Reliance Industries receives ''Golden Peacock Innovation Award - 2005''

Reliance Industries Ltd has received the prestigious Golden Peacock Innovation Award (GPIA) for 2005 in the petroleum sector. Delhi chief minister Sheila Dixit presented the award to the company.

This year seven companies received the award in various categories out of the 116 applicants.

Ril was presented the award for development of zeolite-based sulpur selective catalyst and the process for manufacturing of para-diethylbenzene (commonly known as PDEB).

Human resources with requisite scientific competency in the area of catalysis were sourced from R&D unit of Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Ltd and engineering competencies from the RIL's Hazira unit, which implemented the catalyst and the process.

The innovation has led to development of team-competency for in-house niche technology and strategic utilisation of resources (inoperative assets being included). It has inculcated self-reliance in a way that Reliance complexes using in-house PDEB, produced 1,000mta of which 600mta was successfully used at various plants.

Besides conserving foreign exchange through total import substitution, it has broadened new business avenues as sufficient resources were available for expansion to capture the global market of the PDEB. Reliance has also filed for IPR for Indian and international patents covering the catalyst and the process.

The GPIA is open to all manufacturing and service organisations or divisions of self accounting profit / cost centre organisations in the private and public sector, and individuals.

The award categories are broadly divided into two segments — technology innovation and business innovation.