.
Roshini Nadar like Shah Rukh Khan and Shivaji Ganesan was honoured with the Knight which is the fifth highest rank of Honour.
HCL Technologies
Eight entrepreneurs set up HCL technologies in 1976. It has grown into an Indian multinational Information technology company with a presence in more than 60 countries.
Headquarters: Noida, Uttar Pradesh
Chairperson: Roshini Nadar
