The Canada-India Foundation awarded the $50,000 Global Indian Award to Vedanta founder Anil Agarwal at its 15th annual event this past weekend. Agarwal donated the prize money to a Canadian organisation that promotes the welfare of native Indians.
The mining tycoon praised the accomplishments of the 1.6 million-strong Indo-Canadian population in this nation while accepting the prize at a gala event attended by Ontario Premier Doug Ford, ministers, and Indian consul general Apoorva Srivastava.
"I have been all over the world, but nowhere else have I observed the same level of ties between the Indian diaspora as I do in Canada. Make Canada proud by taking your company to new heights. You reside in the best nation on earth, Agarwal stated.
According to him, Canada and India are very similar and complement each other in a wide range of areas. "Together, the two countries can do phenomenal work."
India has historically been a developing nation, according to the founder of Vedanta. "But the time has reversed. The $3-trillion economy is going to be a $30 trillion economy in the coming years. The middle class which is 20 percent today is going to be 80 percent in the next six-seven years. We are going to build 150 big cities in India. Indians may be 20 years behind Canada in terms of lifestyle, but their aspirations are so high that with a population of 1.4 billion you can just imagine the (sheer amount of) demand."