Horizons 2008 kicked off with the dignitaries lighting the traditional lamp marking the beginning of the event. Prof Anandakuttan B Unnithan, delivered the welcome address, and welcomed the guests by stressing on the need for a platform where industry leaders and practitioners can share and enlighten the future managers on the challenges and opportunities of the real world. Member of Parliament and one of the key speakers, Sachin Pilot, couldnat make it due to other commitments. However, in a letter to the students of IIMK, he emphasized on the relevance and importance of the three sectors to the Indian economy and society. Mr K Thiagarajan, CEO of Maytas Properties and Chief Guest to the inauguration delivered the inaugural address on the emerging real estate opportunities. Ms Sathya Saran (Editor, DNA-ME), former editor of Femina 1993-2005, a women journalist since 1979, shared her experiences on the various phases of change of the Indian women and the role of media in the same.

The first day of Horizons had a panel discussion as a part of the media summit. The participants of the panel discussion Mr Dinesh Jain (CEO, Zee Turner Ltd), Mr Deepak Chaurasia (Editor, Star News), Mr Pradeep Gupta (CMD, CyberMedia), Ms Sathya Saran (Editor, DNA a ME) and Ms Nisha Narayanan (Project Head, India, 93.5 S FM) discussed on the topic of ‘New Media and Next Generation’. The last session of the day had Mr Ashoka Holla, Giraffe Entertainment, giving a peek into the world of cinema.

The second day of the event concentrated on the Retail and the Real Estate sector. Mr TV Thyagharajon, VP, Reliance Retail spoke on aUnderstanding the Concept of Private Labelsa. There were two panel discussions that were held in the later part of the day. The first panel discussion had Prof Anirban Sengupta Mr Susil Dungarwal, Colonel Upendra Sachdev and Mr TV Thyagharajon discussing the topic ‘How healthy are different retail formats?’ The panelists aired their view on the current scenario of the amall concepta and scope for improvements. The second panel discussion was on ‘Pricing wars in real estate’ and speakers talked about improved interaction among builders, pricing models for real estate and the importance of low debt in the long term.

Mr Sandeep Agarwal, VP-Acquisitions, Kotak RE PE, spoke about the transaction cycle that is involved in the site development process. Other speakers on day two included Mr Sumit Chandna a AVP & Category Head, Aditya Birla Retail, Mr Amit Puri-Director-Business Development, Ivanhoe Cambridge, Mr Susil S. Dungarwal, Retail & Realty Analyst and Mr Rituraj Verma, Director-Retail, Knightfrank.

The third and final day of the event started with Mr Shivakumar, Country Head – Nokia talking about the concept of a brand and how the consumers and the marketers perceived its value. Some of the speakers on the third day included Mr K Mohandas-Former President, Architects Association of India, Colonel Upendra Sachdev-Executive Director, Indian Franchise Association and Mr Neeraj Joshi a Head Operations, Raymonds Retail.

For more information, visit http://www.horizons2008.com/