A magnificent stall was exhibited by POWERGRID, Northern Region-1 in Vibrant Uttarakhand Trade Fair in Dehradun recently. The POWERGRID stall was point of attraction among the visitors. Uttarakhand CM Harish Rawat appreciated POWERGRID’s achievements and stall management. Chief secretary of the state N Ravi Shankar also praised the major schemes, smart grid techniques, green energy corridors and corporate social responsibilities initiatives of the company. The theme for Vibrant Uttarakhand was Make in India, under which the company exhibited the plan for 1,200 kV UHV AC System, 765 kV C Tower design inland technology and effective communication through magnificent panels. Senior officials and PRO spread information about major schemes, smart grid techniques and green energy corridors to local residents, students and buyers. Visitor were benefited with the informative stall.
Partners in progress
Steel Authority of India limited (SAIl) organised a vendor meet recently. The meet has been held at a time when SAIl’s current phase of modernisation and expansion is nearing completion and the company is poised to embark on its next phase of modernisation. Around 30 vendors for projects, Corporate Materials Management Group (CMMG) and Coal Import Group (CIG) attended the programme. It was aimed at sharing and learning in execution of projects, besides implementation of the integrity pact.
Addressing the participants, chairman of SAIl, CS Verma, said, “Both SAIl and its suppliers are partners in progress. We practise transparent tendering method and our standard bidding document has been updated which is available in public domain.” He emphasised on issues of time-bound supply of equipment, availability of site for projects and adherence to the schedule in turnkey projects.
SAIl is one of the first few companies to adopt the Integrity Pact in 2007, which is a document containing rights and obligations for both sides to make dealings more transparent.
The pact has been taken as a model pact by Central Vigilance Commission and the same has been posted on CVC website for reference by others.
Top honour
Prof Debapratim Purkayastha, associate dean at ICFAI Business School (IBS), Hyderabad, has won the prestigious ‘lifetime Achievement Award’ for the outstanding contribution to the Case Method this year. “‘The Outstanding Contribution to the Case Method’ honour to Debapratim Purkayasta, shows how the ICFAI Business School has developed a tradition of case teaching and case writing. Debapratim is also the youngest recipient of this award, and bears testimony to the rapid strides that ICFAI Business School had taken in case-based teaching and learning in the last few decades. For the first time the award was bagged by a faculty member in India,” says the Centre’s director.
Purkayastha is globally renowned as a case method expert and much-sought after for speaking assignments and workshops in this area. He has conducted many workshops on case teaching and case writing in India and abroad.
The Case Centre’s annual awards, now in their 25th year, celebrate excellence in case writing and teaching in business education worldwide and are now considered the case method community’s annual Oscars.
Craft exchange
Business enquiries worth Rs1,600 crore were generated at the closing of 39th IHGF Delhi Fair organised at the India Expo Mart in Greater Noida by Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH) — the apex body for promotion and development of handicrafts in the country. Over 5,200 trade visitors including international buyers, buying agents and domestic volume retailers interacted with 2,664 exhibitors, making it Asia’s largest platform to source Indian handicrafts.
Impressive numbers came from USA (511), Canada (145), Israel (42), Germany (223), Sweden (152), UK (249), Russia (34), Australia (178), Japan (226), Brazil (35) and Argentina(22), as provided by Rakesh Kumar, chairman of India Expo Centre and Mart (IEMl) and executive director, Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH).
More than 1,250 kinds of products including houseware, home textiles, festive décor, fashion jewellery, accessories, stationery, chandeliers, garden ornaments, sustainable products, hand woven mats and toys were on display.
Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Union Minister of State for Textiles (IC), Abhishek Mishra, Minister of State for Vocational Educational and Skilled Development, UP also attended along with many dignitaries.
Bhagwat Saran Gangwar, MoS for Small Scale Industry and Export Promotion, UP was the chief guest. Sudhir Garg, principal secretary, UP also graced the occasion. Seminars on business through e-commerce, business opportunities for Indian handicrafts in latin America and YIWU China — new starting point on the new Silk Route were also organised.
Handicraft export has been growing at an average annual growth rate of 15 per cent in the last decade. However, growth in the current year was 30.80 per cent in rupee terms as compared to previous year. Exports of handicrafts during 2013-14 was Rs23,504.42 crore, Kumar said.