At a grand ceremony held on July 17 in Kochi, Dr. Vijay Sankeshwar, Chairman and Managing Director of VRL Group, was conferred with the 19th Manappuram Unique Times Multibillionaire Business Achiever (MBA) Award. The award was jointly presented by Shri Gokulam Gopalan, in the presence of Dr. Ajit Ravi, Founder of Pegasus Global Pvt Ltd and architect of both the MBA Award and the Federal International Chamber Forum (FICF).

This year’s honor is particularly noteworthy, as Dr. Vijay Sankeshwar becomes the first recipient from Karnataka, recognized for revolutionizing the Indian transport sector and building VRL into a national logistics powerhouse. With this award, he also earns a place in the FICF—an exclusive club of business leaders with ₹1,000 crore+ net assets and a solid track record of giving back to society. Unlike any other, FICF is the world’s one and only business club that does not require any membership or registration fees.

The MBA Award has previously celebrated leading Indian entrepreneurs such as Shri V.P. Nandakumar, Shri Joy Alukkas, Shri M.A. Yusuff Ali, Shri T.S. Kalyanaraman, Shri P.N.C. Menon, Shri Gokulam Gopalan, Dr. Ravi Pillai, Shri M.P. Ramachandran, Shri Kochouseph Chittilappilly, Shri Sabu M. Jacob, Dr. Viju Jacob, Dr. A.V. Anoop, Dr. Varghese Kurian, Adv. P. Krishnadas, Dr. Hafeez Rahman, Shri Soundararajan Bangarusamy, Shri V R Muthu, Shri V C Praveen, Dr. Arun N Palaniswami, Shri C K Kumaravel, Shri T.K. Chandiran, and Sir Sohan Roy SK.

Recognizing not just wealth but transformative leadership, the MBA Award has become a hallmark of impactful entrepreneurship in India.

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