~The Ministry of Steel confers Tata Steel Limited with the Prime Minister’s Trophy for two consecutive years 2008-09 and Certificate of Excellence for the year 2009-10~

Tata Steel Limited, Jamshedpur won the Prime Minister’s Trophy for performing as the best Integrated Steel Plant (ISP) in the country during the year 2008-09 and 2009-10. The trophy awarded annually by the Prime Minister of India carries a trophy and a cash prize of Rs 2 crore.

As per the provision of Prime Minister’s Trophy Scheme, any company having won the Prime Minister’s Trophy in two successive years, receives the trophy in the first year and a Certificate of Excellence in the succeeding one. Therefore, Tata Steel will be receiving the Prime Minister’s Trophy for 2008-09 and the Certificate of Excellence for 2009-10. It is for the first time that Tata Steel has won the prestigious Certificate of Excellence.

The Company went through three rounds of rigorous assessment, wherein the enthusiasm and involvement of its employees was highly appreciated by the panel of judges for the Prime Minister’s Trophy. This reaffirmed the belief of Tata Steel’s possessing a strong and capable work unit which has a will to excel.

Tata Steel posted the most emphatic results by bettering its financial performance and making significant improvements in all areas of operations, such as production of hot metal and crude steel, quality assurance and customer satisfaction. Tata Steel is among the lowest cost producers of steel, and one of the few steel companies in the world that is EVA+. The Prime Minister’s Trophy for the Best Integrated Steel Plant was earlier conferred on Tata Steel for the years 1994-95, 1998-99, 1999-2000, 2000-01, 2001-02.

The evaluation of the award is done by a panel of judges comprising technologists, economists, consumer’s of steel and workers’ representatives on a set of criteria covering operational, financial, market, export, quality, customer satisfaction, environment and human resource related parameters.

About the Award:
The trophy instituted in 1992-93 on the suggestion of the then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao, recognizes the outstanding performance of the integrated steel plants. The award is intended to spur steel plants to achieve international standards of efficiency, quality and economy in their operations. The primary objective of the scheme is to generate a sense of competition among the steel plants so that they continuously benchmark themselves with the best and improve their performance.

As per the recommendations of the Expert Committee and amendments carried out by the Government of India, the 13 main parameters have been evolved for evaluating the performance of the integrated steel plants. They are-Steel capacity utilization, Efficiency of operations, Financial performance, Export performance, Quality of products, Environment management, Corporate Social Responsibility, Safety, Thrust on R&D, Customer satisfaction, Enabling parameters, Employees’ Satisfaction Index, Observation of the Panel of Judges based on plant visits.

About Tata Steel:
Established in 1907 as Asia's first integrated private sector steel company, Tata Steel Group is amongst the leading steel manufacturers in the world 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 countries. The Tata Steel Group, with a turnover of US$ 26.64 billion in FY '11, has over 81,000 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 aspiration 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.