Tata Group Chairman N Chandrasekaran gets France's highest civilian award

Tata Group Chairman N Chandrasekaran has been given France's highest civilian award Chevalier de la Legion d'honneur for his contributions to strengthen the trade relationship between India and France.

French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna gave the award to Chandrasekaran on behalf of the French President on Tuesday evening.

"Our Chairman N Chandrasekaran receives the Chevalier de la Legion d'honneur from French Minister for Europe & Foreign Affairs @MinColonna. He was conferred the highest civilian award of France for his contributions to strengthening the trade relationship between India & France," Tata Group said in a tweet.

Similarly, after presenting the award, in a tweet Colonna said Tata group of companies "is a major player in the Franco-Indian partnership: I had the pleasure of presenting its CEO, on behalf of the President of the Republic, with the insignia of Chevalier de la Legion d'honneur. 

Ambassador of France to India Emmanuel Lenain also in a post on Twitter said, "Dear Natarajan Chandrasekaran, you are a true friend of France".

Earlier this year, Tata Group-owned Air India had inked a multi-billion dollar deal with Airbus to buy 250 aircraft from Airbus, which included 210 A320 neo planes and 40 A350 aircraft. Last year in December, Tata Technologies inaugurated its innovation centre in Toulouse, France, to cater for the new-age product engineering and digital requirements of the global aerospace and defence sector.