Congregation of hospitality purchasing heads featuring Interactive knowledge based sessions, B2B meetings, networking sessions with more than 250 professionals and the HPMF Procurement Excellence Awards.

Photo Credit : (L to R) Debasish Pattnaik, MD, Crown Hotels; Dilip Ray, Chairman & MD Mayfair Group of Hotels & Resorts Limited; Ashok Chandra Panda, Honorable Minister, Tourism, Govt. of Odisha; Mohan Deshpande, Chairman HPMF; Giriraj Singh ji Lotwara, President Shree ,

THE HOSPITALITY Purchasing Managers’ Forum (HPMF) marked their sixth anniversary with Learning, Leisure, Awards and undying Memories at the Annual Convention and AWards held at Mayfair Lagoon, Bhubaneshwar, November 17-20, 2016.

The gathering SAW over 250 hospitality purchasing managers came from Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, New Delhi, Chennai, Goa, Guwahati, Jaipur, Indore, Nagpur, Vadodara, Bhubaneswar and Puri, spend two days of debates, discussions, meetings and fun, according to a programme put together by Nitin Nagrale, General Secretary & Founder of HPMF and the core committee including Chairman Mohan Deshpande, General Manager Materials Hotel Aureole; Teckbahadur Sarke, Manager Hotel Sahara Star - Mumbai & Aamby Valley City - Lonavala (Pune); Harvey Rodrigues Director Procurement - Hotel Meluha The Fern and Hotel Rodas An Ecotel Hotel; Mahendra Shinde, Materials Manager – The Resort Mumbai; Ganpat Dalvi – Director Procurement Four Seasons Mumbai, Jaideep Gupta, Operations, Procurement and Pre-opening professional; and Gary Coutinho, Supply Chain Manager Devyani Airport Services.

Inaugurated by Ashok Chandra Panda, Minister of Tourism and Culture, Government of Odisha, the occasion was also graced by His Highness Giriraj Singh Lotwara, President of Shree Rajput Sabha, Jaipur; Dilip Ray, CMD of Mayfair Hotels; Debasis Pattnaik, Director, Crown Hotels; Lion Pankaj Mehta; and Souvagya Mohapatra, Executive Director, Mayfair Hotels among others.

Highlighting the importance of purchasing managers, who are more a background artist, Mohapatra said, “From every tile in the floor to the entire structure, purchase is involved. They play an important role in material, marketing and money management.”
Adding to Mohapatra, Debasis Pattnaik said, “Purchase managers are not visible on the foreground but they are like platelet in the blood.”

The need for HPMF is in bringing together the purchase heads of hotels on one platform to network, explore new aspects of purchasing and gather knowledge of the advantages of technology in purchase. “I am elated to host HPMF in Bhubaneswar,” said Nitin Nagrale, thanking Mayfair Hotels and the supporting vendors for successfully organizing the convention.

In continuation, Mohan Deshpande said, “Purchasing Managers are an integral part of the industry and they need to understand & showcase their own value”.

This year’s Living Legend Award was conferred on Sundaram RM, Vasantabhavan Hotels India Pvt Ltd and Basil Christopher Massey, Duet India Hotels. The Life Time Achievement Award was given to Narinder Kapoor, The EIH Ltd.

There was stiff competition in the other categories and the panel of jury had to rework to emerge with the most deserving winner. “While we started planning and preparing this event more than six months back, the awards were put together in 45 days,” said Nitin Nagrale. The winners in the other categories are:

Most Innovative Procurement Person of the Year: Parag Pawar, Purchase Manager, Royal Orchid Central, Pune

Most Innovative Procurement Person of the Year: Hara Prasad Balliarsingh, Senior Manager, Mayfair Lagoon and Convention, Bhubaneswar

Best Cross Functional Procurement Leader of the Year: Mahendra Shinde, Materials Manager, Hotel The Resort, Mumbai

Best Procurement Person of the Year – Male: Boominathan Panchanathan, Commercial Manager, Fortune Select Grand, Chennai

Best Procurement Person of the Year – Female: Shikha Sharma, Retreat Hotel and Convention Centre, Mumbai

Best Use of Innovative Technology for Procurement: Ram Vriksh Dwivedi, Assistant Materials Manager, The Lalit, Mumbai

Special Jury Award: Vijayanand Thantri, Head Procurement - Intellistay Hotels, Mumbai

Superman of the Year Award: Abdul Kareem, Purchase Manager, The Leela, Chennai

Best Use of Green Initiative as a Team: C. Rajendiran and team, Novotel Ibis Sipkot, Chennai

Change Maker Award: Teckbahadur Sarke, Sahara Star Hotel, Mumbai

Change Maker Award: Gary Coutinho, Devyani International, Mumbai