JPPL Wins Rajasthan's Udyog Ratna Award: What the Jury Looks At
Jagannath Polymers Pvt Ltd (JPPL), the company behind PackSmith, has received the Udyog Ratna Award from the Government of Rajasthan. Our Managing Director, Mr Pooran Mal Agarwal, received it on behalf of the company from the then Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Mr Ashok Gehlot.
That is the news. I also want to explain what this award actually checks, because a trophy photo tells you very little unless you know what was examined.
Who gives the Udyog Ratna Award?
It comes from the Department of Industries and Commerce, Government of Rajasthan, under the Rajasthan Udyog Ratna Puraskar scheme. It is for MSMEs, i.e. micro, small and medium enterprises, that are based in Rajasthan.
As per the department's press note of December 2022, which invited applications for one recent round, these are the basic rules.
- The unit must hold an MSME registration, such as Udyam.
- It must have been running continuously for the past 3 years.
- Awards are given separately to micro, small and medium enterprises, with 4 classes in each group and 1 winner per class.
- Each winner gets a ₹1 lakh cash award, a certificate and a shawl.
The prize money is modest. Nobody applies for ₹1 lakh. You apply because a government panel will look hard at your numbers, and you want to know if you pass.
What does the jury look at?
The same notice listed the areas an applicant is judged on.
- Product quality, production capacity and product development.
- Export performance.
- Environmental protection.
- Saving of resources such as electricity and water.
- Support for women entrepreneurs, which has its own class.
For a packaging maker, the first three are where the real work is. Quality and development are about whether you keep improving the product, not just selling the same roll for ten years. Exports test whether foreign buyers, who are usually stricter on documents, keep coming back. The environment point matters more every year in our trade, because plastic and paper both face new rules.
In the years before the award, these were exactly the areas we had been working on, and today we export to 20+ countries. I have told that side of the story in a separate post.
What should a buyer take from a supplier award?
I will be honest about this. An award is a snapshot of one year, judged by people who did not open your carton. It does not test the tape you will buy next month.
So use it as a starting point, and then check the things that do affect your order.
- Ask for the supplier's MSME or Udyam registration. It confirms the business is real and registered.
- Ask which certifications they hold, and get the certificate numbers. Most schemes, FSC included, have a public database where anyone can check a code.
- Order a sample and test it on your own heaviest carton, not the supplier's demo box.
- Place a second order before you decide. Consistency only shows up the second time.
If you want to start with our paper range, the honeycomb paper collection and the fanfold void fill paper are a good place to test us.
Who gets the credit?
When the news came, Mr Agarwal did not take it for himself. He said the award belonged to the whole team and to the family behind the company, and he thanked our customers, our associates and the Rajasthan government.
I agree with him. A factory does not win anything. People on the shop floor, in dispatch and in accounts win it, one order at a time.
If you are one of the buyers who placed those orders, thank you. Tell us what you are shipping and we will suggest what to test first.
