Tata Steel's West Bokaro Collieries was adjudged the QIMPRO Benchmark Award 2003 in the National Category. Mr. A M Mishra, General Manager, West Bokaro Collieries received the award on behalf of the Company at a ceremony, held at Cricket Club of India, Mumbai, on November 26, 2003.

The Qimpro Foundation has adjudged Tata Steel's West Bokaro Collieires as being the Qimpro Benchmark 2003 in the National Category.

The Panel of Judges for this Award comprised several eminent personalities such as the following:

Qimpro Consultants was established as India's first dedicated TQM consulting firm, in 1987. The year 1987 was also the year of globalization of TQM through initiatives such as ISO 9000 series and Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Qimpro played a pioneering role in India's effort to join the global quality mainstream.

The West Bokaro Colliery is both ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 certified. It not only meets the coal requirements of the steel plant but also supplies coal to power plants, brickilns and other steel plants. In addition to producing coking coal, it also produces middlings and tailings. The collieries produce about 4.4 million tonnes of coal. It is committed to meeting the stringent requirements of its customers. It has been successful in lowering the ash content thereby improving the quality of coal leading to greater customer satisfaction, both within and outside the company. By improvement and productivity initiatives the mine has enabled the direct injection of coal in the Blast Furnaces thereby reducing the coke usage rate.