Manappuram Honours Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and Adoor Gopalakrishnan

The sixth V.C. Padmanabhan Memorial Awards for Excellence for 2015 were announced today. Prominent winners for the year include the eminent musician and sarod player, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, the renowned film maker Shri Adoor Gopalakrishnan, and the eminent scientist and former Chairman of ISRO, Dr. K. Radhakrishnan. The Awards carries a cash prize of one lakh rupees and a bronze plaque.

The V.C. Padmanabhan Memorial Awards were instituted in the year 2010 to commemorate the illustrious founder of the Manappuram Group. They are presented every year to eminent personalities who have made significant contributions in the five categories of Arts and Literature, Civil Servant achieving Excellence in Public Administration, Public Representative achieving Excellence in Good Governance, Business Excellence leading to development of Society at large and Ecology and Environment Conservation and Development.

The following is the list of Awardees for the year 2015:

No award was announced in the category of Ecology and Environment for this year. Distinguished awardees in earlier years have included Dr. E. Sreedharan (MD, Delhi Metro) in 2010, Shri M. Damodaran (Former Chairman, SEBI) in 2012 and Shri Vinod Rai (former CAG) in 2013.

The five-member jury that selected the winners for the year 2015 was headed by Prof. M.K. Prasad, Former Pro-Vice Chancellor, University of Calicut. The other members were Shri. V.P. Nandakumar (MD & CEO, Manappuram Finance Ltd.), Prof. K.P. Mukundan (former Principal, Sree Kerala Varma College, Thrissur), Dr. M. Mohandas (Former Dean, Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur) and Dr. P.V. Krishnan Nair (Secretary, Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Academy).

About Manappuram Finance Ltd.

Manappuram Finance Ltd. is one of India’s leading gold loans NBFCs engaged in providing finance against used household gold ornaments. Incorporated in 1992, the company has been promoted by Mr. V.P. Nandakumar (current MD & CEO) whose family has been involved in gold loans since 1949. It is headquartered at Valapad in the Thrissur District of Kerala.  The company went public in August 1995 and its shares are listed on the stock exchanges of Mumbai, Chennai, and Kochi.   

As of March 31, 2015, Manappuram Finance Ltd. had 3,293 branches across 22 states and 4 UTs with Assets under management (AUM) of Rs.95.93 billion. The company’s net worth stood at Rs.26.32 billion.