All Articles

pagalguy_news · February 27, 2012, 11:12am

The IIM Rohtak Campus

The Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Rohtak, which became operational in 2010, completed the summer placements for its second Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) batch. A total of 147 offers were made by 67 organisations, of which those by 55 companies were accepted by the students of the PGDM class of 2013.

Out of the total batch of 123, one did not participate in the summer placement process, opting out to pursue an internship at Ernst & Young that he had secured by winning a business plan competition. According to the school, one student from the batch will intern abroad.

Batch Strength	123
No of companies who made offers	67
No of companies whose offers were accepted	55
No of students who opted out of the process	1
No of students who got an international offer	1

With six offers from each, Ernst & Young, IFFCO and Tata Industries were the top recruiters at IIM Rohtak summer placements. Marketing and finance were the leading functions, hiring 29% and 27% of the batch respectively.

Function wise drilldown

Marketing: Profiles ranging from sales, Internet marketing, market research, branding and B2B marketing were offered by Tata Motors, Coca Cola, ITC, Berger Paints, Business Standard, Tata Power, Tata DOCOMO, Siemens, Reliance Communications, Pitney Bowes, McCann Erikson, Draft FCB Ulka, Dalmia Cements and IMRB.

Finance: Profiles in corporate finance, investment banking, asset management, retail banking, project finance and financial modeling were offered by companies such as ICICI Bank, Max India, Birla Sun Life Insurance, SBI Mutual Funds, Yes Bank, IIFCL, Canara Bank, Tata Capital, Bank of Baroda and GMR Group.

IT, Strategy & Consulting: Organizations such as Ernst & Young, Rediff, Motorola, IBM, TCS, iMax Technologies and TVS Motors offered roles in the IT as well as strategy and consulting functions.

Operations and General Management: Top firms in this function included Tata Motors, Benchmark Six Sigma, Ashok Leyland, TVS Motors, Voltas, Tata Power, Subros and Jaipur Rugs.

The institute provided a further drilldown into sub-functions under marketing and sales.

And also sectors and sub-functions that offered finance internships.

pagalguy_news · March 1, 2012, 11:55am

Harvard Business School announced the launch of a new classroom in India inside the Taj Land's End hotel complex in Mumbai. The new space is on the same lines as the classrooms in the schools Boston campus and will provide students and participants an opportunity to have a true Harvard Business School case method learning experience, said a school press statement issued today.

Harvard offers executive education programs in India, apart from organising research conferences.

The new classroom has a seating capacity of over 82 students and will offer multimedia facilities that will augment the educational experience of the students. Using the new classroom, Harvard Business School faculty will offer programs and symposia to leaders in business, government and academia on a wide range of subjects such as Corporate Social Responsibility, Building a Global Enterprise, and Case Writing and Course Development.

India is a key component of Harvard Business Schools global strategy, said dean Nitin Nohria in the press statement. Our aspiration is to expand our intellectual footprint by working with business, government and academic leaders from across the country, all the while contributing to important discussions about Indias long-term economic growth.

Harvard Business School was founded in 1908 as a part of Harvard University and is located on a 40-acre campus in Boston.

tanuja_jaishree · March 1, 2012, 4:20pm

Coupled with the global turmoil and the slowing economic growth rate back home, this placement season has been tougher compared to the previous year at India's leading business schools. While the number of companies participating in the placement process have more or less remained the same, the number of offers made by each company has certainly dipped. Human resource consulting companies too are feeling the heat of a chilly job market, while corporate India says that they expect things to look up in the near future.

Department of Management Studies (DMS), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi admitted that the number of offers made by companies had dwindled in this placement season."Companies have adopted a conservative approach as far as hiring is concerned. They have limited themselves to a certain number and are not overshooting that," said Sanjeev Priyam Chandran H, student co-ordinator, DMS, IIT Delhi. "However, they have been more generous as far as summer internships go," he observed.

"FMCG, banking and finance firms are not making as many pre-placement offers (PPOs) as they had been making a year ago. Even though we have placed nearly everyone, the difference is that last year there were over 80 offers made for a batch of 52, whereas this year we have had 90 odd offers for a batch of 97 until now," he said. While companies from the FMCG and finance sector had decelerated the hiring process, IT was performing well this season, he added.

"We had anticipated the downturn, which is why we tweaked the placement policy slightly this year. This placement season, once the student lands a job offer, he can avail of another job opportunity only if it is a 'dream option. In 2011, students were allowed to apply for more than two companies," said Bimal S, student and placement committee member, DMS IIT Delhi.

"Our domestic placements concluded in December 2011 itself, while our international placements which kickstarted in January 2012 will continue till the first week of April. The international placements are happening with the help of an Indo-Japanese collaboration and a tie-up with a few Singapore associations through our alumni. One Chinese firm is also participating. International placements are a niche area for us and have been better this year," he added.

IIT Bombay's Shailesh J Mehta School of Management (SJMSOM) also agreed that the placement scenario was tougher this year. "Companies were cautious about hiring this time, even though it was not reflected in a tangible form," said a student from the SJMSOM placement committee.

"The number of offers made per company has come down, in the sense that if 50 to 60 organisations made 150 to 120 offers in 2011 then this year, about 70 companies made around 130 offers. Finance companies. especially the multinational ones did come for campus recruitment but made fewer offers while FMCG had slowed down. Consulting and IT have remained flat as compared to the previous year," he added. SJMSOM, IIT Bombay to had experienced an increase in batch size from 96 to 120 by the time the class of 2012 had joined. The school wagered that there would be no decrease in compensation, though it was yet to process its salary information.

Another top-ranked b-school in Mumbai also agreed that placements were slightly tougher this year. "Companies are sceptical about how the economy will behave in the next couple of quarters. Although they do have people requirements, they are apprehensive and are not picking up people in bulk. This year, we have had to call a many more companies for the placement process as the intake per company has decreased. Pay packages have not been slashed," said the placement representative of the school not wishing to be named. He too agreed that IT companies had stepped up hiring this year for consulting roles.

IIT Kanpur's Industrial and Management Engineering department however said that its placements had been unaffected by the economic slowdown. "We have not felt the effect of the slowdown and have had no placement related issues, also because our batch size is small," said Prof BV Phani, associate professor at IIT Kanpur.

"There might be an economic and investment slowdown as a result of the increase in interest rates implemented by the Reserve Bank of India. This is in turn, a move directed to reign in inflationary pressures, and is therefore not a crisis situation. If b-schools are having to call more companies as a result of the difficult job market scenario, it balances the effect, and is actually a positive change," he added.

The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) at Ahmedabad and Calcutta seemed to have bucked the trend though.

"We are happy with the way placements have progressed this year. The cluster-based system is giving students the freedom to choose from a wide range of opportunities and recruiters were very pleased with the quality of students," Amith JM, a member of IIM Ahmedabad's placement committee claimed in an email reply to PaGaLGuY.

"The Boston Consulting Group recruited 17 students and IBM made more than 20 offers. We observed aggressive hiring from consulting firms, FMCG companies and e-commerce enterprises and despite the unfavourable market conditions, a significant number of students from the graduating batch have secured roles in investment banks as well. We did not witness a hiring freeze from any sector," the b-school stated.

IIM Calcutta echoed these sentiments. "The current job situation at IIM-C has been very positive despite the slowdown in the industry. Although the placements were set to happen over five days, we wrapped up the process by day 4 evening," the institute's placement committee claimed.

"We saw a good mix of new and traditional recruiters. While Microsoft hired for its Redmond head office, Plinga (a German gaming firm) recruited for its Berlin office. The alumni played a very crucial role in this bad market scenario and were there to support us whenever we needed them. Finance offers were made across the major financial hubs of the world including New York, Zurich, Hong Kong, London and Singapore," the institute said.

PaGaLGuY also spoke to human resources and recruitment consulting organisations to gain deeper insight into the current job situation.

ABC Consultants said that while there were not too many employment opportunities being generated at the moment, the hiring slowdown would not last very long. "The market scenario is a little challenging, and we are not seeing expansion in terms of employment opportunities. From the way we see it, the current slowdown in India is worse than 2008. Back then, while the world economy was in shambles, we had coped with the challenge pretty well. At the moment our economy is struggling. The inflation rate is high and the interest rates are high," said Shiv Agrawal, CEO, ABC Consultants.

"There is a degree of scepticism in the market, since there is lack of a fundamental political will to change things. Export-oriented sectors like IT and BPO have been affected. Insurance and telecom have taken a hit as well. Media is at the moment, sluggish. Investment and corporate banking are not doing well because of the global scenario," he added. For the firm too, business had slowed down compared to the previous year, he added.

GlobalHunt, another talent recruitment company shared this view. "Seen from the industry's perspective, there are jobs available and students are being recruited. However, the difference is that students are not getting multiple offers," said Mr Sunil Goel, Director and spokesperson, GlobalHunt. "We sniffed the first signs of yet another meltdown in the April-May 2011 period. Then, sometime in August Standard & Poor downgraded USA, which further aggravated the problem. The European crisis and America being downgraded had a ripple effect on the other countries (India, China) as well," he stated.

About the situation back home, Mr Goel said, "India has two parallel economies. One is the domestic market which contributes 50-60% of the economic growth, while the other is the global economy, that contributes 30-40%. Industries like IT, ITES and textiles that fall under the latter category have taken the hit. As of now, the telecom sector is consolidating, therefore hiring in this sector has slowed down. I reckon it should recover in a year's time," he said.

Mr Goel believes that market sentiment might improve by the second quarter of 2012. He was of the opinion that by the next financial year, things will improve as companies might resume their stalled expansion plans and achieve cost optimisation. On being asked how the recruitment firm was tackling slowdown issues, he said that since demand for jobs had not gone down, they were not feeling the pressure. "As far as job losses are concerned, a lot of it has to do with the gap between the industry's requirements, and the individual's qualifications and capabilities," he added.

Ma Foi Randstad, another HR consulting firm however was of the opinion that if at all there was a dearth of jobs, it was because of the gap between the expectations of companies and the quality of students that some b-schools are churning out. "Quite a lot of graduates from lower-rung management institutes are ignorant about the basics in their specialisation, so how can they be hired?" asked Sanjeev Singh of Ma Foi Randstad. The firm maintained that companies were still hiring, and they had not experienced any effects of the economic slump.

Among those PaGaLGuY spoke to in India Inc, Essar Group said that slowdown or not, the Indian economy was based on solid fundamental economic realities. "This is actually the time when we get our systems in place, our processes in order for the development that is to happen. We will continue with our hiring, though I cannot quantify in terms of numbers. Recruitment in the Essar Group will be based on our needs and projections," Adil Malia, group president, Human Resources, Essar Group told PaGaLGuY on the sidelines of a conference in Mumbai last week.

FMCG giant Dabur India said they had lowered campus hiring for b-schools by 30-40% this year. "Hiring outlook in the FMCG sector has definitely not been buoyant, as witnessed in the recent past. We also have pruned the numbers to be hired from b-bchools," said Srijan Srivastava, head, Talent Acquisition, Dabur India.

"Recruitment is a factor of business growth and natural attrition. The business did display robust top line growth, however the low churn brought down our campus requirements. We have already completed hiring for this year, and we hired only from tier-1 b-schools, which includes a few IIMs and others," he added.

On being asked for his outlook for the future, Srivastava said, "We are upbeat about the hiring scenario, and we do intend to augment the hiring through the PPO route."

laj · March 5, 2012, 11:55am

Peter FX D'Lima, director of Goa Institute of Management

The director of the Goa Institute of Management (GIM) Peter FX DLima is going to be putting in his papers shortly. Known to be the face of GIMs new campus, this is DLimas third stint with the management institute ever since he first took charge of it in 2005. DLima told PaGaLGuY that after his having been with GIM for a while now, it was time for some fresh blood to take over." The hunt for a new director is on.

You cannot be at a place forever. It is not good for the institute either, said DLima, who does not seem like he is 70 at all. DLimas second objective behind quitting GIM is to write a book. The subject matter will be management, naturally but his source matter will not come from the institute only. All the places I have worked at, there were different management styles in practice. I learned from every one of them and that is what I want to showcase to the world, he said.

After existing in a colonial building that was a former hospital, GIM moved to a new campus in Sanquelim last year. The new location, about 40 kms from state capital Panjim, is on top of a hill and enveloped by mountains and rough terrain on all sides. With the new location, however, came the increase in fees and rise in intake from 120 students to 240.

Getting to the new campus was an experience by itself for D'Lima and the board of directors in GIM. The estimate for the new campus was worked out at Rs 63 crore. Of this, Rs 40 crore was to be raised via a bank loan, Rs 10 crore from internal savings and Rs 10 crore from donations. He also had to arrange sanctions and permissions from various authorities. While the money came in fast, it took a hell of a time running around to various authorities for getting permissions, says D'Lima.

It has been a year now that the new campus is operational and running. Besides the fancy classrooms and faculty cabins, two interesting changes brought about by DLima are in simple matters such as discipline and aesthetics. He has banned students from drying clothes in the balcony and brought in heavy-duty dryers for the job. And he has also decided to stop entertaining students walking in even a second late to class. "As of now, they are given a five-minute grace but that grace will cease to exist from the next academic year. Students in India are not disciplined. You can see the difference when we have international students on campus. They are always on time for everything, he says.

Before getting on board at GIM, D'Lima was considered a corporate whiz-man-on-the-block. He started his career as a graduate engineer with Larsen & Toubro, then two decades with Hindustan Lever Ltd in Mumbai and Unilever PLC, London in various managerial assignments before joining the board of Sesa Goa Group of Industries where he worked for 18 years. He also held the position of Managing Director at Sesa Kembla Coke Company.

DLimas first stint with GIM was in the February 2005 to October 2006 period. He took over the directorship again between May and August 2008 and the third (current) stint started in March 2009. The GIM director does not have a PhD in his qualifications, and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) made an issue about it quite often.

Having come a long way, DLima still treasures his first job at Larsen & Toubro. There were no placements then. We had to hunt for our jobs. After all the searching I had three job offers. One was for Rs 1,100 as salary, the other for Rs 750 and L&T; for Rs 500. I took up L&T; because I liked the job profile. I left the company in a year but those days we never looked at salary as the deciding factor to join a company," he reflects.

Being happy in ones space (job) is the best way to live life, he says. In his 20-year stint in Hindustan Lever, DLima took only ten days leave, he says. In his 18 years at Sesa Goa, he took eight days leave, both the times because he was seriously ill. At GIM, he is yet to take a long leave but maybe there is no time for it because very soon, he will just be bidding a goodbye to the place he built.

thecuttinged · March 5, 2012, 12:22pm

(Photo: Aidan Jones)

A little late in the day, but it's here nevertheless: PaGaLGuY WAT-GD-PI Connect is now live and ready for use., with IIM Calcutta, NITIE Mumbai, VGSoM IIT Kharagpur, IIM Indore, New IIMs, IIT Kanpur, IIT Roorkee, IIT Delhi, BIM Trichy, NIBM Pune, TISS Mumbai and GIM Goa already enabled.

Those with Written Ability Test, Group Discussion and Interview Calls can start using it to know who else will be in the same slot as them. Once you get in touch with others in your slot, you can help each other prepare better and share resources, or just become friends with them so that you are not faced with complete strangers when you land up for your WAT-GD-PI.

And in the meanwhile, also get a copy of the Free GD-PI experiences ebook with 6 years worth of GDPI experiences from the top b-schools.

We will keep adding b-schools to PG Connect as their results are declared.

B-schools, in order to get enabled on PG Connect, please send the following information,

1. Name of b-school

2. Names of all cities in which the institute is conducting WAT-GD-PI

3. The overall range of dates between which the process is being conducted

to [email protected] and we will feed it to eagerly waiting hungry jaws of the app!

Link to PaGaLGuY GD-PI Connect http://www.pagalguy.com/connect/

Here is a screen-by-screen walk-through of some of the main features of PaGaLGuY WAT-GD-PI Connect (from hereon referred to simply as PG Connect).

1. Once you direct your browser to http://www.pagalguy.com/connect/, youll be taken to your profile on PG Connect. You can Add GD-PI Details to reach a form that looks like the image below.

Be careful about entering information, though. If you dont have a GD-PI call but still enter it, someone will do a Report Abuse on you and well be too happy to see you banned from PaGaLGuY. So dont test-drive and be good samaritans!

2. Once you add a GD-PI schedule, youll immediately see people with the same slot. Do a Show all to see the complete list.

3. If you dont have a GD-PI call, you may still browse through the list of people with GD-PI calls in various schools.

4. By clicking on a b-school, you can see all the PaGaLGuY members with a GD-PI call from that school along with their venues and schedules.

So thats what PaGaLGuY Connect essentially is a matchmaking application for GD-PI call-getters. Wish you all the best for your group discussions and interviews!

tanuja_jaishree · March 7, 2012, 7:26pm

The Department of Management Studies (DMS), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, is likely to be rechristened to 'IIT Delhi Business School'. "The idea might fructify by the end of this year or the beginning of the next year, according to my expectations," Prof MP Gupta, admissions coordinator of DMS, IIT Delhi told PaGaLGuY.

"The (IIT Delhi) director has extended his support to the idea, and so has the chairman. At this stage, we are working on the proposal to convert DMS into the IIT Delhi Business School. This is subject to several layers of discussions and approvals," Gupta said.

"Firstly, the change would lead to a general image makeover. A b-school within IIT Delhi will put us in a different light to the outside world. We would like to be ambitious enough in putting all the ingredients of an ideal b-school into our proposal," he elaborated, explaining the reasons behind the change.

The rechristening process would not require too much government intervention. "Powers are vested with the board of governors of an IIT to take development-oriented decisions. The term 'DMS' will however remain on paper as it is part of our legal nomenclature as per Parliament approval," Gupta said.

Along with a news name, the management institute is also seeking financial autonomy and increase its global exposure. "Because of financial autonomy, the time taken in procuring resources will reduce. Secondly, there will be fewer channels of approval and lastly, a corpus will be available to us," he said, adding that DMS had been generating Rs 3 crore in revenue. IIT Bombay and Madras already have this level of autonomy.

Further talking about the advantages of gaining this level of autonomy, Gupta said, "Increasing global exposure will enable us to enter agreements with b-schools abroad for exchange of students and faculty, take entire batches to visit emerging markets and other things. Also, we will form an advisory council containing luminaries from the corporate world, whose role will be to promote, advise, guide and facilitate the MBA programme. This will benefit placements among other things," he said.

DMS also plans to launch a dual-degree programme in 2013 which the institute has previously spoken about, and will be a five-year course combining the BTech and MBA programmes. The course will have to go through five levels of approval before it is launched, though. The institute will go slow on phasing in the programme, with only a small number of MBA seats apportioned to the dual-degree programme in the beginning.

"We observed that we could cater to the demand for a course on these lines as BTech students generally look to pursue an MBA degree. Bringing more IIT graduates into our programme would improve intake quality, and also that of placements," Gupta explained.

majijayashree · March 23, 2012, 11:09am

Delhi University's (DU) Sri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) is working on giving its two-year-long post-graduate diploma in Global Business Operations (GBO) a facelift, which includes turning it into a full-fledged master's degree.

The college is drafting a proposal proposing this and other major changes in the course, which will be then presented before DU within a month's time, SRCC principal Dr PC Jain informed PaGaLGuY. The draft will also propose introducing a two-year part-time executive MBA program. Once approved, the changes are expected to get implemented in the academic year starting 2013.

"Our course (GBO) is 10-years-old now and we want to convert it into a degree course and rename it to Master in Global Business Management. A committee of around eight people has already been formed for drafting the proposal, which will then be reviewed by a group of external academicians and industry people before we present it before the vice chancellor of DU by April end," said Jain.

Apart from the name of the course, SRCC is also also looking at changing the eligibility criteria of applying to the programme to 50% marks in class X and XII in addition to 50% marks in graduation which has been until now the sole minimum academic criteria for admission into this course. The college will also propose to increase the tuition fees of Global Business Operations course from Rs 7,500 per semester to Rs 30,000 per semester as it is a self-financing course and the college has to pay Rs 1,000 per lecture per hour to each guest faculty, Jain explained.

Jain also said that the overall curriculum of the course will also change. Students will be first delivered a one-week-long orientation programme followed by a three-week foundation course so that students of arts, commerce and science can all be at par with each other on the basics. Moreover, to give the course an international look and feel and increase the interaction of students with international students, the college is also going to propose a 5% reservation for foreign students, which it will advertise in international media. Such a reservation is already there in DU at the undergraduate level and is availed mostly by students from India's neighbouring countries and from Africa.

SRCC is also looking at introducing an exchange programme for its students with foreign educational institutes and also work towards getting international assignments as part of their eight-week summer project. "We want to have an insitutional mechanism for placement of our students. Till now, the college was not active in any placement process," said Jain.

On the executive MBA proposal, Jain said, "We are constantly approached by our ex-students who say that they feel outdated in front of the new generation and thus would like to upgrade their managerial skills. This is what brought up the idea of executive MBA. The new changes will most probably be implemented from 2013 academic year.."

laj · August 24, 2012, 7:15pm

Swami Dayananda Saraswati addressing students at IIM Kozhikode

If there is one place psychometrics is not a dirty word, it is at The Indian Institute of Management Raipur, (IIM Raipur) where the new batch of students underwent psychometric testing to know themselves better. More curious than that was 'aura scanning' carried out on the freshers at a management institute near Mumbai. The Mudra Institute of Communication Ahmedabad, (MICA) tested the photonovel idea to introduce its new batch while The Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay stuck to its time-honoured treasure hunt as a means to get the juniors to feel at home on the campus.

And while IIM Kozhikode had a heady mix of lecture sessions by the Reserve Bank of India governor on one hand and Swami Dayanand Saraswati on the other, IIM Bangalore remained true to its annual game-plan of making the juniors sing and dance for the seniors during orientation week.

Top b-schools having done with their induction programmes have started their academic year while the two and three tier ones are just about going about their programmes. PaGaLGuY picked up a few of the most interesting ones this year.

Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad (MICA) : Here the orientation lasted an entire week with a unique experiential learning course titled The Photonovel Company . According to Prof Kallol Das, who is working with Harvard Business School on the same idea, the photonovel exercise helped bring to the fore hidden talents of the freshers.

Photonovel is nothing but a unique form of communication, literature or story telling which is similar to a graphic novel but instead of graphics, photos are made use of. It is an exotic medium in India but in Europe, Latin America and the US, it is quite trendy. MICA's orientation programme required students to prepare a story line on a relevant social subject. This meant that they had to shoot photos, write a script, edit, use theatrical skills or whatever lse they wanted to communicate their idea. Over that, they had to market their efforts via Facebook, YouTube and Twitter and also to MICA professors.

There was a prize for the best photo novel which went to one titled Heroisme - based on Nari Man -the savior of girl child, the issue being female feticide.

Take away from a first year student: " We learnt a number of communication skills at one go and were thrown in a competitive atmosphere from the start which helped our confidence."

Indian institute of Management Raipur : Here the orientation lasted for four days. While there were different activities on all the days, the ones that stood out were psychometric testing, yoga and spirituality sessions. According to Prof Shubhra Hajela, first year students underwent psychometric tests to assess their personality and later complemented this learning with spirituality sessions to know how to deal with their capabilities.

Explains Prof Hajela: The psychometric tests introduced the students to their basic personality traits. They learnt what they were really capable of and how this realisation could help them take better decisions in life and subsequently in their careers too. This exercise was followed up a lecture by Swami Satyarupanandji from Ramakrishna Mission. Here freshers were asked to further explore themselves and tune their thinking with proper ethical and management values.

There were yoga sessions, which according to Prof Hajela, helped students with their spiritual development. Students were taught basic yoga asanas and breathing techniques.

Student's take-away: "Never expected this kind of a start. The yoga and spiritual sessions helped calm the nerves and also known more about who we are."

IIM Bangalore: Besides the formal orientation which lasted a few days, IIMB has an annual ritual wherein the incoming PGP batch puts up a cultural event (called Aarambh ) for the seniors. The new batch was divided into different verticals as per their liking and expertise (dramatics, cultural fashion show, dance, music-vocal and instrumental, emcee, infrastructure and logistics, fine arts,) and asked to put up a show for the older batch.

According to seniors at IIMB, if an event like this was not to be held, it would take a long time for juniors to know each other and also for the seniors to know them. "It also tells students that there is much to life besides academics in IIMB and how everything can be done and enjoyed at the same time," said a second year student. Professors also help the students with the performances at Aarambh.

Student's take-away : "Usually in b-schools, the seniors put out a show but here the freshers do it which helps freshers to know each other in the first week itself and also to know the seniors. This made the start to our academic year much smoother."

IIT Bombay (Shailesh J Mehta School of Managment): The tradition which has been followed for generations is the legendary treasure hunt. The main reason for this kind of an introductory gesture has been to help students to adapt to the new campus as soon as possible. The IIT Bombay campus is huge and there are students of other disciplines as well on it. "This treasure hunt gives instant familiarity to both, the campus as well as the senior management and other engineering students," said one of the organisers.

This year, women from the freshers' lot were asked to lead the treasure hunters. First year student Sneha Iyer described: "It looked like Rakhi Sawant's swayamvar, whenthe women were asked to choose their teams from the guys. The hunt was deliberately designed to acquaint the fucchas with the humungous 550 acre campus, which is not a small area to live in."

The rules were simple and straight: crack the clue, find the location and get to the next one. The team to return first, after visiting all the 8 locations and bringing 5 specific objects, won.

Take-away by student Bhuvan Gupta: "The fun really started when few of us hired auto rickshaws to save time and get the work done more efficiently. We all ended up thoroughly entertained, disheveled and exhausted. A day of running, learning, living and loving, all within the IIT-Bombay campus: our home away from home for the next two years in the mayanagri. "

IIM Kozhikode : A unique combination greeted students to this campus this year. First an address by RBI Governor D Subbarao and then a spiritual discourse by Swami Dayananda Saraswati. While the governor spoke about "balancing inflation, price stability and financial security of the country as one of the key challenges, Swami Saraswati spoke about how the vedantas help inner learning. Dr Subbarao insisted:, "Without sacrificing growth, we will not be able to contain inflation" Swami Dayananda cautioned that all growth has to have a proper ethical understanding."

Student take-away: "We found the speakers refreshing. Two different kinds of speakers who were both actually saying the same thing about growth and the challenges before us."

sanjit.oberai · August 6, 2013, 6:54pm

(Photo: Ben Husmann)

An increasing number of cases of management institutes refusing refunds are coming to light this year. This time, seven students who withdrew admission to T A Pai Management Institute (TAPMI), Manipal, say that the institute has refunded only 11% of the total fees paid up and is refusing to part with more.

The seven candidates told PaGaLGuY that on securing admission to the two year PGDM (2013-15) course, they had each paid an initial fee of Rs 50,000. Later they paid the first installment of Rs 4,05,000 individually, taking the total amount to Rs 4,55,000.

After confirming their presence on campus on the scheduled date of joining, these students then applied for withdrawal from the program as they had secured admission elsewhere. However, what they received as refund was in the region of Rs 53,000 only.

In the letter sent to the students (a copy of which is in the possession of this online magazine), TAPMI officials have said that the refunded amount fulfills the All India Council For Technical Education (AICTE) guidelines which says that in cases of request for withdrawal from the programme, received after the start of the academic session, only the security/ caution deposit is refundable.

The seven students have now decided to take up the matter with the Ombudsman at TAPMI. The applicants say that during admission, they were given to understand by the college that the intake of students for 2013-15 was 360 but that number was increased to over 400 subsequently.

PaGaLGuY wrote to TAPMI and the response we got via a mail was that the institute was acting as per AICTE guidelines. “Institutes like us do get affected when students cancel their intent to join before and after the date of commencement of the program. With a well-structured time-frame of admissions cycle planned for about a year in advance, including providing for library / data-ware / faculty / hostel and other resources, we do not fill the vacant seats after commencement of the program and this affects the financial viability of the institutions” wrote Prof. Raghunath Rudran, Dean Administration & Director-In-Charge.

The mail further added that with respect to such cases, they institute prefers to respond to appropriate authorities, rather than in the public domain.

We spoke to Pushpa Girimaji, Consumer Rights Columnist, who said that students could get a refund. “Under the AICTE Regulations 2012, every AICTE-approved institution has to set up a grievance-redressal committee and an Ombudsman for redress of grievances of students and parents. Students can either approach this committee, the Ombudsman or then go to the consumer court. In some cases, consumer courts have directed colleges to refund the fees even when the seat left vacant by the withdrawal of the student is not filled.”

PaGaLGuY had asked AICTE, Mumbai for a clarification in the matter but none came by.

apurv · August 13, 2013, 7:12pm

A screenshot excerpt of PaGaLGuY Channels

Back in 2005 when business education in India was peaking, applicants to b-schools deserved a niche news portal that dissected the MBA programs and admissions better than the mainstream media did. That's when we stepped in with the PaGaLGuY News section offering niche MBA-related coverage, and since then our reporters have seen the sector through crore salaries, recessions, scandals, busts, success stories and head-rolls, and shook more than our share of things up for management education, to a level that PaGaLGuY.com News just could not be ignored.

We now feel the need to shake things up again, but this time within ourselves, so that we can build the next generation avatar of PaGaLGuY News.

In order to do that, we are trying an exciting new experiment that we have thought through a lot, and it's called PaGaLGuY Channels. Basically, it is the old News section of PG with a radical twist: Now absolutely anyone can write and publish their opinion articles in it. Completely on your own, without any interference from any editors. And not only on MBA, but on a variety of new topics - movie reviews, food experiences, sports, photo features, urban life, humour and more - each category being a 'Channel' (we will keep adding new channels regularly). We have kept an upper word limit of 500 words for each article so that you can quickly write compact articles that readers can consume efficiently. If your article is liked by a lot of people (we are continuously tweaking the formula for this), it reaches the entire PaGaLGuY audience.

We will gradually reveal more about 'why' and 'how' of PaGaLGuY Channels but for now if you are excited about getting published, then do sign up for the beta version of PaGaLGuY Channels here. Once you sign up, we will get back to you shortly with access to Channels.

msmbainusa · October 30, 2013, 11:24am

Studying Abroad is one of the enriching experiences for the students but the reality comes into play when they have to go all out to face the hardcore task of searching an ideal job. So there comes the need for an impressive resume and this international degree adds on spice and become the selling point for the students. These international degrees on the resume along with the skills, experiences and qualities will make the difference and they stand out from the entire lot in the following manner –

Qualities of adaptability:

While study in abroad you have to come out of your comfort zone, be extremely adjusting and compromising to the new environment of classroom, people their culture, customs. The employers value this quality and prefer people since this would come handy while tackling new job role adjusting to a whole new faces of staff as well as clients, their behavior and attitudes.

Developing communication skills and hence new contacts

Communicating with the local people in their language other than English is a challenging task and gives an opportunity to learn more a new language. Even if it is English it calls for a great sensitivity since one still have to face a lot of problems in communicating with people of different caste and community, understand the body language and their ascent. You have to learn their vocabulary and learn the skills of interacting through body language and expressions to make them understand. As you become more comfortable, conversant, it will help building in new friends and contacts and create a network for you. This impresses the employers who have a strong international presence with offices and their clients at various locations and expects their candidates to travel a lot to bring in more business.

Becoming more independent:

When you start living alone and manage your daily routine work and expenses, you become more disciplined and imbibe in you the sense of responsibility and confidence to face new challenges. Not only this they even gain the experience from different part time jobs or internships they opt while pursuing their studies. The employer even prefers candidates with this past experiences and who takes up the onus in tough times and shows the confidence in making quick decisions favorable for the company even without wasting a minute. Sajjan Agarwal, job consultant who owns his own consultancy firm says “Employers are seeking candidates with study abroad experience owing to their versatility, open mindedness, flexibility, strategic and independent thinking as well as multilingual and cross cultural skills.

Broad and innovative thought process

Internationals students have their own broad perspective of the world economy and their issues. They put themselves in other shoes and have a better understanding of the situations due to the diverse experience they gather during their entire semester. Employers have started realizing the importance of study abroad graduates due to their innovative and understanding thought process.

These unique qualities are mostly sought after, highlight an individual amongst the crowd.

ank_mission_iim · November 11, 2013, 7:50am

India's literacy rate has increased to 74.04% as per 2011 census. Government predicted literacy rate 80% by 2015. That means today approx three fourths of India can read and write. If you read this article, you are among 74%. But how many literates are aware about 'Our Fundamental Duties' (Part IVA, art. 51A, Indian Constitution)?

Clause (h) of article 51A of Indian Constitution states: to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform.

It is our duty to follow this principle but many people violate it by posting abusive languages on public forums, even at Pagalguy. These users not only disregard our constitution but also violate IT act 2000. If you are among these users. We (other users) or Pagalguy (PG) may file FIR against you under IT act. But we don't want tag you as criminal. We are here to help you in your career endeavours.

It is really easy to PG techie team and moderators to track your location. They can easily analyse all IP addresses from which you are posting. And they can block all your different user id's (if exists) on PG.

Why do you post abusive posts?

Because you are frustrated, your bad time and failures made you frustrated. This frustration may leads to angriness, depression and negativity. And this negative energy may ruin your career.

How you can overcome this problem?

First you need to understand that the failure and bad time are the part of life. Every human face them. So, you are not only one to face them.

You can follow following tips to being optimistic and to develop scientific temper:

· Read one good newspaper daily

· Read motivational books and novels

· Read articles at Pagalguy channels

· Listen music

· Stay away from bad companies

· Work hard to reach to your goal

· Do meditation

A request to all users:

Please help PG team to make forums clean. If you find any abusive posts on any forum, please report it. And send a PM to that user 'a warning message that he/she violates rules on PG' with link of this article and help section of PG.

igowild · February 9, 2014, 9:07am

Pushpa Basnet the name of , but for some this is the name of an angel send by god for them or their very own mother. A person who devoted her entire life to humanity and love. A social worker who took an oath to change the destiny of some homeless children.

According to our law there is justice for every criminal offense .But what if the criminal is a women who has a small child without any other guardian or if she is expecting one.

Now here is the untold story of injustice and suffering of these innocent lives . These children were forced to spend their lives in imprisonment with their mothers. Where they were forced to raise in the central country yard , without proper toilet ,bedding and always mingling with wicked criminals . At the time of reading books they learn how to execute serious crime and abuse others and unknowingly became criminals themselves.No one even bothered about such inhuman act.

In her early visited main janana women's jail to complete her social study research to become an social worker. Where she witnessed such shocking injustice of the judiciary ,some children were compelled to live like almost animals .Right away she took the pledge to save the lives of these children.

But it was not easy for her to start the initiative. At beginning phase the women were also not comfortable to give the responsibility of their children as she was very young ,even the jailer accused her to sell the children. But Pupa's perseverance, love and care melted their heart took away all their distrust.

She started her endeavor in cramped $100-a-week apartment in Kathmandu with toys ,furniture scavenged from her friends and family. Without any source of money every day was a big challenge for her to continue and after two years older children had to go to orphanage. But after seeing the improper environment of orphanage she extended her services to residential care. Where the children learn not only the school books but also how to respect elders and their own culture. From 4 now has been increased to 44 members in a three storey residential hostel. Where all the children can breathe in fresh air without any shadow of crime . But no castle can ever be as beautiful and big as Pushpa's warm heart ,where every homeless child can find its very own home and a bright happy childhood.

In year 2012 our was honored with the title CNN's2012 Hero of the year ,along with a prize of $300000 of funding to her . With this now her is to buy a piece of land where she can accommodate more children up to 80 children

studyabroadforms · February 10, 2014, 10:18am

It is not only Indian students who make it a point of summoning dreams of foreign degree every night; US universities too welcome them with open arms. Indian students are their favorites among the bunch of international students, seeking admission at US universities because they are known to pay full tuition and boarding fee. This is in contrast to a lot many international students counting on the financial aid from institutions. This undeniably sees a surge of Indian students applying for admission in foreign universities.

According to an estimate, nearly 8 lakh student show the enthusiasm every year. Keeping in view the impact of fluctuating economy, many rumor mills are working overtime leaving many US aspirants in lurch. We decide to clear up the air to let you make a wise decision by weighing the pros and cons of depreciation of rupee.

Students who were already burdened with the issues concerning tests, admission process for MS institute in USA, VISA have to fight the blues of fluctuating economy too. It is not surprising for people to apply for educational loans several months in advance of admission to a particular university in the US. Parthasarthi Aggarwal, a student of Mumbai University puts it this way, “I had applied to various universities in the US. Fluctuating economy and the ceiling amount of the loans have already started giving me nightmares. Now, I'm close to choosing an institution in the US, which will be fitting my budget. The good thing is that I have already secured Rs 2 million loan from a national bank, but they refuse to consider my requests for additional amount.”

It often happens that students commit a blunder of calculating the rupee impact on the total fee payable. This is light years away from the ground reality. Funds are actually released on a per semester basis. Therefore, if a rupee is showing a downward slide currently then it will affect only the first tranche of the loan. The graph of the costs for Indian students studying in the US will depend invariably on the future rupee-dollar movements.

In view of fluctuating rupee- dollar relation, number of students seeking education loans has significantly risen. Some students abroad have also been reported of seeking extra bank loans.

www.MSMBAinUSA.com

studyabroadforms · February 10, 2014, 10:31am

The increasing demand for well developed soft skills is in line with the fruits of globalization the world over. Students must try and figure out early on in their academic sessions as to what might interest employers in their resumes. Apart from professional courses, soft skills are a must have in any sector that you might join after completion of studies. College time is the perfect to learn or even polish your soft skills so that you can present yourself as the most promising hire afterwards.

Verbal and written communication skills

It is rightly said that successful communication is critical for any business to flourish well. Taking instructions and reporting to the senior management or interacting with your peers might want you to possess exceptional verbal communication skills. You must be well versed with the techniques of writing as well. Most of the jobs in present era of technology might need you to take notes, write a report etc.

If you believe that your communication skills need to be further honed, join a public speaking club or a PR club. You will certainly notice the difference in the changed you.

Team work and interpersonal skills

Work organizations often have diverse work force and it is essential to be operating as a team rather than isolated fragments. An aspirant of studying in the US must end their USA university search the moment he/she get their hands on the campus offering the most diverse ethnic affiliations and cultural backgrounds. This surely helps in imbibing a sense of tolerance and being respectful of other cultures and divergent views.

As an employee, you will also be expected to possess good interpersonal skills, which means that you know how to deal with clients and your co-workers.

Leadership skills

Unlike college where you accomplish a task after being assigned, an employee more often than not must step into the shoes of a leader and take the initiative. Rather than being industry specific, leadership quality is a staple in various tasks and activities across all fields. You would want to make sure that you shine out in the brainstorming discussions and tedious decision making sessions at the office. Get groomed and take on leadership tasks while in college itself.

Analytical and problem solving skills

As the managements of business houses around the world are involving more and more employees in the decision making process, it is only natural that one needs to exhibit outstanding analytical skills. While pursuing MS in America, you will get many occasions to be actively involved in analyzing complex situations and work towards a common goal.

Entrepreneurship skill

As the names suggests, this skill is not limited to just business houses, but apply across all job specifications. This is especially a requisite for students taking up MBA in USA to make a successful career in management. A student must develop this skill in order to plan, design, and execute business propositions, which in turn can also lead to being self employed.

cuttinged · March 10, 2014, 10:36am

While Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are trying hard to fend off their critics, a new youtube video is all set to make their job tougher. Assuming that the video isn't fake, Kejriwal is seen persuading a TV anchor to focus more on certain aspects of the interview. The anchor also seems to be in agreement with Kejriwal. After harping on the nexus between media and politicians for a long time, how does this video reflect on Kejriwal?

However, one may also see this as a simple case of one person trying to persuade the other. The decision to go ahead with the change on live TV though, rests solely with the anchor. In this case too, whether the anchor really acted upon his words during the actual interview, we will never know!

cuttinged · March 10, 2014, 12:18pm

Right from the video game parlours, to those fights with parents for consoles, and those late night rounds of counter strike with friends at a shady cyber cafe, haven't video games been so much a part of our lives? If that wasn't enough, here's a video where this funny Asian guy tells you just how video games can teach you life hacks as well!

Warning: The Asian guy overacts a bit. Proceed with caution!

Original video here

cuttinged · March 14, 2014, 6:33am

Many of you must have seen the First Kiss video on Youtube which went insanely viral this week. Now, watch its parody video - First Sniff - recreated using dogs. So, what happens when two dogs kiss for the first time?

Original video here

nimbubaba · March 29, 2014, 11:21am

Book Review- Dhandha- How Gujaratis do Business
Author- Shobha Bondre
Translation- Shalaka Walimbe
Publication- Random House India
Pages- 284
Price- Rs 117 (Flipkart)
Rating- 8.5 out of 10

All Gujaratis have one thing in common; business acumen. Gujarati businessmen have a reputed history of building great businesses. As Mr Bachchan rightly says, business flows in the veins of the Gujarati community. It was Ranchodlal Chotalal, a Gujarati, who brought the textile Industry to India. It was Gujarat's Gondal Maharaj who along with the Britishers, had laid down railway tracks for trains.

The book is a wonderful compilation of five success stories. These are the stories of five businessmen, all of them Gujaratis but from a completely different background. We are first introduced to Bhimjibhai Patel who is one of the country's biggest and celebrated diamond merchants and co-founder of the ambitious 'Diamond Nagar' in Surat. Then we get to know more about Mohanbhai Patel- a former Mumbai Sheriff and the leading manufacturer of aluminium collapsible tubes. Dalpatbhai Patel then takes it over from then and tells us his mesmerizing story about his motel business and how he went on to become the Mayor of Mansfield County. Jaydev Patel, the celebrated Insurance Agent credited with having sold policies worth $2.5 billion, then gives us his life account. The book finally ends on a glorifying note with Hasu and Hersha Shah(the only non-Patel family in the book) entailing their success story.

Each story inspires the reader and educates him from the scratch regarding how their businesses were grown. These are definitely not fairy tales while there is no exaggeration or melodrama thrown in for gaining extra mileage. These are just simple stories of pure hard work and perseverance. These stories teach us so many things; I feel listing them as my learning points would definitely give justice to the book review.

1) Always Ask- We all generally think a lot. In that process we forget that every difficult task in this world is certainly doable. All we need to do is ASK! We have to approach, take decisions and calculated risks. Thinking about rejection and letting go of an opportunity is one thing that Gujaratis would never do. This was apparent when Mohabhai Patel, with no experience in collapsible tubes, approached a German company for setting up their plant in India. Not only did they agree, but they also provided him with the necessary training. He just ASKED!

2) Values are important- We need to have guiding principles and values if we have to succeed. Mohanbhai Patel was working in TATA Company. While leaving his job he vowed to keep the ideals of the company while running his own business and even now attributes his success largely to them.

3) Keys to Success- Perseverance was one quality which was common to all five heroes. They were not deterred by occasional setbacks instead came back strongly. This was abetted by a strong self belief.

4) No work is a small work- Jay Patel agreed to work as an Insurance agent after completing his Masters. Hersha and Hasu Shah actually did odd jobs like cleaning and plumbing for their motels on their own. This shows that we should be avoiding the dogmatic sense of rationalism. As an entrepreneur, we should be ready to deflate our egos and do any kind of job.

5) Trust- Selling policies worth $2.5 billion is definitely not an easy task, especially in a foreign land. When asked about the reason for his astounding success, Jaydev Patel says that the trust that he built with his customers was the most important factor. He was not just selling policies but adding new members to his family. It was this trust and personal bonding with every customer which helped him to achieve great success.

6) No Tomorrow- Tomorrow should be added to the list of words to be omitted from the dictionary along with the word impossible! A task which can be completed immediately should never be postponed. Avoiding procrastination is the best way to ensure success.

7) Now what- Hasu Shah always used to ask this question to himself. The key here is not to be satisfied but to keep striving for more. It is this question which enabled him to start over 100 hotels in US alone with notable 5 star hotels like Marriot in almost every major city.

8) Atheism- Hasu Shah says that the most important quality that he looks for in a new partner is Atheism. He firmly believes that those who believe in god would never resort to unscrupulous means. God here need not have a fixed definition. It can be your work or your ethics. But resorting to criminal ways to get things done should be completely avoided.

9) Hard work- Not to mention, hard work is the corner stone for everything else mentioned above. These men put in hours of toiling, slept for only 2 hours and ate little. All they had was a fire in them to succeed and make big.

10) Giving it back- Gujaratis really believe in giving it back to their villages and alma mater. Mohanbhai started SUPA farm which gave employment to local Adivasis, used canals and irrigation to make use of water to increase the local farming. Jaydev Patel built schools in his hometown Sojitra thereby ameliorating the education system for thousands of students.

The list is endless. The book is great and unputdownable to a large extent. The writing is definitely good, if not great, but that does not take anything away from Shobha Bondre and Shalaka Walimbe who have done a great job in bringing these stories in front of us. Inspiring and exciting, it's a must read! Go grab it!

- Tejas Nimbargiu0007

For other interesting articles visit - www.tejasnimbargi.blogspot.in
My Twitter Handle- @nimbo_baba