OREANDA-NEWS. JSW Steel, India's leading steel manufacturer has won the prestigious Prime Minister's Trophy for excellence in performance for the year 2012-13. The trophy will be awarded to JSW Steel's Vijayanagar plant, situated in Karnataka, for being the best integrated steel plant in the country based on overall performance and different parameters. It is awarded annually by the Prime Minister of India and carries a trophy along with a cash prize of Rs 2 crore. JSW Steel's Vijayanagar facility is the first integrated steel plant in the country to produce 10 million tonnes of steel from a single location.

The evaluation for the award is done by a panel of judges comprising technologists, economists, consumers of steel and workers' representatives on a set of criteria covering operational, financial, market, export, quality, customer satisfaction, environment and human resource related parameters. The company went through multiple rounds of rigorous assessments, wherein the enthusiasm and involvement of its employees along with the plant's technical excellence was highly appreciated by the panel of judges for the Prime Minister's Trophy.

Dr Vinod Nowal, deputy managing director, JSW Steel said, “Winning the Prime Minister's Trophy for our Vijyanagar facility is a matter of great pride for us and reinforces our commitment to pursue excellence in all our endeavours. I am confident that this award will go a long way in setting new benchmarks in efficiency and practices.”

At present, JSW Steel operates six steel making facilities in different locations across the country and this is the first time when the company has being awarded with PM's Trophy. The prestigious award will be conferred by Honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a ceremony to be held in New Delhi. The award is intended to spur steel plants to achieve international standards of efficiency, quality and economy in their operations.

Earlier, JSW Steel had won the Steel Minister's Trophy twice, during 2007-08 & 2011-12. The then Union Minister of Steel Veerabhadra Singh had handed over the trophy for the year 2007-08 when he was in Vijayanagar to flag-off the Hot Strip Mill (HSM)-II in July 2010.