Bhubaneswar: Tapan Kumar Chand, the Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD) of National Aluminium Company (Nalco), was conferred with the NIPM Ratna Award at the 37th NIPM Annual National Conference (NATCON-2018) held in Pune.

Chand got the award in recognition of his contributions to People Management and Strategic Leadership.

Dedicating the award to HR professionals in the country and the Nalco team, Chand said: “We are now in the threshold of 4th industrial revolution.”

He further said that new technologies such as artificial intelligence, internet of things, robotics, etc would play a key role in the next industrial revolution. However, challenges will increase for a country like India where about 64 per cent of its total population in the working age group.

Chand, who has also written a book called ‘Aluminium : The Strategic Metal’, urged the focus of HR should be more on small and medium sector enterprises (MSME) as employment opportunities in large and medium industries are rapidly falling.

“New HR model should enable mother plant to remain globally competitive while promoting employment ecosystem through MSMEs and employability ecosystem to bridge the skill gap in the country,” the Nalco CMD added.

The NIPM (National Institute of Personnel Management) is the highest body of HR professionals in the country organised a two-day National Conference, NATCON-2018 at Pune, wherein large number of professional from across India and abroad are participating.