A pair of Indian-origin billionaire brothers, a leading Oxford University academic and a septuagenarian fundraiser fondly referred to as the Skipping Sikh, lead the "most ethnically diverse" Queen's Birthday Honours List released on Saturday. Zuber and Mohsin Issa, who recently hit the headlines with their multi-million-pound acquisition of the UK's supermarket chain Asda, have both been honoured with CBEs for services to business and charity.

The brothers from Blackburn, whose parents moved to the UK from Gujarat in the 1970s, own the Euro Garages chain of petrol stations as part of their EG Group business. They are joined by Yadvinder Singh Malhi, Professor of Ecosystem Science at the University of Oxford, who receives a CBE (Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) for his services to ecosystem science. Malhi had been appointed Trustee of the Natural History Museum in London earlier this year. British Indians honoured with an OBE (Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) include Nilay Shah, Professor of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London for services to the decarbonisation of the UK economy, and Dr Sanjiv Nichani, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Healing Little Hearts for services to medicine and charity.