Finance-Purchase & Inventory

The main function of Purchase & Inventory department involves the procurement of materials, consumables as well as non- consumables, for ARCI's R&D activities. The procurement consists of both domestic and foreign purchases. With ARCI's growing spectrum of activities, the role of the Purchase & Inventory department has assumed increasing importance. The collaborative programmes and project-mode tasks undertaken by ARCI demand time-bound execution of tasks and this department has taken several progressive steps to ensure that are no procurement related delays.

Activities in the Purchase & Inventory department commences with the receipt of indent from the indenting officers, getting the indents approved by the competent procurement committee, floating of enquiries, opening of tenders, preparation of comparative statements (both technical and commercial), negotiations with the vendors (wherever considered necessary), placement of purchase order, receipt of materials and processing the payments. In case of foreign purchase, additional activities of opening of Letters of Credit (LC) and payments through the LC are also involved.

Major activities of the Purchase & Inventory department procedures are computerized through an in-house Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system which follows a predetermined workflow. The Department is alert to the needs of the indenting officers and when required, puts the procurement process on fast-track without comprising any of the prescribed procedures, so that the activities of the Centre are not affected. A judicious use of the computerized environment at ARCI has greatly facilitated the purchase operations.