~ TATA STEEL, the only private sector company to be conferred ‘Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar’ for the second consecutive time ~

Tata Steel Ltd was today honoured with the ‘Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar’ for the second consecutive year, thereby underlining its remarkable contribution to sports spanning several decades.

The company bagged the award in the ‘Financial Support for Sports Excellence’ category. The award was received by Mr H M Nerurkar, Managing Director, Tata Steel Ltd, and Mr Raghunath Pandey, President of Tata Workers’ Union, from Her Excellency, the President of India, Mrs Pratibha Devisingh Patil, at a glittering function held at the Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi. Additionally, Mr Satish Pillai, Chief, Corporate Sustainability Services, Tata Steel and a former national level athlete was conferred the prestigious ‘Dhyanchand award for Life Time Achievement in Sports and Games’.

At Tata Steel, promotion of sports and nurturing of sportspersons by way of providing finance and state-of-the-art training facilities began in the early 1900s. It was as early as 1919 that Sir Dorab Tata, the first Chairman-cum-Managing Director of Tata Steel, financed four athletes and two wrestlers for participating in the 1920 Olympics held at Antwerp, Belgium.

Sports at Tata Steel manifests itself through three-pronged approach -- sifting and training budding sporting talent, providing world class facilities in different sports disciplines and supporting world class champions. Towards this end, Tata Steel has established sports academies of excellence in Football, Archery and Athletics besides creating infrastructure for 18 other sports disciplines and 4 Feeder Centres in rural areas. This has paid handsome dividends - 8 Padmashrees, 35 Arjuna Awardees, 21 Olympians and 32 Asian Championship Medalists.

The number of sports disciplines supported by Tata Steel has now stands at 21. A full-fledged Sports Department is in charge of sports management and administration.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Nerurkar said Tata Steel was honoured to receive the prestigious award for the second consecutive year. He said the award conferred on Tata Steel will further urge us to continue to serve the cause of sports and sportspersons in the country. “In keeping with our philosophy of improving the quality of life of the communities we serve, Tata Steel always has, and shall continue to support, nurture and promote sporting talent in the country, especially those among the rural population and tribal communities, where a huge pool of latent talent exists”. Last year, Tata Steel received the award in two categories, namely, ‘Community Sports Identification and Nurturing of Budding Young Talent’ and ‘Establishment and Management of Sports Academies of Excellence’.

About Tata Steel and Sports
Established in 1907 as one of Asia's first integrated private sector steel company, Tata Steel Group is among the top-ten global steel companies with an annual crude steel capacity of over 28 million tonnes per annum (mtpa). It is now the world's second-most geographically-diversified steel producer, with operations in 26 countries and a commercial presence in over 50. The Tata Steel Group, with a turnover of US$ 23 billion in FY '10, has over 80,000 employees across five continents and is a Fortune 500 company. The Group’s vision is to be the world’s steel industry benchmark in “Value Creation” and “Corporate Citizenship” through the excellence of its people, its innovative approach and overall conduct. Underpinning this vision is a performance culture committed to aspirational targets, safety and social responsibility, continuous improvement, openness and transparency. In 2008, Tata Steel India became the first integrated steel plant in the world, outside Japan, to be awarded the Deming Application Prize 2008 for excellence in Total Quality Management.

Tata Steel is the only Indian company to invest in world-class sports facilities, create academies and maintain and manage international level arenas. The cadets of its Tata Football Academy, the nursery for the sport in India, as well as those of the Tata Archery Academy, the only one of its kind for archery, have justified the faith that the Company has in the talent and ability of its youth. Today, a significant part of the Indian Football team, India’s best archers, some of its finest cricketers, athletes, shooters, a Grand Master and several national and international legends have realised their dreams as a result of the support they have received from TATA Steel Sports Academies.