In 2010 on 26th November we Officially launched HPMF. We were three of us three founders Mr. Mohan Deshpande, Dr. Sanjay Goyal and myself. So we were Hotelier we were working in the different hotels and then the thought came to my mind first wherein I started my career I was working in Taj Mahal Hotel wherein I had lot of people who I was reporting we had assistant manager, manager , general manager in purchasing it was a big organization Taj Mahal Hotel and towers but after working there for 5 years I moved on and joined The Regent and there I Become the Sole Responsible person for the purchase department.

I was a frontliner , I had to report to the GM I also had to bring in goods and supplies myself so what happened was the role from having somebody to protect you change to I had to protect my team that I have to take care of the team, I had to organize all suppliers and suddenly I realize that the world was different when you have somebody to guide that it becomes easy but when you have to guide people you have to be very very knowledgeable, responsible and answerable.

That time we didn’t have portals like Google, or Rediff or anybody else what we used to rely on world we have a huge yellow pages it was a book which consisted of supplier or service provider of different categories and we also had this markets within the city like Lohar chowk, Kapda bazar we had many other markets within the city but than the knowledge is limited. So what used to happen was that we used to call each other different purchase managers and ask them from where did you get this service from who is the supplier. So that was the limited exposure which we had but that time no hotelier were friends, they would consider the other hotel as a competition and there was very limited exchange of information

We have identified 150 purchase managers from the members and we have created a 100-point agenda for the next three years. So this 100 points agenda talks not only about development, it gives strategies of what we mean by development. So training, creation of training modules, affiliation with different education institutes, affiliation with international hospitality chains, affiliation with purchasing managers from different countries, enrolling ourselves with different institutes, creating small and flexible and accessible courses for entry-level purchase professionals to professional purchase managers and many more.

We have also created a beautiful strategic road map for us to reach more than 60,000 in the next three years. We are at the moment little over 6000 members within these countries but we would like to now start bringing in people at the assistant manager and at the supervisory level all within our wing so that a larger number of people get the opportunity to learn and all of that comes at zero cost. There is no charge at all. We have a static website already which is operational but we will have an interactive website, which will give more information through live chatting, live video calling, training sessions, question-answer sessions, uploading of information, galleries, video calls, webinars and a lot more. We have a great partner based in the USA and with them, we will also create an inter-fraternity and inter-industry information sharing soon.

So this 100-point agenda with the help of 150 top purchase managers who are members of HPMF will come into place in the next two months. We have created 10 groups and every 10 groups has 10 points approximately.

As soon as we start developing the skills of purchase managers, their visions will be wider and help them be more open to dealing with not just local suppliers but domestic suppliers which would help all the vendors of the nation. It’s like a purchase manager based in Srinagar buying products from a supplier who is based in Coimbatore. That was not the case before or maybe you might talk about a person based in Nagaland buying products from Gujarat a vendor based out of Gujarat we are all connected. So what’s happened is there is a lot of exposure being provided to the buyer and through the buyer, automatically the suppliers are getting expert, they are getting a lot of exposure too. This would open up the trade market widely. Not just the suppliers are getting benefited, but the service providers, their employees, and their families also get benefited because we are all open and ready to buy products from different areas geographically.

When we start setting up the norms for purchase it helps in educating the suppliers because then they have to bring that kind of quality standard for that they themselves start getting certifications. Once they learn, they train their own staff, they do their own investment for their own benefits and there is a huge amount of ROI which is taking place now, even faster than before.

The entire ecosystem is been helped just because the purchase managers are getting more knowledgeable.

Oh! It’s totally a different ball game altogether. So there is huge planning which happens with such high-end weddings and events. The world sees only the end result, there is a lot of planning that goes in. I can share an example of Deepika Padukone’s wedding or both of Mr Ambani’s children’s marriages. I was involved, as I used to work with the company called Foodlink as a vice president of material. And there were a lot of products which we had bought from different countries including fruits, vegetables, certain groceries, some amount of cutlery, so everything else. There is a wide list of items from different regions that have to be brought to make this event successful. At that time, we had not imagined what it would be, how it would be, and where we would buy it from. Especially for internationally sourced items, searching and reaching the vendor is one challenge while applying for permits from the Government of India is another.

Everything had to be imagined, everything had to be planned and it had to be bought at the right time to avoid excessive costs which included the cost comparison via Airlift versus shipmates, some small couriers, or in fact, there were some instances wherein we had to fly people to buy things, people to fly out, people to buy and then bring them officially pay duty and everything.

There was intense cash flow management, there was inventory management and then bringing all of that together to help the operations to be on top of it. Whenever working for these celebrity events the biggest challenge is, as they have seen the world they expect anything more than that because their guests are of international standard and they want to impress them. Hence everything has to be out of the world, be it décor, food, styling, and taste obviously expected to be the best. At the same time the presentation of crockery, cutlery or chafing dishes all of that was different. So everything had bowled down to the planning and creating a great experience.

It was definitely great handwork. So in hotels, this kind of event does not come at the last minute. There is huge planning, every department gets involved and there are a lot of logistics which happen, a lot of cash flow which gets affected and all of that ultimately helps in curating such kinds of events.

So, outside people are knowledgeable and well-read, for sure. When I visit international seminars or exhibitions, I observe those purchase managers are really very knowledgeable, but they are too dependent on technology. What’s good about Indians is, we get into the details of everything, and we break down those costs. The way we calculate, the cost-benefit analysis evaluation is much better. At the same time, we are better negotiators and we are better relationship managers. India must take the flag and also raise that flag and tell the world that we are much better.

As far as our international exposure is concerned we are learning but our inbuilt negotiations are our strength. Human interactions and public relations are still way above technology for us.

Techniques are an inbuilt ability to influence people and are helping us to be better so that the world can learn from us.