At Tata Steel, the emphasis on excellence is so great that for the company, its associates, departments and units it acts as strongly as would a “market pull”. In 1998, under the leadership of the former Managing Director of the Company, Dr Jamshed J Irani, quality and business excellence were not only made a part of the business process but each assumed the magnitude of a movement. This brought Tata Steel great success, with the Company winning the JRD QV Award for three years in succession, and then the Sustained Excellence Award.

Simultaneously, the Company set in motion the process of ensuring that all its Divisions participated in the process, thereby strengthing its own performance. It instituted the J N Tata/ S Vishwanathan Total Quality Assurance process. This has successfully brought about a culture of adopting best practices, learning and sharing, which serves to enhance the core values of the company.

The J N Tata Awards Nite have, therefore, become an annual milestone in this journey of excellence. It marks the culmination of the improvement initiatives undertaken during the year, with their authors receiving due recognition. Celebrated this year on April 10, the theme for the Nite was “Creating the desire to excel and developing leaders at all levels.” Over 700 senior officers of the company and their spouses were invited to witness the awards and felicitations. The awards were presented to the 200 winners by the chief guest Mr R A Mashelkar, Director General, Council of Scientific and Industrial and Research (CSIR), Government of India as well as the Managing Director, Mr B Muthuraman.