The fifth edition of the Mahindra Transport Excellence Awards program was held in New Delhi on March 4 where the who’s who of the Indian road transport sector gathered and honored the different outperformers of Indian transport.
The Mahindra Transport Excellence Awards recognize and reward various stakeholders in the trucking industry on parameters like Outperformance, Excellence, Innovation and Change Leadership, judged against the backdrop of RISE pillars – Accepting No Limits, Alternative Thinking and Driving Positive Change. The initiative, with its inclusive nature, has set for itself high standards.
The popularity and prominence of the awards has further gone up amongst the constituents of the transport community with significantly higher entries collected this year – 4,674 entries (with multiple case studies for different categories) which is 38 per cent more than last year! The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways continued to support Mahindra Transport Excellence Awards program for the third consecutive year. Besides higher numbers, the entries also exhibited better quality, more interesting stories and stronger pitch, giving all a feeling that the Transport Excellence Awards have come of age.
Mr. Abhay Damle, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, chaired the panel discussion on a very pertinent topic – Making Truck Driving an Attractive Profession – Tackling Driver Shortage. The panel discussion brought together the who’s who of the transport industry.
The panel members were Mr. Dipak Dash, Asst. Editor, Times of India; Dr. Patanjali Nayar, Regional Advisor, World Health Organization; Mr. Rajan Wadhera, President – Truck and Power Train Division, Head – Mahindra Research Valley, and Member – Group Executive Board; Mr. Abhay Damle, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways; Prof. G. Raghuram, Professor and Dean of Faculty, IIM, Ahmedabad; Mr. Piyush Tewari, Founder & CEO, SaveLife Foundation; and Mr. Gaurav Agarwal, Amicus Curiae, Supreme Court of India.
The audience comprising prominent truck fleet owners, transporters and logistics company heads and professionals, commercial vehicle dealers and financiers, senior delegates from the transport sector, faculty members from IIM, Ahmedabad, and delegates from the Mahindra Group and heads of various agencies and select media delegates were much impressed with the overall proceedings.
Immediately after the formal inauguration of the program, Mr. Nalin Mehta, CEO, MTBD, presented the report card of the Awards program, reaffirming the commitment to continue, strengthen and make more relevant this RISE initiative. He shared with the audience the fact that the Awards program is becoming bigger and better with every passing year and is attracting quality entries.
In his address, Mr. Anand Mahindra, Chairman and Managing Director, stated that over the five years MTBD has made great efforts to make the Awards more inclusive and meaningful. He recounted the crucial role played by the road transport sector. Traversing the length and breadth of India’s 4.7 million km of roads, it serves the needs of 1.1 billion people, over 90 per cent of India’s population. It gives employment to eight million people and contributes almost five per cent of the nation’s GDP.
Following Mr. Mahindra’s address, eight Saarthi Abhiyaan Essay Competition finalists were felicitated and top three winners won a chance to gift their father an opportunity to be owner of a Mahindra BLAZO 25 T truck. Winning daughters were presented BLAZO-key cut-outs along with their fathers. MTBD will pick up the down payment and on-roading cost for these trucks with easy finance options by Mahindra Finance.
Mr. Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport & Highways, who presided over this event, said that his Ministry supported and applauded the Mahindra CSR initiative, Saarthi Abhiyaan for Driver Girl Child Education, and the fact that, besides scholarship, truck drivers were given an opportunity to own a brand new truck, has set a new example.
He also elaborated the ambitions plans of his Ministry and its vital role in India’s economy, like the Rs. 4 lakh-crore contribution to economy amounting to five per cent of GDP and hundreds of thousands of people being employed through this sector.
He highlighted the fact that there is a shortage of drivers to the extent of 22 per cent and urged Mahindra to explore and support the Government in tiding over this. He also reaffirmed that while the Government focus is on waterways, then railways and then on highways, his resolve is to scale up the national highway infrastructure from the current 96,000 km to 200,000 km at the earliest. The road transport sector is in for a big boost, and Mahindra’s effort towards the truck driver community symbolized by the Mahindra Saarthi Abhiyaan is laudable indeed.
Another highlight was the Safety Awards instituted at the behest of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) for promoting safe driving or in fact safe transportation. Prominent fleet owners like Capital Roadlines, V-Trans (India) Ltd. and Premier Transport Ltd. bagged the most coveted Awards. Prominent CV financiers like Cholamandalam and ICICI Bank took away the top honors in their category, while Flora Hotel won the ‘National Winner’ Awards in the Highway Dhaba Category.
Women power making huge inroads in the male dominant road transport industry. It’s was a double whammy for Ms. Poornima Vijay Patil of Neha Transport who won both the “Youth Transport Personality of the Year” and “Lady Transport Personality of the Year” Awards.
Finally came the moment of winning a brand new Mahindra Blazo 25 truck by Ramcharan Yadav being the “Super Outperformer Driver of the Year”. As a responsible driver and family man who not only saved many lives by on-time delivery of oxygen cylinders to a hospital but ensured the education of his children and successfully passing each step of stringent Driver Jury process comprising physhomotor and psychometric tests, traffic rules and medical tests. This was really a very emotional moment for him and his family members on stage.
Thereafter, Mr. Rajan Wadhera, President – Truck and Power Train Division, Head – Mahindra Research Valley, and Member – Group Executive Board, highlighted MTBD’s contributions towards knowledge power that is doing wonders to the transporters in both their personal and professional lives through the initiatives under the umbrella of LIGHT OF KNOWLEDGE comprising of MPOWER, WAR ROOM and MENTORS’ SUMMIT in conjunction with the prestigious Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
The latest initiative in the form of the first-ever academic book on trucking, ‘Trucking Business – Cases and Concepts’ crated by eminent faculty of IIM-A and supported by Mahindra Truck and Bus, was launched by Mr. Rajan Wadhera jointly with IIM-A Faculty members – Prof. G. Raghuram, Prof. Rekha Jain, Prof. Debjit Roy, who is also the Program Coordinator for MPOWER and related initiatives, and Mr. Hemant Jha, Manager – Product Development, McGrawHill Education.
In his concluding address, Mr. Rajan Wadhera highlighted the theme of Lifetime Achievement Award and invited Dr. Pawan Goenka, Executive Director, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., and Group President, Automotive & Farm Sectors, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., to read the citation and announce the name of Mr. R. Thyagarajan, Founder and Chairman of Shriram Group, the Lifetime Achievement Awardee. Mr. Umesh Revankar, Managing Director & CEO, Shriram Transport Finance Co. Ltd., received the Award on behalf of Mr. Thyagarajan, who, in his video message, applauded the Mahindra Group for its rigor, thoroughness, neutrality and transparency in this exercise and in its general approach.
While sharing his views, Mr. Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas, praised Mahindra for its untiring efforts for the betterment of communities, while appreciating its products and services.
He recounted the fact that he owns and has gifted a Bolero to his parents and vouched for the Mahindra quality and durability. He was also amazed by the fact that Mahindra Truck and Bus decided to help truck drivers become owners as a reward for an emotive essay written by their daughters!
The six winners amongst fleet owners haulage for focus Awards and four in the Tipper Category for Mining and Construction were:
- Large Fleet Owner Category – Best Growth Strategies – SSPT Logistics; Best Fleet Management Practices – Globe Ecologistics Pvt. Ltd.
- Best Driver Management Practices – Globe Ecologistics Pvt. Ltd.
- Medium Fleet Owner Category – Best Growth Strategies Coldrush Logistics Pvt. Ltd.; – Best Fleet Management – Sankari Roadways. Best Driver Management Practices – Reema Transport Pvt. Ltd.
- Tipper Segment – Construction – Large Fleet Owner Category – BSCPL Infrastructure Ltd.; Medium Fleet Owner Category – R.K. Construction
- Mining – Large Fleet Owner Category – Sew Infrastructure Ltd.; Medium Fleet Owner Category – Prasanna Blue Metal
The fifth edition of Awards saw many innovative categories. Here are the innovations:
* For Haulage Fleet Owners’ Segment, the Awards were tailored around Best Growth Strategies, Best Fleet Management Practices and Best Driver Management Practices
* Special focus was given to the Tipper Segment with Construction and Mining as sub-categories
* Driver Awards were based on Knowledge and Skill testing through driver camps at various transport hubs across the country to include Medical Test, Traffic Rule Test, Psychometric and Psychomotor tests along with interviews with screening and Expert Jury
* Recognized new players who made their mark in short span of time through their unique vision and drive were awarded the Best Emerging Transport Business Category Award
* Taking engagement of education of the girl child one step further, the Essay Competition for the 1108 Mahindra Saarthi Abhiyaan scholarship awardees took place.