Angad Paul, chief executive officer of the Caparo Group, has received the GG2 Leadership and Diversity award for Entrepreneur of the Year in recognition of his dynamic role in the massive expansion of the $1.5 billion group.

Sarah Brown, wife of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown presented the the award to Angad, younger son of NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul, in a glittering ceremony attended by over 800 dignitaries at the prestigious Grosvenor House Hotel in central London on Monday night.

Besides business, Angad, 37, has many other interests and has earned a reputation for himself in the film industry as the executive producer of the much acclaimed film Rang De Basanti and blockbuster Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels.

In a message on the occasion, the prime minister pointed to Britain's growing multi-cultural society. "Britain is now a country where discrimination on the grounds of race, faith, gender or any other kind is outlawed. It is a country where all have the opportunity to practice their religion freely -- whether Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Jew or Sikh," Brown said.

Baroness Shriti Vadera, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department of International Development, won the Hammer Award for her outstanding achievement in the Gordon Brown Government while Chitra Bharucha, Vice Chairperson of BBC, was declared Woman of the Year.

Several eminent personalities including Lord Swraj Paul, Barry Gardiner, MP, Allan Leighton, Royal Mail Chairman, Lord Mohammed Sheikh, Sir Ian Blair, Metropolitan Police Commissioner and cricketer Monty Panesar were present on the occasion. (PTI)

Photograph: Courtesy, Caparo Group