Indian-born restaurateur Namita Panjabi, co-founder of the Masala World group of restaurants in London, on Saturday was awarded in Queen Elizabeth II’s birthday honours list with an MBE. Ms Panjabi runs Veeraswamy, Amaya, Chutney Mary and the Masala Zone chain along with her husband Ranjit Mathrani and sister Camilla Panjabi in London. She was honoured “for services to the hospitality industry”.
The London-born Singh Twins, two artist sisters who work together, have also been awarded MBEs in the Queen’s birthday honours list. Amrit and Rabindra Kaur Singh have been honoured “for services to the Indian miniature tradition of painting”.
Elated with the honour, the Wirral-based sisters told the Liverpool Echo: “It came completely out of the blue. When we first got the envelope to inform us, we thought we were being called for jury service! It was a fantastic surprise that someone had nominated us.” A vast number of Indian-origin Britons were awarded for their services to the country: Mayur Parsuram Patel from the treasury solicitor’s department was honoured with a CBE, School of Oriental and African Studies professor Nirmala Rao was awarded an OBE for services to scholarship and Dr Biku Ghosh, founder of Gwent-Southern Ethiopia Health Link, got an OBE for services to medicine.