Mumbai: Mr. Anand Mahindra, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Mahindra Group, was felicitated with the Qimpro Platinum Standard (Business) 2008 award at a recent ceremony, which was attended by an eminent group of corporate leaders. Instituted by the Qimpro Foundation, the Qimpro awards highlight the quality achievements of extra ordinary individuals in an era of performance excellence.

Recognised as a ''national statesman for excellence in business practices'', Mr. Mahindra’s citation said he was 'a prime-mover of excellence in the manufacturing and service sectors, in rural and urban India. He is the face of New India in America, Asia, Africa, Australia and Europe; for the global farm equipment and utility vehicle sectors.'

The citation further mentioned, 'For the past decade, Mr. Mahindra has advocated that quality is no longer a differentiator, but a pre-requisite to enter markets – locally and globally. He has also advocated that inspecting quality in our products, services and processes is a defensive route to excellence. The correct approach, he believes is to build quality into the design of our services, and processes. Achieving this excellence requires focus and determination. The Anand Mahindra way.'

Accepting the award, Mr. Mahindra spoke of how the Indian industry has gone through a ''manthan'', a churning, and has now reached a high position. Today, he said, India is not just a low-cost manufacturing country; it is ''a low-cost, high quality'' manufacturing country. He said that while our quality of manufacturing has never been as good as it is today, we must ask ourselves if this is enough. To conclude, he said that businesses should strive not just to improve the quality of industry but also to improve the quality of life.

About The Mahindra Group

The US $6.7 billion Mahindra Group is among the top 10 industrial houses in India. Mahindra is the market leader in multi-utility vehicles in India It made a milestone entry into the passenger car segment with the Logan. Mahindra & Mahindra is the only Indian company among the top tractor brands in the world.

The Group has a leading presence in key sectors of the Indian economy, including the financial services, trade, retail and logistics, automotive components, after-market, information technology and infrastructure development. Mahindra has recently made an entry in the two-wheeler segment which will see the company emerge as a full-range player with a presence in almost every segment of the automobile industry.

Mahindra's Farm Equipment Sector is the proud recipient of the Japan Quality Medal, the only tractor company worldwide to be bestowed this honour. It also holds the distinction of being the only tractor company worldwide to win the Deming Prize. The US based Reputation Institute recently ranked Mahindra among the top 10 Indian companies in its Global 200: The World's Best Corporate Reputations list.

Mahindra is also one of only four Indian companies to receive an A+ rating from the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) for its first Sustainability Report.