Varanasi: Economist Gita Gopinath and businessman VT Vinod were among the 30 NRIs who were awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman by President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday.

Gita, who hails from Kannur, is the chief economist at the International Monetary Fund and Vinod, from Perambra, Kozhikode, run a businesses in Oman.

A professor at Harvard University’s economics department, Gita was Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s economic advisor for two years.

Vinod is the managing director of Badr al Samaa Group of Hospitals and Mars Hypermarket. He is active in real estate, insurance, education and advertising fields. A member of Loka Kerala Sabha, Vinod is also known for his philanthropy.

Pravasi Bharatiya Samman is the highest honour given to NRIs by the President of India. However, Gita Gopinath and three others did not attend the function.

Asserting that India is going through a transformation of 'unprecedented scale', President Kovind asked NRIs and Indian-origin people to become a part of the country's growth story and change the 'brain-drain' of the past to the 'brain-gain' of the present.

Kovind, while delivering the valedictory address on the third and the final day of the 15th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, said the India of today is a land of billion ideas and billion opportunities.

He said the last few years have seen a sea-change in the way India engages with its people abroad.

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