| YEAR | MEN | WOMEN |
| PADMA BHUSHAN | ||
| 1956 | Dhyan Chand | — |
| PADMA SHRI AWARD Introduced in 1957 for outstanding civilians |
||
| 1957 | Balbir Singh Sr. | — |
| 1958 | K.D. Singh ‘Babu’ | — |
| 1964 | Charanjit Singh | — |
| 1966 | Krishan Lal | — |
| 1967 | Prithipal Singh | — |
| 1967 | Shankar Laxman | — |
| 1971 | Leslie Cladius | — |
| 1981 | Vasudevan Baskaran | — |
| 1981 | Mohd. Shahid | — |
| 1982 | — | Eliza Nelson |
| 1990 | Jhaman Lal Sharma | — |
| 1991 | — | Selma D’Silva |
| 1992 | Ajit Pal Singh | — |
| 1995 | — | — |
| 1998 | Pargat Singh | — |
| 2000 | Dhanraj Pillay | — |
| 2003 | Mukesh Kumar | — |
| 2004 | Dilip Tirkey | — |
| 2009 | Balbir Singh Kular | — |
| 2010 | Ignace Tirkey | |
| 2012 | Zafar Iqbal | |
| 2015 | Sardar Singh | Saba Anjum |
| 2017 | PR Sreejesh | |
| 2020 | M. P Ganesh | Rani Rampal |
| RAJIV GANDHI KHEL RATNA AWARD Introduced in 1991 for players |
||
| 1999 | Dhanraj Pillay | — |
| 2017 | Sardar Singh | |
| 2020 | Rani Rampal | — |