Economists Late Lord Meghnad Desai, Lord Nicolas Stern, Shri Bimal Jalan and Dr. Shankar Acharya Conferred with Top TIOL Fiscal Awards

• Kerala bags ‘TIOL National Taxation Award’ in ‘Reformist State'(Silver) category

• CMA Harkesh Tara receives 1st ‘Facilitator’ award in individual category

• SRM School of Law receives ‘Gold’ in newly introduced Law Universities category

• TIOL marks Silver Jubilee of its foundation

Former Chief Justice of India Justice Sanjiv Khanna conferred Economists Late Lord Meghnad Desai, Lord Nicolas Stern, and duo of former RBI Governor Shri Viman Jalan and former Chief Economic Advisor Dr. Shankar Acharya with ‘TIOL Outstanding Diaspora Award 2025′, ‘TIOL Kautilya Global Award 2025‘ and ‘TIOL Fiscal Heritage Award 2025‘ respectively in a ceremony held late evening on 6th October, 2025 at Hotel Taj Palace here. Late Lord Meghnad Desai’s wife Smt. Kishwar Desai received award for his husband.

TIOL Awards Ceremony 2025

On the occasion, Chairman of 15th Finance Commission and noted Economist Shri N. K. Singh also moderated a lively discussion with Lord Nicolas Stern and Dr. Acharya on ‘How should India navigate the current geo-economic and geopolitical turmoil’.

Earlier ‘TIOL National Taxation Awards‘ were given in various categories, including ‘Reformist State’ to Kerala (Silver); CGST Zone awards to Pune (Gold) and Hyderabad (Silver); Customs Zone awards to Mumbai Zone 1 (Gold) and Chennai (Silver); State VAT/SGST category awards to Assam (Silver); CMA Harkesh Tara received ‘Facilitator’ award in Gold category and AZZ TaxCorp in Silver category; In the ‘Corporate’ category (Turnover Above Rs. 5000 Crore), Gold went to Max Life Insurance, and Caterpillar India Engineering Solutions Pvt. Ltd received award in ‘Silver’ category, whereas for the category of ‘Corporate (Between Rs. 500 to Rs. 5000 Crore)‘, ‘Gold’ went to Gujarat Ambuja Exports Ltd and Watson Pharma Pvt. Ltd received award in ‘Silver’ category; And, in the newly introduced category of Law Universities, SRM School of Law received ‘Gold’ category award. The awards were handed over by the former Chief Justice of Tanzania Justice Mohamed Chande Othoman, H.E. Anisa Mbega, Ambassador of Republic of Tanzania, Mr. Sandeep Bhatnagar, Member of TIOL Jury Penal, Smt. Bhawani Rana, Dr. Bishwambher Pyakuryal and Shri Madhu Kumar Marasini, Jury Penal Members of Nepal Chapter of TKF and other dignitaries.

The eminent personalities who addressed and engaged in lively discussion at TIOL Tax Congress and award ceremony included Dr. P. Thiaga Rajan, Minister of IT & Digital Services, Tamil Nadu, Shri N. Venkataraman, Additional Solicitor General of India, Shri M. K. Sinha, CEO, GST Network, Shri Shashank Priya, Member (GST), Ministry of Finance, Shri Sanjay Bahadur, Member – CBDT, Ministry of Finance, Shri Shailesh Haribhakti, Economic Thinker, Shri Rajesh Jindal, Principal DG (Systems), CBIC, Dr. Sanjay Bahl, DG, CERT-IN & Controller of Certifying Authority, Shri Ajay Vohra, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India, Shri Pramod Kumar, former Vice President, ITAT, H.E. Anisa Mbega, Ambassador of Republic of Tanzania, Shri S. S. Khan, former member CBDT, Shri Sumit Dutt Mazumdar, former Chairman, CBEC, and Justice Shiva Kirti Singh, former Judge of Supreme Court of India and the Chairman of the Jury for TIOL Awards.