The Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award (PBSA) is the highest honour conferred on overseas Indians. PBSA is conferred by the Hon’ble President of India as part of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Convention on Non-Resident Indians, Persons of Indian Origin or an organization/institution established and run by the Non-Resident Indians or Persons of Indian Origin in recognition of their outstanding achievements both in India and abroad.
The 16th edition of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) Convention was held virtually on 9th January 2021. The Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awards were conferred by the Hon’ble President at the PBD Convention in the valedictory session of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas celebrations.
A Jury-cum-Awards Committee, with Hon’ble Vice-President as the Chairman and Hon’ble External Affairs Minister as the Vice-Chair and other distinguished members from various walks of life considered the nominations for the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awards, 2021 and unanimously selected the awardees. The awardees represent the vibrant excellence achieved by our diaspora in various fields. Several countries have been represented for the first time among the awardees. Dr. Mukesh Aghi, one of the awardees and President & CEO of US-India Strategic Partnership Forum, delivered the acceptance speech on behalf of the awardees.
The list of the awardees is as follows:
| S. No. | Name | Country | Field |
| 1 | NGO Cultural Diversity for Peaceful Future | Armenia | Promoting Indian Culture |
| 2 | Dr. Rajani Chandra D’Mello | Azerbaijan | Medicine |
| 3 | Mr. Baburajan Vava Kalluparambil Gopalan | Bahrain | Community Service |
| 4 | Mrs. Jamal Ahmad | Botswana | Business |
| 5 | Mr. Janakiraman Ravikumar | Cameroon | Closer ties with India |
| 6 | H.E. Mr. Eugene Rhuggenaath | Curacao (The Netherlands) | Public Service |
| 7 | Mr. Debashish Chaudhuri | Czech Republic | Art and Culture |
| 8 | Mr. Mohammed Husein Hasanali Sardharwala | Ethiopia | Business |
| 9 | Sai Prema Foundation | Fiji | Community Service |
| 10 | Dr. Balasubramanian Ramani | Germany | Education |
| 11 | Mr. Lal Lokumal Chellaram | Hong Kong | Community Service |
| 12 | Dr. (Prof.) Muralidhar Miryala | Japan | Science & Technology |
| 13 | Mr. Rajib Shaw | Japan | Education |
| 14 | Mr. Salil Panigrahi | Maldives | Tourism |
| 15 | Dr. Ravi Prakash Singh | Mexico | Science & Technology |
| 16 | Hon. Ms. Priyanca Radhakrishnan | New Zealand | Public Service |
| 17 | Indian Cultural Association (ICA) | Nigeria | Community Service |
| 18 | Dr. Mohan Thomas Lazarus Pakalomattom | Qatar | Medicine |
| 19 | Mr. Jean Regis Ramsamy | Reunion (France) | Media & Community Service |
| 20 | Mr. Siddeek Ahmed | Saudi Arabia | Business |
| 21 | Dr. Anil Kumar Chotalal Mithani | Sudan | Medicine |
| 22 | H.E. Mr. Chandrikapersad Santokhi | Suriname | Public Service |
| 23 | Dr. Shachi Gurumayun | Switzerland | Bio-tech Agronomy |
| 24 | Mr. Vashdev Tikamdas Purswani | Thailand | Business |
| 25 | Mr. Resham Singh Sandhu | UK | Public Service |
| 26 | Mr. Arvind Phukan | USA | Environment Technology |
| 27 | Ms. Nilu Gupta | USA | Promoting Indian Culture |
| 28 | Federation of Indian Associations NY, NJ & CT | USA | Community Service |
| 29 | Dr. Sudhakar Jonnalagadda | USA | Medicine |
| 30 | Dr. Mukesh Aghi | USA/ Singapore | Business |
