PMI South Asia Awards 2021

Each year, PMI South Asia confers awards to organizations for executing projects with excellence. This year was no different, and awards were given to deserving organizations that completed daunting projects with high quality outcomes — an endeavor that serves to inspire other project management practitioners. Here is a snapshot of the awards given in multiple categories in this year’s PMI conference.

Project of the Year (Large): Winner
Project: Goods & Services Tax (GST): One Nation, One Tax
Organization: Infosys

Highlights

● To provide taxpayers a uniform online experience across the country, while providing a homogeneous and robust IT backbone for the smooth functioning of the GST regime.
● The project scope also included integrating systems of multiple government agencies to create an efficient and user-friendly system.
● Currently, the system is capable of handling 300,000 users concurrently with a response time of two seconds and a processing rate of 50,000 transactions per second.
● Revenue increase of US$ 46.1 billion (till 4 April 2021) was recorded, which was higher than previous regimes.
● GST project held as a reference architecture for future implementation of open-source stack leveraging microservice & application program interface.

---

Project of the Year (Medium): Winner
Project: Cricket Stadium, Motera, Gujarat
Organization: Larsen & Toubro Limited (L&T)


Highlights

● Aimed at building a new stadium with a seating capacity of 1.10 lakh spectators without any change in the built-up area of 63 acres of the old demolished stadium.
● Upon completion, the seating capacity was increased to 1.32 lakh spectators against the original plan.
● The stadium became the world’s largest stadium, surpassing the Melbourne Cricket Stadium in Australia.
● Project was completed in 21 million safe human hours without any time lost due to injury.

---

Project of the Year (Medium): Runner Up
Project: Execution of Model Sub Division Works in E8 Sub Division of Shivaji Nagar Division, BESCOM
Organization: L&T, Power, Transmission and Distribution


Highlights

● A pilot project awarded by the Government of Karnataka for providing safe, reliable, quality, and affordable power supply to consumers.
● Project completed within the stipulated time, while adhering to the safety and quality systems with minimum inconvenience to the public.

---

Project of the Year (Small): Winner
Project: Construction of Store Depot, Scrap Yard & Associated Electrical Work at Sabarmati, Ahmedabad
Organization: RITES Limited

Highlights

● For India’s first bullet train project between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, old existing railway infrastructure and utilities needed to be shifted to create space for new terminals and workshops.
● The National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited engaged the services of RITES for shifting the infrastructure and other utilities.
● The shifting work was completed during the COVID-19 lockdown and a modern store depot was put in place with latest security and safety features.

---

Project of the Year (Small): Runner Up
Project: Walmart Labs India
Organization: HMPL Consulting Pvt. Ltd.

Highlights

● Development of a state-of-the-art corporate facility involving multiple stakeholders, including architects, interior design team, IT specialists, and the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) team.
● Purpose was to create a ‘smart workplace’ that is scalable and future-proofed.
● Delivered in time despite COVID-19 related constraints, with the deployment of teams in shifts while complying with the guidelines and project management mechanisms.

---

Project of the Year (Micro): Winner
Project: Shikhar
Organization: State Bank of India

Highlights

● Aimed at generating leads for pre-approved credit cards by taking into account the financial propensity of customers most of whom were high-net worth individuals.
● Artificial intelligence and machine learning models were created to generate a customer score, based on which a decision was taken whether to pursue a lead or not.
● Successful in the achievement of the objectives within cost and time constraints validating the in-house capabilities of the organization’s IT wing.
● The final outcome of the project was a conversion rate of 10 percent, which was equivalent to USD 4.2 million in fee-based income.

---

Project of the Year (Micro): Runner Up
Project: Hardware Development for EAC Inverter in Fuel Cell Application
Organization: Robert Bosch Engineering & Business Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

Highlights

● Development of inverters for electric air compressor (EAC) for fuel cell based electric vehicles.
● Came up with a prototype for a functional model in less than eight months, while abiding by the Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DFMA) requirements.
● The final product is capable enough to withstand the thermal and EMC targets.

---

Project of the Year (NGO Category): Winner
Project: Puthri
Organization: Avtar Human Capital Trust

Highlights

● Sought to create “career intentionality” among 10,000 underprivileged girls aged between 13 and 18 years studying in government schools in 2020.
● During COVID-19, the project faced challenges due to the closure of schools, but was revived through online sessions.
● More than 200 sessions were conducted in virtual mode which included interventions from mentoring and role modelling to career coaching.
● Participants were enlightened about career prospects in manufacturing, civil services, engineering, accounting, audit services, and humanities.
● In the last academic year, the project had impacted 5,000 and 300+ volunteers who contributed over 10,500 volunteering hours.

---

Project of the Year (NGO Category): Runner Up
Project: Heart Tribal Development Project, Barwani District, Madhya Pradesh
Organization: Heart Tribal Development Project, Barwani District, Madhya Pradesh

Highlights

● The project aimed at intensive capacity building among the farmers, youth, and women in Barwani district and reducing the usage of tobacco and alcohol.
● About 400 people were directly impacted by the program, with 80 widows and old persons receiving pensions through the project.
● About 90 percent of the households were provided toilets under the Swachh Bharat mission, 700 were provided LPG connections, and 21,000 samplings were planted.

---

Contribution to Community Category: Winner
Project: Construction of 551-Bed COVID-19 Hospital
Organization: Tata Projects Limited

Highlights

● The project was mobilized as part of a CSR activity by Tata Sons; construction was done using precast and prefab materials.
● Construction of 551-bed COVID-19 hospital, including quarantine, isolation, and staff rooms.
● The entire hospital was finished in record time of 92 days, which was 16 days ahead of the targeted project completion date, despite COVID-related closures and lockdowns.
● More than 1,500 patients have utilized the facility so far. The project was instrumental in creating employment opportunities for the local workforce.
● The project received appreciation from the Government of Kerala.

---

Contribution to Community Category: Runner Up
Project: Video Integration & State Wide Advance Security (VISWAS)
Organization: Gujarat Police

Highlights

● Initiated by the Gujarat home department, the project sought to improve the safety of citizens and integrate traffic management through the usage of CCTVs.
● Over 7,000 cameras have been installed in 41 cities, including 34 district headquarters and six religious places, along with the Statue of Unity.
● The project has helped in reducing the crime rate by 22.8 percent, and crime detection has improved from 76 to 83 percent during 2018-2020.
● Going by the statistics reported for traffic management, the project reduced the occurrence of accidents by 28.79 percent during 2018-2020.