Sanjeev Bikhchandani started Naukri.com with a seed capital of Rs 2,000. (File photo)
Highlights
- Honoured and privileged to find my name in the list: Sanjeev Bikhchandani
- Sanjeev Bikhchandani started Naukri.com with a seed capital of Rs 2,000
- In 2017, he was named as one of India's 50 greatest CEO's ever
Sanjeev Bikhchandani, founder and vice-chairman of Naukri.com, is among the recipients of the Padma Shri awards, India's fourth highest civilian honour, that were announced by the government on Saturday.
Soon after his name was announced, Sanjeev Bikhchandani tweeted that he was "honoured and privileged" to have been given the award, adding that he felt proud to represent the "start up entrepreneur community in this list". Apart from Mr Bikhchandani, industrialist Bharat Goenka, technocrat Nemnath Jain have also been conferred the Padma Shri.
Mr Bikhchandani was born and brought up in Delhi and got his Bachelor's degree from St Stephens College. He completed his post-graduation from IIM-Ahmedabad in 1989 and quit his job for entrepreneurship eighteen months later.
But the first seven years of his entrepreneurial dream was not smooth as he had to do a number of small businesses - from salary surveys to databases, to feasibility studies, to training - before starting Naukri.com from a servant quarter in 1997, which became the first internet company.
Naukri.com, which Mr Bikhchandani started with a seed capital of Rs 2,000, today employs over 4,000 people and has a market capitalisation of over $ 4.5 billion.
The company also runs Jeevansathi.com, 99acres.com, and Shiksha.com. In addition it has made strategic investments in promising web start-ups such as Zomato, Policybazaar, Shopkirana and Ustraa.
For his business skills, Sanjeev Bikhchandani has been awarded Ernst and Young - Entrepreneur of the Year award in the past. In April 2017, Outlook Magazine selected him as one of India's 50 greatest CEO's ever.
In 2011 he was conferred the Distinguished Alumnus award by IIM Ahmedabad and in 2012 he was honoured with the CF Andrews Distinguished Alumnus award by St. Stephen's College. He is a member of the Board of the Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship at IIM Ahmedabad.
He also supports 1947PartitionArchive - a not for profit that is building an oral history archive consisting of video interviews of people who experienced partition.
Sanjeev Bikhchandani is also a founding trustee of Ashoka University.
This year, Padma Awards includes seven Padma Vibhushan, 16 Padma Bhushan and 118 Padma Shri awards. These Awards, given since 1954 on Republic Day, will honour the contributions of individuals from myriad fields.