Crude supplies to the 27 million tonne refinery at Jamnagar in Gujarat will not be hit by the conflagration in the Gulf, Mukesh Ambani, chairman, Reliance Industries, said.
"All supplies have been tied up and the supply lines are open. There will be no effect for the next few weeks. The worldwide expectation is that everything will end soon," said Ambani.
Reliance Industries has set up the world's largest grassroots refinery in Jamnagar. The refinery's crude needs are expected to remain constant in 2003-04 at around 30-33 million tonne.
Ambani was speaking on the sidelines of a function organised by the Indian Merchants Chamber for presenting the IMC-Ramakrishna Bajaj National Quality Award, 2002, and the IMC-Juran Quality medal on Friday evening.
Earlier, Reliance's Hazira manufacturing division was presented the IMC-Ramakrishna Bajaj National Quality Award, 2002, for excellence in manufacturing.
"We are in a world of dramatic technological changes. We have to stretch the scope of excellence. Excellence is not a destination but a journey," Ambani said while accepting the award.
Maharashtra governor Mohammad Fazal gave away the various awards. The award for excellence in the service sector went to University of Mumbai's Institute of Chemical Technology.
The IMC-Juran Quality Medal 2002 went to R A Mashelkar, director-general, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.
"The future of the country lies in Indian IT talent," quipped Mashelkar in his acceptance speech.
Certificates of merit were presented to Surat District Cooperative Milk Producers Union, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Hindalco Industries and Chemical Process Equipments.
Earlier, in his welcome address IMC president Suresh Kotak said that the chamber had set up a Technology & Quality Improvement Committee in 1993 which was subsequently rechristened "Frontier Technology & Quality Improvement Committee".
"The main contribution of this committee has been to develop guidelines for a national quality award which would help promote quality awareness and practices in Indian industry and which gives recognition to quality achievements of Indian companies. Accordingly, the IMC-Ramakrishna Bajaj National Quality Award Trust was set up through contribution from prominent Indian companies dedicated to quality -- one of the major contributors being the Bajaj group," Kotak explained.
Niraj Bajaj, the chairman of the IMC Frontier Technology and Quality Improvement Committee said that one hundred examiners have been certified in the last six years to assess the quality of management performance of applicant companies.
