Nilekani, 54, Chairman of India's Unique Identification Database Authority received the award from Yale University President Richard C Levin at the Yale CEO Leadership Summit of The Chief Executive Leadership Institute in New Delhi.

The 'Legend in Leadership Award' was created 20 years ago to honor current and former CEOs who serve as living legends to inspire chief executives across industries, sectors, and nations.

Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase; Robert Iger of The Walt Disney Company; Stephen Schwarzman of The Blackstone Group; Roger Enrico of PepsiCo; John Pepper of Proctor & Gamble and Don Keough of The Coca-Cola Co were some of the other people who received the prestigious honour.

Others who had earlier received the honour include McKinsey founder Marvin Bower;Richard Teerlink of Harley-Davidson.; Holiday Inn founder Kemmons Wilson; financier Wilbur Ross; and Lou Gerstner of IBM.