NEC Awards honour Most Preferred Brands

The North East Consumer Awards 2010 instituted by Hindi Daily Dainik Purvoday in collaboration with the Satellite TV Channel of the Northeastern Region, News Live, has been presented to the awardees in a grand function held recently at Vishwaratna Hotel, Guwahati.
The main concept behind this initiative, which was the first of its kind in the entire Northeastern region, taken by the organizers was to salute those brands of consumer products and services that millions of Northeastern people have chosen to buy, use and own. Moreover, its main objective was also to publicly identify those brands of products and services and the concerned producers and establishments which have been voted by the Northeastern consumers and users as being the best choice for excellence, durability and quality.  It is worthwhile to mention here that the Northeast Consumer Awards - 2010 has evoked much interest and impetus among the producers of different brands of commodities and service providers.
There were 30 awards in 12 categories for the North East Consumer Awards 2010. The selection of the winners was based on more than 1,000 interviews done by the Daily across eight States of the Northeastern Region, followed by the consent of an elite panel of jury members.
The awards were given away by the Speaker of Assam Assembly Sri Tanka Bahadur Rai and CMD, NEDFI in the presence of a large gathering of distinguished personalities and eminent businessmen & industrialists.
In the Consumer Durables category, Samsung has won the award for Most Preferred Brand of LCD Televisions & Washing Machines while LG won the award for Most Preferred Brand of Refrigerator and Panasonic for Plasma Televisions and Kitchen Appliances.
In the Telecom Sector, Airtel has won the award for Most Preferred Brand of Cellular Service Providers while Tata Photon+ as the Most Preferred Broadband Service Provider. Mr. George Mathen, COO, Airtel (NESA) received the award. Vodafone has emerged as the Brand of the Year. Mr. Anand Sahay, COO, Vodafone Essar received the award. Mr. Dibyajyoti Khaund, Business Head of Aircel, Mr. Bedabrata Bordoloi (RSM, Hyundai Motors) and Mr. Sankarsan Adhikari (Branch Head of LG Electronics) received the award for Corporate Leader of the Year, Young Professional of the Year and Corporate Citizen of the Year respectively.
In the Automobile Sector, Maruti, TVS and Tata Motors won the award for Most Preferred Car, Bike and Commercial Vehicle respectively.
In the Financial Services category SBI and LIC emerged as the Most Preferred Bank and Life Insurance Brand respectively.
Star Cement was the sole winner in the Infrastructure sector as Most Preferred Cement.
CEO of Airtel Rajsthan Mr. Sudipto Chowdhury and Chairman Assam Gramin Vikas Bank Mr. SN Sahu have been awarded with Life Time Achievement awards.
In the FMCG sector, ITC won the award for Most Preferred Company of FMCG Products. Mr. Sandeep Kaul, CEO, ITC (Personal Care) received the award. Mr. Dhiraj Agarwal, Director, Emami Ltd. was present at the occasion to receive the award for the company as Most Preferred Company for Personal Care Products.
In the Retail sector Big Bazar has won the award for Most Preferred Retail Outlet. ONGC outplaced OIL and AOD for Most Admirable Company in North East.
Many senior corporate leaders across the sectors including Director of Emami, CEO of ITC, CGM of SBI, Deputy National Sales Head of Panasonic, Sr. Vice-President of Tata Sky, Vice-President of Spice Mobiles, Regional Manager of Tata Motors, COO-Airtel (NESA), CEO-Airtel Rajsthan and Business Head- Aircel etc. were present during the award ceremony.