2018 Mahindra Transport Excellence Awards reaches new heights, enters its 8th edition

The 8th edition of the Mahindra Transport Excellence Awards proved to be the best platform for recognising people for their outstanding work towards the betterment of the Indian Transport Industry as a whole.

Mahindra & Mahindra has always taken a keen interest in developing the Indian Transport Industry in its own ways. The world-renowned company was already providing India with some of the finest commercial vehicles, but that wasn’t enough. The company was looking for something different to give back to the nation and to its people who invest their lives in the transport industry.

After a lot of brainstorming, Mahindra & Mahindra decided to establish a new platform which would give recognition to the outperformers of Indian transport and also take up a variety of crucial topics that needed national public discussion. This resulted in the birth of Mahindra Transport Excellence Awards in 2011. Through all these years, it proved to be the best platform for recognising people for their outstanding work for the betterment of the Indian Transport Industry as a whole. Now, it has reached its 8th edition, the ceremony was organised on 19th March 2019 at Hotel Ashok, New Delhi. The event witnessed an enormous footprint that included some of the biggest names linked to the Indian Transport Industry.

The primary objective of the 2018 Mahindra Transport Excellence Awards remains the same - to recognise 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 very high standards. Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has always supported the Mahindra Transport Excellence Awards in the past and continued to do so for the 6th consecutive year.

Highlights of the Awards Ceremony –

Apart from giving away the prestigious awards, this year’s event had a panel discussion on the topic ‘Commercial Vehicles and Road Safety’ which put the limelight on the roles of various transport ecosystem stakeholders to enhance road safety. Attending the discussion was a large audience comprising of prominent truck fleets owners, transporters, logistics company heads and professionals, commercial vehicle financiers, MTB dealers, senior delegates from transport sector, faculty members from IIM Ahmedabad, heads of various agencies and select media representatives and delegates from Mahindra Group, led by Dr. Pawan Goenka, Managing Director, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. and Mr. Rajan Wadhera, President, Automotive Sector, Member – Group Executive Board and President – Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.

The panelists who were a part of the discussion included Shri Y. S. Malik, Hon Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Government Of India, Mr. Vinod Sahay, CEO, Mahindra Truck and Bus Division and Mahindra Construction Equipment Division; Mr. Rakesh Batra, Partner & Sector Leader Automotive, Ernst & Young LLP; Mr. Arun Bagavathi, Vice-President, Supply Chain Operations, Delhivery Pvt. Ltd.; Mr. Chirag Katira, Director, SNGT Pvt Ltd.; Ms. Tanvi Naik, Director, Reema Transport; Mr. Rajkumar Gupta, Head - National Logistics, ACC, Ms. Yogita Raghuvanshi, Lady HCV Truck Driver.

The report card of the Award program was presented by Mr. Vinod Sahay, Chief Executive Officer, Mahindra Truck and Bus and Mahindra Construction Equipment Division. He shared the fact that with every passing year the Award program is becoming bigger and better, also it is attracting quality entries. Further, Mr. Sahay shed light of the transparency and robustness of the Award Jury Process.

Awards and award winners -

Group 1– SCV & LCV Winners & Runner ups

Ravi Integrated Logistics India won the Outperformers in Business up to 50 CVs award whereas for more than 50 CVs it was Vaishali Transcarriers with the winning crown. Moving forward, Supermarket Grocery Supplies won the Outperformers in Perishable Goods Transportation award. The award for Outperformers in Urban Public Services Transportation was given to BVG India. Shadowfax Technologies was presented with the Dream Chasers award. Blue Dart won the Outperformers in Courier/eCommerce Transportation award, and the Youth Transport Personality award was given to Virendra Chaudhary, Algor Supply Chain Solutions.

Group 2– ICV & HCV Winners & Runner ups

Saran Transports and Avana Logistek won the award for the Outperformers in Business up to 100 CVs and more than 100 CVs, respectively. The Emerging Transport Business of the Year award was given to Venture Supply Chain. Raghunadan Selvarathinam, Saran Transports bags in the Youth Transport Personality award whereas the Lady Transport Personality award was given to Divya Pillai, Excel Transporters. The last award in the group, the Fleet Driver award was won by Chhatarapal Singh, N.K. Transport.

Present at the Award Programm was Shri Y.S. Malik, Hon Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, GOI. Speaking at the event praised the Jury Process as one great learning experiences. Also, he praised the Mahindra Group for coming up with such recognition platform for one of the important sectors of the economy. Shri Malik further said ‘Transport ecosystem as a whole is hugely impacting the economy and it is hearting to note that the changes in the technology and safety of vehicles are not being pushed by so much through rules and the government regulations, but by the end user who are demanding the same from the OEMs to meet their expectation and requirement.’

Super Outperformer - Driver of the year award

Chhatarapal Singh from N.K. Transport was given this award for his excellent leadership. He has 16 years’ experience and mentors other fleet drivers of the company to improve their performance. He also has immense knowledge of all the traffic rules, and he passed each step of rigorous Driver Jury process comprising of psychomotor, psychometric, and medical tests. Chhatarapal Singh was also awarded a Mahindra BLAZO X 25 T truck.

Ecosystem Awards -

Under this group, there were 6 awards categories in total. The Outperformance in Integrated Logistics Services award was given to DHL Supply Chain India. Shell India Markets won the Torch Bearers of Safety award. The Logistics Manager of the Year winner was Vijay Shetty, BASF India. The Commercial Vehicle Financier - Fleet Owners’ Choice award was won by Cholamandalam Finance. And the last Highway Dhaba award was grabbed by Mulla Dhaba.

Taking the even forward, Mr. Vinod Sahay and Ms. Sheetal Mehta, Executive Director, K.C. Mahindra Education Trust announced the launch of Version 2.0 of the Mahindra Saarthi Abhiyaan via a pre-recorded video message. It was done in collaboration with Nanhi Kali Project, for the Teen Aged Girls (TAGs) of Commercial Load Vehicle Drivers.

Special Recognition Awards -

There were a total of 6 special recognition awards in the 8th edition of Mahindra Transport Excellence Awards ceremony. These awards were given to the following-

1- Delhivery Pvt. Ltd for becoming one of the leading logistics and supply chain services companies in India, and one of the fastest growing in this space.

2- SIS Group – For being a shining example of ‘Rise to excellence’ by becoming a leading security services company in India with leadership positions in cash logistics and facility management services.

3- The Akshaya Patra Foundation was given special recognition for their ‘Driving Positive Change’ initiative. They are the world’s largest (not-for-profit run) Mid-Day Meal Programme serving wholesome food to over 1.76 million children from 15,024 schools across 12 states in India.

4- Delhi Jal Board & Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry - This recognition was given to 200 sewer cleaning machines mounted on light commercial vehicles to ensure safety and dignity of human life. These vehicles have been provided to skilled manual scavengers making them ‘sani-entrepreneurs’. It is a matter of great pride that these cleaning machines have been mounted on ‘Mahindra DI3200 Jayo’.

5- Sandeep Sahi, Head Constable, Delhi Police – Known as the Helmet Cop, Sandeep books traffic violators and gifts them a free helmet at the end of the counselling session. The Mahindra Transport Excellence Awards recognized his brilliant work as a shining Torchbearer of Safety and pledged 100 helmets to his noble cause. He was given a helmet as a symbol of the same.

6-3S Sara Plast – For bringing about a change in the Indian Sanitation area especially for women through their ‘Washroom on Wheels’ Initiative.

Other Activities -

The 2018 Mahindra Transport Excellence Awards ceremony had a few other activities as well which are worth mentioning

In continuation of Mahindra Saarthi Abhiyaan Outperformer contest, last year a short story competition was introduced for the scholarship winner truck drivers’ daughters in collaboration with literary partners, #TellMeYourStory. The book - "Come Home Papa” - was launched at the event. It includes shortlisted stories and has been published by Amaryllis, Manjul Publishing. The Mahindra Saarthi Abhiyaan Outperformer Contest winner is Bersha Kumari, MTech - Cloud computing, Assistant professor in Jaipur.

IIM Ahmedabad decided to capture the developing story of MTB as a Challenger Brand and convert it into a prestigious case study. Prof Arvind Sahay, Professor of Marketing and International Business and Prof Amit Karna, Chairperson, Placements and Chairperson, Business Policy Area, were present at the award ceremony and formally launched the case.

The 2018 Mahindra Transport Excellence Awards definitely reached new heights. It is getting bigger and better with every passing year and is also attracting better quality entries. It has a fair, robust, and transparent jury process which selects the winners. We hope the next edition of the Mahindra Transport Excellence Awards reaches never seen numbers than ever before.

Dr. Pawan Goenka, Managing Director, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., then addressed the gathering and congratulated the winners for their contribution towards driving the change. He praised 'Alternative thinking' role for its approach in driving the change. In his speech, he got emotional on the fact how Mahindra Transport Excellence Awards during its course of 8-years have emerged as a platform that showcases passionate human stories, which in Dr. Goenka’s view is the biggest achievement of this platform.

This was followed by the Concluding Remarks that were delivered by Mr. Rajan Wadhera, President, Automotive Sector, Member – Group Executive Board and President – Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers. After that, Mr. Wadhera reinforced 2019 Award Programm theme, i.e., CHANGE. Further, he thanked all for being part of the ceremony.