The award is instituted every year by the Institute of Economic Studies. The award was conferred to him at a seminar on 'Economic Development' held at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi on 25 April 2003.

The previous recipients of this prestigious award include Vijay Mallaya, R Krishna Bajaj, H S Singhania, Dr B K Modi, B R Chopra, Renuka Ramnath and H P Nanda. Eminent politicians, bureaucrats and business personalities also attended the function.

Chopra, an IIT-Chennai Alumnus, formed EFY Enterprises in 1969 and has lead its growth to one of the leading publishing houses in the country. EFY Enterprises, an ISO 9002 company, was also presented the Excellence Award for outstanding performance in productivity, quality, management and innovation at the same function.

Speaking on the occasion, Chopra said: "The awards rightfully belong to all those who have been instrumental in making EFY a success story. I am just representing all these people here. Credit for the awards goes to my colleagues — present and past — and to our patrons (the contributors of articles, the advertisers, and the subscribers as well as readers of our publications) who have been supporting us and appreciating our efforts to help the industry through our publications. We have always kept the long-term objectives in mind instead of going for short-term gains."

EFY Enterprises was established in 1969. It publishes many popular publications including Electronics for You, Facts for You, IT, ePower and Linux for You. Electronics for You is Asia's largest-selling magazine on electronics with over a half-a-million readership. Linux for You is Asia's first Linux magazine and it enjoys the largest readership in this category.

EFY has a host of other products including EFY Annual Guide, E-Pages Gold, IT Directory, IT Pages Gold, Electronics Projects (18 volumes) among others. The other associate organisations of the group are Kits 'n' Spares and IT Solutions. The company is headquartered in New Delhi with offices at Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata and major other cities. EFY is an ISO 9002-certified company.

The Institute of Economic Studies was established in 1980 by a group of economists, parliamentarians and industrialists. The organisation works on studying various aspects of economy and economic development. The institute closely monitors various facets of economy and the individual contribution of various companies and business leaders. The centres of the institute are in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore. The patrons of the institute include several leaders in economic studies, politics and business.