The 24-year-old, who led India to a 5-0 clean-sweep against Zimbabwe recently, was the only cricketer in the list of 15 picked by the awards selection committee yesterday.
"Really happy to get the Arjuna award. Happiest moment yet. Thank you everyone for the wishes. :)," tweeted the youngster.
Meanwhile, Kohli also received congratulatory messages on his twitter with senior off-spinner Harbhajan Singh being among the first send in their wishes.
"@imVkohli you deserve it Cheeku. May u get many more awards. Rab rakha," said Harbhajan.
His ODI record is as good as Test, having scored 4575 runs in 113 matches at an average of 49.72. He has 15 hundreds and 24 half-centuries in this format.