T V Skaria, head of the mart, received the award, instituted by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), at a function held here.

Popy, which is a household name in Kerala, sells two lakh dozen umbrellas annually through more than 3,000 outlets. The first umbrella manufacturer in the world to get an ISO-9002 certificate, Popy claims to have a wide range of 118 varieties of umbrellas including a pocket umbrella which can be folded down to 4.5 inches. It has also manufactured the lightest umbrella which weighs 120 gm. Another unique product, is an umbrella which gives protection from ultraviolet rays.

Popy has a collaboration with Futai Umbrellas of Taiwan, mainly for cloth. Skaria said his group would launch eight varieties of umbrellas, exclusively designed by its research and development wing, this year.

It has three state-of-the-art factories at Alleppey in Kerala, Thane in Maharashtra and Falna in Rajasthan, besides a manufacturing unit in Dubai. Popy exports umbrellas to various Gulf countries and the United States.A winner of several awards, Skaria is also the chairman of the Quality Control Committee on umbrellas under the Indian Standards Institute. His father, Thayyil Abraham Varghese, who established the famous St George Umbrella Mart in Alleppey in 1954, was a pioneer in this area.