In an endeavour to strengthen the Railways’ supply chain, Southern Railway has been conducting Vendors Meet at regular intervals. The first Vendors Meet of the year 2020 was convened by the Materials Management wing today, the 7th of February, 2020 in Chennai. Shri John Thomas, General Manager, Southern Railway inaugurated the convention and delivered keynote address. Shri R.L.Rana, Principal Chief Materials Manager, Shri K.V. Subba Rayudu, Chief Materials Manager, Southern Railway, Shri T.R.Subramaniam, Asst. General Manager, State Bank of India, Shri Ramesh Mahadevan, GeM Business Facilitator also participated in Meet and addressed the gathering. The deliberations witnessed the participation of over 140 existing and potential vendors of Railways.During the meet, the participants were briefed on various policy initiatives of Government of India such as Make in India, Benefits of MSE ( Micro & Small Enterprises) Vendors and Payment through Letter of Credit (LC) . An awareness session on GEM ( Government-e-Marketplace) online procurement portal implemented in 2017 for procurement of common use goods and services by Government Departments was also conducted during the meet.As part of the event, Shri John Thomas, General Manager, Southern Railway inaugurated an Exhibition that showcased various items for which Railways seek new/ additional Vendor base. A booklet detailing the exhibits and other policy matters in connection with Railways was released during the event. Later, exclusive Q & A sessions and One-on-one interaction were held with the vendors.
