The third highest civilian award presented in India, the Padma Bhushan Award was incepted in the year 1954. The award is considered as highly prestigious and honourable and is ranked after the Bharat Ratna Award and the Padma Vibhushan Award. The Government of India presents the award to those exceptional people, who have done extremely well in their respective fields. The main objective behind presenting this award is to recognise their talents and also to appreciate their achievements. A total of 24 people received the Padma Bhushan Award in 1991.
An elaborated list of the 1991 Padma Bhushan Awardees is given below:
| Name | Field | State | Country |
| Basavaraj Rajguru | Arts | Karnataka | India |
| Narayan Shridhar Bendre | Arts | Maharashtra | India |
| Ram Narayan | Arts | Maharashtra | India |
| Samta Prasad | Arts | Uttar Pradesh | India |
| Amjad Ali Khan | Arts | Delhi | India |
| Ebrahim Alkazi | Arts | Delhi | India |
| Mohammad Yusuf Khan | Arts | Maharashtra | India |
| Shyam Benegal | Arts | Maharashtra | India |
| Kuthur Ramakrishnan Srinivasan | Literature & Education | Tamil Nadu | India |
| Vishnu Vaman Shirwadkar | Literature & Education | Maharashtra | India |
| Muthu Krishna Mani | Medicine | Tamil Nadu | India |
| Pratap Chandra Reddy | Medicine | Tamil Nadu | India |
| Fali Sam Nariman | Public Affairs | Delhi | India |
| Jeevan Singh Umranangal | Public Affairs | Punjab | India |
| Manubhai Rajaram Pancholi | Public Affairs | Gujarat | India |
| Leslie Denis Swindale | Science & Engineering | - | New Zealand |
| Ali Ahmad Surror | Science & Engineering | Uttar Pradesh | India |
| Amala Shankar | Science & Engineering | West Bengal | India |
| Bindeshwar Pathak | Social Work | Delhi | India |
| Narayan Singh Manaklao | Social Work | Rajasthan | India |
| Shakuntala Paranjpye | Social Work | Maharashtra | India |
| Dinkar Balwant Deodhar | Sports | Maharashtra | India |
| Kapil Dev Nikhanj | Sports | Delhi | India |
| Lala Amarnath | Sports | Delhi | India |
