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The theme of this year's seminar is “IT India: From Cost Advantage to Strategic Partnerships”. The seminar aims to bring together IT industry practitioners, consultants, academicians and students for stimulating and engaging discussions on the latest trends in IT Management. As a part of AIMS 2006, IIM K is conducting two case study competitions.

The Cognizant Case Study Challenge involves identifying the business objectives and formulating an IT strategy for a consumer electronics giant that is planning its second wave of growth in India. The HCL Challenge is to solve the business problem a leading mobile GSM/3G services provider of UK is facing in the most efficient way and under the existing constraints. The finals of these events will be conducted on 12th August 2006 at IIM Kozhikode.

There is over Rs. 70,000 to be won in these contests. So do visit http://www.iimk-aims.com for further details, and to register. Hurry! Last dates for entries close soon.

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A gold medalist from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai Mr Sharma has more than 27 years of experience working with companies like Vedanta, EID Parry and SPIC. He was holding key posts in CII, FICCI, MMA, and AIESEC. His lively presentation captivated the gathering of 250 Students of LIBA.

"The country is witnessing a steady growth with much of its contribution from Manufacturing and Services. Construction is only the second largest sector in terms of employment after agriculture and has a 5 pc share in GDP. It provides a huge canvas of opportunities for growth, both in domestic and foreign markets. With huge investments running into crores are in the pipeline in sectors like oil and gas, irrigation, water, roads, bridges, power plants, urban infrastructure apart from in steel and other industrial projects. All these need a large number of techno-commercial managers. A progressing Indian Economy and rapid infrastructural growth is now offering better career opportunities in the field of design and construction. The booming construction industry has opened up challenging career opportunities for young engineers and management graduates," said Mr Sharma. Mr Sharma explained the contribution made by the sector towards GDP and growth of the country. He also highlighted on the significance of Technology and Management in the field.

Construction giants like L&T; are looking at recruiting engineers with MBAs with core competencies in executing large projects. Management graduates should have technical competency with a sound domain knowledge. On the behavioural side, they should possess relational competency for winning contracts and managing projects in different environments and locations. They are also expected to have an evaluation competency for business management. Also required is entrepreneurial ability for scaling up operations and business.

Speaking about L&T; Ltd a pioneer in the field, Mr Sharma talked about the diverse portfolio of projects executed ranging from flyovers, highway roads, hydro projects, religious institutions, IT Parks, power plants and various institutions. This had also led to a “problem of plenty”, he added, where they have had to refuse many projects out of compulsion. Mr Sharma insisted on the importance of managerial skills in the field highlighting a few of his personal experiences in L&T.; He shared his views on the requirement of Managerial Skills in the Infrastructure sector and encouraged students to opt for a challenging and rewarding career in the field.

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What it has been over the years?

• Eureka! has led to the birth of fourteen successful startups in five years - Voyager Infotech, Myzus, eInfinitus, Herald Logic, Whizlabs, TheraNova, Duesco, Embedded Robot Technologies, Phonologies, PowaiLabs, Techsoft, Eisodus Networks, Convis and Genesys.

• Eureka! was recognized as “Asia's largest business plan competition” – CNN '01

• Top CEOs, industrialists and entrepreneurs like Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Ajay Piramal, Hetal Gandhi, Kanwal Rekhi, Sabeer Bhatia, Nandan Nilekani, Abhay Havaldar, Randy Komisar, Ajit Shelat, Mahesh Murthy among many others have been associated with Eureka!.

• Eureka! has been associated with a broad spectrum of major institutions in the industry such as CNN, Hewlett Packard, TiE, Intel, Tata, The Wadhwani Foundation, Indian Express, FICCI, NASSCOM, IOCL, ICICI, Trilogy, Department of Science and Technology (Government of India), Entrepreneurship Development Board (Government of Singapore) and Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

• Winners of Eureka! have been invited to various international conferences and competitions - Stanford's Global Entrepreneurship Challenge in 2000 and 2001, Technology Innovation Competition (TIC) in Taiwan in 2001, Global Start-up B-Plan Competition, Singapore in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005.

• The Eureka! 2005 winners were felicitated by the National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN) at TiECon India 2005.

When does it happen?

The whole process starts with your registration. Registrations for Eureka! 2006 begins on 7th August 2006 and closes on 1st October 2006. Eureka! 2006 is divided into three stages, extending up to February 2007.

Who can participate?

Eureka! 2006 is open for students and working professionals from all over the world who wish to convert their ideas to successful enterprises.

Why participate?

Cash Prizes:
• First Prize : Rs. 2,00,000
• Second Prize : Rs. 1,20,000
• Third Prize : Rs. 80,000

Top Student Team: Rs 50,000
(Amongst the remaining finalist)

Other Incentives

• Apart from the total prize money of Rupees 450 thousand, the complete process will include intensive mentoring at each stage.
• Final presentation will provide the finalists with an opportunity to present their business plan to Venture Capitalists and Incubators to secure funding and incubation.
• Short listed participants will also be able to interact with first hand entrepreneurs to share their experiences.
• Winners of Eureka! are invited to networking events and international
business plan competitions like Global Start-up, US Singapore and U.C Berkeley.

Where do i get more information?

For registration and other details, please check the Eureka! Website at http://eureka.iitbecell.org

For any further queries contact

Nishikant Dhanuka,
Manager, Public Relations
The Entrepreneurship Cell
IIT Bombay
Contact - 9869755707
Email – nishi@iitbecell.org

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The event gave NITIE students an opportunity to experience the thrill of direct sales of educational toys, made by the NGO Navnirmiti, for a social cause- engendered disadvantaged children.

Prof. T.Prasad, Mandi, conceptualized it. It helps in integrating the theoretical principles of statistics, managerial economics, marketing and basic market research with their practical application as a part of the curriculum.

At the Mandi flag off function, Sri Ved Prakash Arya, the COO of Pantaloons, spoke of direct marketing - a concept already visited by a man who has stood on the store-floor and, by his own admission, "sold 52 shirts in a single day".

His young daughter had a go at the toys and when asked, she insisted on solving a Tangram puzzle without any assistance. The fascination she evinced in the toys, cheered us on as we were led to the NITIE buses that were waiting to take us to various parts of Mumbai- Malad, Lokhandwala,Vashi,Thane,Parel,Vile Parle,Hiranandani, Bandra,Churchgate to name a few.The students were carrying educational merchandise consisting of 3 products- Jodo 3-D Wonder Kit, Tangram and Pyramid- designed to serve as educational aids in the teaching of maths and science.

Aiyswarya, a management student, feels that any product can be directed both at an individual and at an institution, whatever its use as long as it is projected/perceived appropriately.
She recounts from her own group's experience at Chowpatty beach, “ Middle class people who couldn't afford Jodo – the higher priced product- but understood the educational value of the toys, enthusiastically bought out the Tangrams and Pyramids.”

NITIE's students have also related instances of Tangrams and Jodo boxes selling like hot-cakes on the suburban railway between Andheri and Churchgate. Interestingly, a manager from HDFC Life insurance and a manager at Shopper's Stop, impressed by a group's sales skills, offered its members part-time jobs and summer internships, respectively.

“A teacher from Kendriya Vidyalaya, to whom we narrated the history of Navnirmithi and its association with NITIE for the past five years, was touched to note that the proceeds of this exercise were to go towards educating disadvantaged children. She bought 3 boxes of Jodo at one go!” according to Aparna.

Abesh recollects, “Through our Rotaract club we approached an NGO, located in Hiranandani, that looked after the education of children of construction workers. Not only did they buy the products, they also requested that we carry out a live demonstration in their organization the following weekend.”

Dawn, another management student of NITIE, sums up the twin principles - “Mandi is as much about refining our management skills as giving back to the section of our community that is less fortunate than us.”

It is estimated that the 200 odd NITIE students have driven up sales to touch a record 2.25 lakhs. As in every year, the entire amount collected will go back to the NGO Navnirmiti.

According to Dr.Nandkumar Jadhav of Navnirmiti, this exercise contributes close to 25% of Navnirmiti's annual revenue.





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The event commenced with a team from NCDEX conducting a workshop on commodities and derivatives trading. The workshop educated the participants regarding the commodity markets in India, their evolution, product conceptualization, design and contract specifications, risk and settlement process. It was supported by a demo of an NCDEX trading terminal to view live action on the quotes placed by the market players. Students from various premier B-Schools like IIFT, IIT-Delhi, IMT, IMI, MFC, ICFAI, MBE, etc attended the workshop.

Prof. C.D. Bhattacharya, Dean (FMS), delivered the keynote address of the workshop. In his inaugural speech, he emphasized on the increasing importance of commodity markets in India.

The first session was on Introduction & Trading on NCDEX Platform. Mrs. Uma Mohan, Head of Consumer Services at NCDEX, in this session briefly discussed the fundamentals of the derivatives and commodities. She also comprehensively explained the different strategies of hedging, arbitrage and speculation. The next speaker on stage Mr. Somesh Vaidya (Customer Services Group – Training), followed it up by giving an introduction on commodity trading, a comparison of commodity and financial derivatives and a brief overview of the market in general. He also explained the different trading terminologies with the help of a live demonstration of trading in the Commodity Market.

The second session was on Margin Requirements, Clearing & Settlement. Mr. Vaidya briefed upon the classification of risk and the various risk mitigation strategies. He also enlightened the audience about the different types of settlements and their methodologies.

The third session on Pricing Commodity Derivatives was on the second day of the workshop. The second day's proceedings started with Mrs. Uma Mohan and Ms. Swati Parashar, discussing the various types of clearing and settlement processes and how commodity futures are priced. They engaged the audience in a discussion on the process flow for product launch at NCDEX and the finer points of alternative perspectives of pricing.

The workshop was also interspersed with a couple of tests – on basics & on margins, clearing and settlement. The idea behind the tests was to assess the knowledge of students developed during the course of the workshop.

Spread over two days and divided into three sessions, the workshop covered various aspects of the commodity markets to generate an in depth understanding of its functioning and live trading on the NCDEX platform. All participants were issued certificates duly authorised by NCDEX.

Prof. Jay.K.Mitra, the Programme Director concluded the workshop by thanking the faculty members for taking time out from their busy schedules and conducting this workshop, which would help the participants in understanding the dynamics of this emerging market.

“It was indeed a great experience to be a part of the workshop on commodities at FMS. Undoubtedly, we were overwhelmed by the participation of students on both the days. The profound interest and understanding of the participants on the fundamentals and concepts of commodity trading was truly commendable.” – This is what Mr. Somesh Vaidya had to say about his experience of the workshop.

Ankit Goenka, Co-ordinator of the finance society at FMS MBA (Management of Services) delivered the Vote of Thanks. He said – “Commodity trading helps us in making a successful convergence of the primary sector and the service sectors of the economy. The workshop was very enriching in terms of theoretical and practical exposure and I am sure the participants would benefit to a great extent.”


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The World Wide Web in its present form provides millions of ways to reach out, relate, connect, communicate, share, learn and help people grow. Interestingly, a very small fraction of these ways has seen the light of day on the Internet.Each day at PaGaLGuY.com, our mission is to find new ways of building communities, delivering content, marketing goods and conducting business which serve to create online experiences that rival real life situations.

We hire crazy, talented and slightly disgruntled individuals who have displayed the ability to make a difference in any situation they have been in their lives. We then provide them an environment which allows them to think, to challenge, to digress, to smash and to create the future. We have an affinity for Self-Learners and believe that being a Hard Working Jack of All Trades is a great thing. The average age of employees in PaGaLGuY.com is 24 years.

We are currently hiring for the following positions:

Creative God/Graphic Designer (Mumbai)

Creative people for designing drop-dead gorgeous graphics for the website, witty T-shirt designs, a bit of print layouts and keeping the general aesthetics meter of the company and its products at 10 out of 10. Read more

Guru Marketers (Mumbai)

Charismatic geniuses who can work with the Editorial and Technical gang closely to come up with world class services products and implement them, besides marketing our existing products and services. Read more

Send Resumés or Queries to jobs@inzanelabs.com

If you're applying, give us an indication of what profile you are applying for. Approaching us with 'Here is my CV so please let me know if there is any job available for me' is the best way to be overlooked!

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The Business Today - Aditya Birla Group Acumen 2006 National B-school challenge today kicked off its North Zone rounds at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi.

B-schools from around Delhi and Lucknow participated in the event, and several familiar names won the debate on the relevance of foreign brands to enter the quarter finals. The quarter finals shall be now held for two groups.

Group 1: Corporate Social Responsibility is just PR
1) Balaji and Ali Asgar from IMT Ghaziabad
2) Priyanka and Soumya from MDI, Gurgaon
3) Chhanda Das and Ruchi Sharma from Amity Business School
4) Ritesh Patel and Shivanku Misra from IMI Delhi

Group 2: FDI wil kill local industry
5) Ankush and Nishika Bajaj from FMS Delhi
6) Swarnim and Arka Bhatacharya from IIFT Delhi
7) Swati Gupta and Nandita Verma from ICFAI Business School
FMS-Delhi, Akshat Tyagi and Divya Mohan from LBS, Delhi

Next update after the announcement of results!

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After a closely fought Acumen 2006 Quiz preliminary round, IMT-Ghaziabad, IMI-Delhi, Delhi School of Economics and The Business School, University of Jammu entered the finals of the North Zone regionals.

Meanwhile, FMS, MDI, IIFT and Amity Business School entered the semi finals of the Acumen Debate.

On Saturday, Ankush Trakru and Nishika Bajaj of FMS will speak for and MDI's Saumya Mittal and Priyanka Todi against the topic 'Market Rsearch is a necessary evil for business decision-making.'

The second round of semi finals will witness IIFT's Swanim Bharadwaj of IIFT speak for and Chandna Das and Ruchi Sharma of Amity Business School speak against the topic 'Leaders aren't born but made.'

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imagesMDI's Priyanka Todi and Saumya Mittal (in picture) and IIFT's Swarnim Bharadwaj and Arka Bhattacharya won the finals of the Acumen 2006 North Zone debate to enter the finals. The finals shall be held Saturday evening.

They shall debate on the topic 'Amitabh Bahchan everywhere: Celebrity endorsements don't work'

As this report is typed, the four Quiz finalists are fielding googlies from Harsha Bhogle in the IIFT Auditorium.

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Arjun Siva and Dr Vikram of Institute of Management Technology (IMT) Ghaziabad (in picture) won the North Zone regional Quiz of the Business Today and Aditya Birla Group Acumen 2006 National B-school Challenge on Saturday.

Hosted by Harsha Bhogle, the business trivia inclined quiz was contested besides IMT by MBA students from IMI-Delhi, TBS-Jammu and Delhi School of Economics.

(Watch this space for the complete list of questions bowled by Harsha Bhogle)

We take a look at profiles of the triumphant IMT Ghaziabad duo.

Dr Vikram

A Delhi Public School-RK Puram product and a Bachelor of Dental Studies graduate from KMC-Manipal University, Dr Vikram worked for 6.5 years as a dentist-entrepreneur, starting three clinics by himself.

A quizzer since schooltime, when he won the St Columba's School Quiz, he shone at the KMC-Open Quiz in 1999 and at IIM Lucknow in the recent past.

"Our best strengths are that both I and Arjun have been quizzers schooltime, as long back as 1991. Our team synergy is good and my being a debator helps," he says to justify why he would win in the Acumen Quiz NAtional Finals to be held in November in Mumbai.

Dr Vikram is an avid soccer player and fan, is passionate about the healthcare industry and is trying his feet at Salsa dance lately. He did his summer training at 4S Financial Services.

Arjun Siva

Arjun was the Editor and Marketing Head for www.bestofbombay.com for two years before he joined IMT Ghaziabad. an avid quizzer since long, Arjun started business quizzing while studying Bachelor of Management Studies at Narsee Monjee, Mumbai.

"Since we prefer to work out the answers to quiz questions rather than mug them up, we need to work on our memory if we want to win the Acumen national finals," he says. Arjun did his summers at Timesjobs.com.

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The delegation enlightened the packed gathering at the seminar hall of SIMSR about the organizational structure, networking approach and the flawless delivery mechanism of their organization. The speech, made in colloquial style, was laced with light humour and doses of popular aphorisms. The event was a momentous one for the institute that offers a specialized course in Operations and Supply Chain management

The curious audience, comprising of students from diverse specializations, received valuable lessons in operational excellence and logistics management. The Dabbawalas, who offer their services at dirt-cheap price (Rs. 300/month), rely on simple procedures and their 5000-strong workforce to satiate the hunger of their customers with a clockwork precision. The organization treats each of its members as a shareholder and pays anywhere between Rs. 5000 to Rs. 6000 per month.

The students were amazed by the fact that no one in this century-old organization had received formal education on logistics management. Rather, most of them were either illiterate or semi-literate. The secretary of the association, Mr. Gangaram Talekar, had the audience in splits when he described his workers as “Thumbs up” (Angootha chhap or illiterate) and also took a dig at the cola drinks. The Dabbawallas use a unique coding system for identification of dabbas(boxes) and use the extensive network of local trains of Mumbai as their major mode of transport.

Despite getting the Six-Sigma and ISO certification, the dabbawallas have their feet firmly on the ground and still believe in keeping everything simple. However, the organization has started booking orders on SMS and has launched a website to keep up with the changing times. One of the many overwhelmed students quipped, “How can they manage such a flawless system without using modern IT?” The duo explained to the students that the secret of success of their supply-chain network lies in the “grassroots” approach. The crowd broke into thunderous applause when Mr. Medge told them that their chief motivation was their desire to ensure that their subscribers were not left hungry on a working day. Prof. Suresh Ghai, the Director of the institute, made a note of the social services rendered by the organization apart from their much talked-about delivery service.
The Dabbawalas have displayed that excellent logistics management is not the domain of just B-schools graduates but can also be implemented by some sound planning, co-ordination and common sense.

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The topic of discussion was 'Aligning HR Strategies with Changing Business Strategies'. The role of human resources has been evolving for quite some time now. The HR business objectives have been re-established to support the attainment of the overall strategic business plan and objectives. The discussion emphasized the importance of HR in managing this change and underlines the importance of getting HR "a seat at the table".

The panelists who graced the event and shared their views were: -
· Commodore Dilip Mohapatra, Global Head, Learning and Development, TCS
· Mr. Mohit Nayyar, Head HR, P&G;
· Mr. Pankaj Bhargava, Head HR, Marico
· Mr. Srinivas Macha, Associate Vice President, Aranca

Our Director, Dr. Subhash D. Awale, formally inaugurated the event. In his welcome speech, he said that events such as these are essential for the overall development of the students because such knowledge sharing sessions will help the students to understand the subtleties of the real world situations. Further he advised the students to gain the maximum from the experience of the panelists.

After the welcome speech, the round of presentations began. The first to address was HR head of Marico, Mr. Pankaj Bhargava, who explained the paradigms for managing and retaining talent. He suggested a simple technique of treating the talent as a customer. He emphasized the fact that it is essential to make the customer feel comfortable at the time of induction, during his service period and even at the time of separation from the organization. This practice, along with upholding the quality of service provided to the customer, helps in talent retention.

Next to decipher the topic further was HR head of P&G; India, Mr. Mohit Nayyar. He covered various aspects of Mergers and Acquisitions, giving example of the P&G; and Gillette Merger. He pointed out that for mergers to be successful, right kind of mix between the organizations is mandatory. He also brought out some key points that are responsible for the success of any organization. For example, a clear business plan, making a right choice on what's “nice to do” and what's “need to do” and finally the importance of “people first” approach, because ultimately they are the people who can make or break a process. His presentation gave an insight into the success mantra of most of the successful organizations.

Commodore Dilip Mohapatra, Global Head (Learning and Development), T.C.S was the last panelist to address the audience. His witty remarks, eloquent style of interaction with students infused a new zeal in the event and gave some new direction to the topic, which was so far unexplored. Present day HR dilemma, Human Resource Outsourcing(HRO) - a boon or bane, covering aspects such as what to outsource, what are the intimidations against outsourcing etc were brilliantly explained by him with occasional quoting of real time examples from his professional as well as personal life. He stressed that strategic HR planning, policy formulation, core competency; cultural values etc. are an integral part of any organization and impart a unique identity to the organization. Thus they stand completely out of the domain of outsourcing. According to his conventions, there is no magic talisman for compatible and fruitful outsourcing; rather, in essence, it is a process, which should be scripted with vision and objective of organization.

Panel discussion was the crescendo of Samiksha. Almost all questions hovered around M&A;, Attrition and HR not getting the due recognition in industries. Mr. Srinivas Macha, Associate Vice President, Aranca, moderated the panel discussion. Panel agreed in unison to get the hitherto denied decorum, HR needs to be so much competent and capable that it should leave the obvious traces of its footmark on the beaten track that leads to the goal of organization.

Commodore Dilip Mohapatra divulged the epitome of issue of Attrition and Retention.
He said, “Unless the top management is talented, the top talent cannot be retained.” While taking on a question related to M&A; Mr. Nayyar dwelt upon the importance of Cultural Audit, which in itself, is a burgeoning trend in the arena of acquisition. Commodore Mohapatra elaborated in detail on every question either directed or diverted to him in lucid way, which was commended by the audience. He said that the question of Candidate Management turns irrelevant once the idea of treating the talent as a king or queen gets christened in core cultural value of organization. Questions like The functional type of people getting amalgamated with HR or HR people osmosis with Line Managers etc were all part of volleys of questions launched at erudite Samiksha panel.

The panel discussion came to an end with the encouraging remarks by the panelists regarding the selection of the topic, the level of participation of students and also the about the NITIE campus. The panelists were felicitated and the vote of thanks concluded the event.

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Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), Delhi beat MDI-Gurgaon in a battle of reason to win the Business Today Acumen 2006 North Zone Debate finals. IIFT's Arka Bhattacharya and Swarnim Bharadwaj (in the picture) will now compete with the teams from East, West and South Zones at the finals on November 4, 2006 in Mumbai. The debate that saw them through to the finals was on 'Amitabh Bahchan everywhere: Celebrity endorsements don't work'.

A little about the winners.

Arka Bhattacharya
A 2003 batch Metallurgical Engineer from College of Engineering, Pune, Arka worked for one year as a management trainee with ESAB India Limited, handling marketing and sales of specialised welding products in Mumbai. He then spent another two years with TIME Institute, Mumbai as Center Manager. Arka has in the past won quizzes and debates at Mood-Indigo (IIT Bombay), Verve, AFMC, Fergusson College and Limca Book of Records events.
Now in the first year of MBA(IB) at IIFT, he keeps himself busy outside of academics by being an avid reader, philosophy enthusiast and a maths and physics junkie. Besides debating and quizzing, he likes rock and Indian Classical music.
"Both of us are way too enthusiastic about speaking and we have a great understanding about exactly what we want to present as our viewpoint and our speaking gels together. We're hoping that this USP of ours holds us in good stead versus the much tougher opposition we will inevitably face at the mega finals," says Arka about his team's prospects in the Acumen finals.
Swarnim Bharadwaj

A St Stephen's product, Swarnim is Arka's senior at IIFT and is currently on seventh heaven after receiving a Pre Placement Offer from Hindustan Lever Limited. His interests besides reading and movies include partying, unplanned activities and collecting jokes and gags.
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Rohan Khanna of Accenture and Shubhendu Saha of DTZ cruised their way in the Business Today Acumen 2006 Alumni Quiz North Zone regionals to reach the national finals.

Shubhendu Saha is an alumnus of School of Management Studies, Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Allahabad, belonging to the class of 1999. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Physical Planning from School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi. He currently works with DTZ India, an International Property Consultant as a Senior Manager in the Investment Advisory group. His areas of responsibility include advising clients in identifying suitable investment avenues in real estate, undertaking due diligence, carrying out financial analysis of real estate projects, formulating project and financial structure and supporting clients in negotiations and deal closure. Shubhendu was part of the winning team of The Brand Equity Quiz 2001.

Rohan has a MBA degree from the Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi (batch of 2003) and a Bachelors degree in Electronics Engineering from the Delhi Institute of Technology (batch of 2001). Currently working as a Business Consultant with Accenture, Rohan advises clients in the areas of strategy formulation, business performance improvement and process reengineering.

"For the Acumen Finals, there is no specific strategy that we have in mind. We would just keep ourselves updated and then 'play it by the ear'," says Rohan.

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Hello Everyone,

It feels good to finally write an article on Math for PG. As the title correctly suggests, this is all about geometry. I do like Geometry but I am not one of those people who can balance vague 3-D structures all in the mind and come out with answers that go like "obviously the volume has to be 3500 cubic meters". If you do wake me up in the night to ask about the 'sine rule', I will just ask for forgiveness for I have not sinned. So jokes apart, what is the purpose of this article?

Geometry is all about a lot of formulae, but it is difficult to remember them. What we will try to do is come up with some ways to understand and hence memorize formulae. We can also look at some general techniques that can help us solve a wide range of problems. To kick off the series we will start with Lines and Triangles followed by Polygons and Circles in the next part. Finally we shall look at Mensuration.

Parallel Lines

When you have a transversal cutting two parallel lines you can have two cases.

Case I: The transversal cuts the lines perpendicularly in this case all angles are equal to each other.
Case II: If the transversal does not cut perpendicularly then the angles formed are either acute or obtuse. Now all angles can be related in the following manner:
1. All acute angles are equal to each other
2. All obtuse angles are equal to each other
3. Any acute angle + any obtuse angle = 180

Triangle Inequality

Let's say you have two sides 'a' and 'b'. If you place them at an angle of 180 degrees, then you will get a straight line of length 'a+b', which will not lead to a triangle. To get a triangle you will have to nudge one of the sides up or down, hence the third side will always be less than the straight line 'a+b'. In a similar fashion if you put one line on the top of another then the length between the two points is |a-b| again this will not be a triangle. To get a triangle you will need to nudge one of the sides again hence the third side will always be more than |a-b|. You do not need to check this with all combinations of sides, any two sides will do.

Interior and Exterior Angle Bisection Theorem

It is very easy to remember the interior angle bisection theorem because the ratio is of sides on the same side of the bisector. If you have a triangle ABC where angle A is bisected by AD then on one side of AD you have AB and BD on the other side you have AC and CD and guess what, their ratios are equal.

But unhappily on cursory observation, the exterior angle bisection theorem does not appear as beautiful. So in the same triangle if angle A is bisected externally and the angle bisector cuts line BC at X you will have AX lying outside the triangle. Now imagine this angle bisector actually pivoting inside and becoming the internal angle bisector then you will have AB/BX = AC/CX which is how it actually looks. So it is very easy to get the external bisection ratio by considering it to be an internal bisection.

Along with this you will need to know the Appollonius Theorem and the various methods for finding the area of a triangle.

Important Points

There are four different lines we can draw in a triangle, these lines are centered around a vertex and its bisection, perpendicularity and mid-point of opposite sides.

1. Vertices and mid-point of opposite sides give you medians.
2. Vertices and perpendicularity to the opposite sides give you altitudes.
3. Vertices and bisection of the angle at the vertex give you angle bisectors.
4. Perpendicular at the mid-point of sides give perpendicular bisectors.
5. Medians intersect to give us the centroid where centroid divides each median in the ratio 2:1.
6. Altitudes intersect to give you the orthocenter.

Now the major property of angle bisectors is that any point on the angle bisector is equidistant from the two sides of the vertex. So the intersection of the angle bisectors will be equidistant from the three sides. Hence you get the incenter which will be equidistant from the sides, that distance is the inradius and you can draw the incircle.

Similarly any point on the perpendicular bisector will be equidistant from the end-points of the segment. Hence the intersection will be equidistant from the vertices so that gives you the circumcenter and you can draw the circumcircle from the same point.

Important Triangles

Equilateral Triangle

Know all the following things inside out.
1. Area, height
2. It is composed of two 30-60-90 triangles
3. Circumradius = side / root(3)
4. Inradius = side / 2xsquareroot (3)
5. The only triangle where all points that is, incenter, circumcenter, orthocenter, centroid intersect.

Right angled triangle

Circumradius can be found as half of hypotenuse, Inradius can be found using the area formula i.e. 0.5xbxh = 0.5 (inradius)x(semi-perimeter).

Pay special attention to these triangles.
1. 3-4-5 know its inradius (1), its circumradius = 1/2 of hypotenuse = 2.5, its area.
2. 5-12-13 triangle, here inradius is 2, circumradius = 6.5.
3. 30-60-90 triangle can be seen as half of an equilateral triangle so sides opposite the respective angles bear the ratio of 1:squareroot(3):2.
4. 45-45-90 can be seen as half of a square so in a similar fashion sides bear the ratio of 1:1:squareroot(2).

How does knowing all these triangles help?

Good Question. A lot of times I have solved tougher triangle problems which was based on sides a,b,c and changed that to an equilateral triangle or if the sides are distinct to a 3-4-5 triangle got the required answer and re-substituted a,b,c with the required numbers. Believe me it is much faster. Also comfort with these basic triangles means a lot of on-paper solving reduces. So lets hope this was helpful. I will start looking squarely at polygons and circles now.

In case of doubts please send me a Private Message, as answering doubts on comments goes against the purpose of comments.

Munira Lokhandwala is an alumna from IIM Calcutta, batch of 1999. She has been associated with CAT coaching since 2001. In 2005, she started Catalyst Group tuitions for CAT. (www.catalyst4cat.com) she is a regular CAT taker herself. These are her scores:
Year - Overall percentile
2005 - 100 %ile
2004 - 99.99 %ile
2003 - 99.98 %ile

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According to figures from the World MBA Tour, the largest international programme of business school information events, women around the world are increasingly turning to an MBA as a route to top jobs in industry, commerce and banking. Of over 58,000 prospective students who attended World MBA Tour events in 2005, 35 pc were women – up from 34 pc in 2004 and only 28 pc in 2003. In India however, women are lagging well behind their overseas counterparts. At Indian events only 19 pc of applicants were female – the fourth lowest percentage across more than 30 countries – although this was an increase on 2004 when the percentage was only 16 pc.

The global figures are mirrored by the experience of major international schools such as Manchester in the UK, which saw applications for women for places on its full-time programme rise from 23 pc to 35 pc in 2005. The trend is part of a concerted effort on the part of business schools to redress the historic bias in favour of men on campus. “There are fewer than 30 pc women at most business schools around the world compared to around 50 pc in other professional schools such as law or medicine,” says Kim Keating of the Tuck School in the USA. “We've been working very hard to reach out to women through creative activities.”

Those Indian women who have followed their international counterparts into business school education are almost uniformly enthusiastic about the experience. According to Shazia Ghadialy, who is currently studying for an MBA at the Cass Business School in the UK, “Things have improved for women over the last 20 years, but I think we still need to identify ways to combine having a family with having a leadership role at work. An MBA certainly helps to portray the image that you are serious about your career, and it consequently does equip you to break the glass ceiling.” Her opinion is largely shared by Shipra Kochhar, currently on the MBA programme at HHL in Leipzig, Germany: “There's definitely a glass ceiling which prevents Indian women from reaching senior management positions,” she says, “however, I think that the experience at a top international school better equips you to face the challenges of the corporate world.”

Source: www.TopMBA.com






Discuss this article in the Forum!
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A very common flaw on the GMAT, and in life, is the confusion of absolute numbers and percentages. For example, which is larger, one-third of x or one-half of y? Without any information to compare x and y, we cannot answer this question. It is true that one-half is larger than one-third when applied to the same quantity, but when applied to quantities of different sizes, one-third could be much larger than one-half. For example, one-third of the population of New York City is a greater quantity than one-half the population of Boise, Idaho.

How does this play out on the GMAT? Consider the following argument:
At any given time, approximately fifteen percent of all homes in Florida are on the market. In Texas, however, only seven percent of all homes are on the market at any given time. Therefore, one will have a wider selection of homes to choose from if one looks for a home in Florida rather than in Texas.

This argument falsely assumes that the number of homes for sale in Florida is greater than the number of homes for sale in Texas, based on the fact that a larger proportion of homes in Florida are for sale. Imagine, however, that there are only 100 homes in Florida, yielding an available housing stock of 15 homes. And imagine that there are 1000 homes in Texas, yielding an available housing stock of 70 homes. In this case, the conclusion of the argument would not hold true. (Bonus: At least what percentage of the number of homes in Texas would the number of homes in Florida have to be in order for the argument to hold true? Answer found at bottom of page.)

The relationship between number and percent can also go the other way. Consider the following argument:

More people in California own air conditioners than do people in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio combined. Therefore, Californians are clearly more concerned with their physical comfort than are people in those other three states.

This argument falsely assumes that the percentage of people who own air conditioners is higher in California than it is in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio together, based on the fact that the number of people who own air conditioners is greater in California. Imagine, for example, that the population of California were 10,000,000, of whom 1,000,000 owned air conditioners - representing 10%. Imagine as well that the combined population of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio were 1,000,000, of whom 900,000 owned air conditioners. Now, it would indeed be true that more people owned air conditioners in California, but it would represent only 10% of the population, whereas 90% of the population of the other states owned air conditioners. In these circumstances, it would be difficult to maintain that Californians care more about their physical comfort. When dealing with arguments that involve comparisons of quantities and/or percents, be sure you determine whether the comparison is valid.
(Bonus answer: In order for the argument to be valid, it would have to be true that 15% of homes in Florida is greater than 7% of homes in Texas. We can represent this as an equation: Finding .

If we isolate F, we get:

Therefore, the number of homes in Florida has to be greater than 47% of the number of homes in Texas.)
Next week, we will look at flaws in arguments involving claims of causation.

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The event was inaugurated by the head of department of DMS IIT Delhi, Dr. S. S. Yadav who set the tone and the pitch for the event by introducing the house to the topic and providing a context for what was to follow. He was followed by the very eloquent Mr. M Damodaran, who in his inimitable poetic fashion set forth what he perceived were the characteristic traits of the new generation as the epitome of: irreverence, intolerance and impatience. These traits, he remarked, were not negative despite their pejorative connotations; in fact they served to help them conquer their dreams. What is required, he said, was control and moderation. The new generation, he remarked, was born in an independent country having never seen colonial or any sort of suppression, breeding a high level of confidence and disregard for tradition. But in their drive for success what this generation missed out on was to enjoy life, to soak up its sights and sounds. What makes this generation different is its high level of enthusiasm and abundance of energy. But in its impatience to succeed it often gets shortchanged, Mr. Damodaran observed. Perseverance is a trait that needs to be strengthened in this generation, like Robert Bruce, they should keep trying and trying.

Next on the podium, was Prof. Dr. Vinayshil Gautam of DMS IIT Delhi (founding member of IIM-K and lead consultant of setting up of IIM Shillong), who with his inimitable felicity conceptualized and contextualized the topic starting with the poser: 'Are we maturing as a species?". He pointed out three human traits: ego, love and anger and exhorted the audience to consider whether we have been able to manage them. Ego and anger are as ever just their manifestations have changed: the clubs of early man have been replaced by nuclear warheads; and they remain barriers to human development. Evolution is a natural phenomenon, only the parameter matters. Dr Vinayshil Gautam points out two main parameters: exclusive / generic and ephemeral / contingent. He pointed out that generations have evolved but the parameters are still the same. Physical anthropological changes are a proof of the evolutions in the human body. It is not only the questions of the different generations but also various civilizations at work!

The next session was the technical sessions, which was chaired by Dr. Kanika T Bhal of DMS IIT Delhi, the panelists being Mr. Rajeev Dubey (VP HR, M&M;), Mr. Rohit Basin (HR, PWC), Mr. Ashok K Raut (COO, BSE) and Prof Harish Chaudhary of DMS IIT Delhi. Mr Dubey started the session providing insights about M&M; management practices to tap the potential of Gen 'Y'. He also briefed about the concept of shadow boards wherein employees below 35 years of age are given responsibilities to steer the strategies and policies. He also mentioned about the practice of reverse mentoring. Mr. Rohit Basin, Executive Director PWC, gave insights into what makes this generation different. He was of the opinion that this generation is not averse to frequent job-hopping and has a desire for instant recognition. The major issues with this generation according to him are very little sense of belonging, Unrealistic expectations, Shortcuts to success, Easily Influenced and Lack of Business etiquette. Mr. Ashok K Raut (COO, BSE) took the stage next and gave his perspective on the traits of the new generation. He pointed out that the generation 'y' is a powerful programmable engines of intelligence with a fantastic focus on the 'bigger picture'. They seem to be good at plucking 'low hanging fruits' and handle office politics better. To leverage this, he recommended that the generation 'Y' should be empowered and should be given the potential to grow, the space to explore and be adventurous.

The last session was chaired by Mr T. C. Venkatsubbraniam, the MD of EXIM bank, who spoke about how like the corporate, the youth of the nation also has some responsibility towards society. The youth being independent and challenge loving needed to stop giving into peer pressure and be influenced by such supposed arbiters of success as CTC. They should be willing to serve the rural population by working among them.

Next he turned his focus on the managing the new generation. These generations was highly knowledgeable and was therefore a challenge to manage. He also shared his ideas regarding how the workforce should be structured in an organisation drawing on an analogy with a football team; recommending a healthy mix of aggressive, innovative individuals with mediocre and medium skilled personnel.

Lastly Mr Harish Choudhary gave the vote of thanks and summarized the entire conclave by pointing the various issues raised in the day and the responses they engendered.

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Due to inclement weather, the convocation ceremony was held in National Insurance Academys Campus on June 18th,Sunday. The Convocation ceremony at NIA SOM signified the official conferral of degrees for all NIA SOM postgraduates. During the convocation NIA SOM acknowledged the individual achievements and recognized each student by name.

The Chairman of Unit Trust of India (Mutual Fund), Shri U.K. Sinha was the Chief Guest on the occasion whereas Shri R. K. Joshi, Chairman cum Managing Director of General Insurance Company was the President of the Convocation. Among the other distinguished guests were Shri. M. Ramadoss, Chairman cum Managing Director of Oriental Insurance Company and Shri Thomas Mathew T, Managing Director of Life Insurance Corporation. The Director of NIA Dr. K.C. Mishra had given the welcome address to the august gathering.

There was an overall emphasis given by the dignitaries on soft skills to be developed by the students during the two years of their MBA course apart from their academics. Most of them reminded the students that their learning was not really over but would begin the moment they step out beyond the institute. There were deliberations on how students need to have a never say die approach and young executives can meet the challenge of excelling in a Global insurance market through innovativeness, Team working and Humility.

On this occasion the Academy gave out prestigious awards like the J.B. Boda D.B. Boda Gold Medal for General Insurance , Ram M. Moghe Gold Medal for Life Insurance, ALEgION Award for Best Industry Relevant Summer Project, Hemalatha Award for Best Academic Contribution, Director's Trophy for Best Inlab Project, Director's Gold Medal for Best Student, National Insurance Academy Gold Medal for Best Academic Merit and the , Mahadev Narayan Parchure Award for securing first in Business & Insurance Law.

NIA SoM has developed numerous student-centric initiatives and programmes like MID, BEAD and STUDENT Program. These help the students passing from NIA to be a leader in the changing global business scenario.

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“Years can teach what a day can never know”. In an effort to learn from the experiences of some of India's most enlightened corporate personalities, Symbiosis Institute of Business Management is organizing a mega management conclave. 'Summit SIBM' will see the confluence of personalities from the fields of Human Resources, Marketing, Finance and Marketing Communications addressing and interacting with management students and corporate delegates.

HR Meet – 2nd September 2006

Often branded as the stepchild of any good business practice, its time for HR professionals to step back and ask ourselves whether we're really doing as much as we can to make an organization successful. Are people that important? Are we wasting too much time doing what we do? And are we making a positive difference to the business at all? If yes, then how and if no, then how can we?

SIBM's HR Meet will focus on the importance given to an organization's most valuable asset - their employees. Top shots of industry will analyze the intricacies of the HR function, the importance and retention of manpower and their contribution to the profit of an organization. The speakers include Ms. Archana Shiroor (Country head- HR, Yes Bank), Mr. P. Dwarakanath (Ex-Director HR GSK ConsumerHealthcare) and Ms. Radhika Gopalkrishnan (Sr. Associate, Hewitt Associates).

Finance Meet – 3rd September 2006

World financial markets have witnessed formidable changes in the recent past, the most prominent among these being accelerated integration and globalization of world financial markets, increased securitization and corporate bond issuance, broadening and expansion of derivatives markets and improved regulatory standards.
In context of these developments we need gauge the potential of Indian financial markets and their status vis-à-vis the world markets. Through the medium of Summit SIBM we attempt to decrypt the current Indian financial scenario and analyze the future path of growth required to bring them at par with the developed financial markets.

The Finance Meet will see Mr. Damodaran (SEBI chief), Mr. J. Niranjan (Joint Head – Investment Banking, M&A; Advisor, ICICI Securities), Mr. Amul Gogna (Executive Director ICRA), Mr. N. S. Kannan (Executive Director ICICI Prudential Life Insurance ) and Mr. Rahul Roy (Professional Practice Director, Ernst& Young) discussing these issues and more.

Marketing Communications Meet – 9th September 2006

Fragmented markets, fragmented media and clichéd advertising are posing serious challenges to marketers in terms of defining the audience, breaking the clutter and reaching out to the customer. The Art of Customer Seduction is all about enticing the customer, not by insulting his intelligence but by arousing his senses. For this, we propose the four P 's o f Seduction – Personality, Promise, Panache and Publicity.

The Marketing Communications Meet will witness these issues being discussed by the top brass of industry like Mr. Rahul Kansal (an IIM alumnus with 23 years of experience in advertising and marketing), Mr. Rajiv Sabnis (COO Ambience Publicis), Mr. Rahul Johri (Senior VP –Sales & Marketing Discovery Networks) and Mr. Amit Agnihotri (co-founder and Director of the exchange4media portal and editor of Pitch).

Marketing Meet – 10th September 2006

Has being 'customer-centric' become a cliché? In an attempt to provide multiple customized solutions, are we actually killing our customers' appetite by serving an excess? What is the fine line between spoiling for choice and harassing the customer with too many marketing gimmicks? Are we really using technology optimally to leverage marketing? Or is it all a gimmick? How much is too much marketing?

The Marketing meet will deliberate on these topics, making them the focus of discussion by the top brass of industry like Mr. Prakash Wakankar (MD, PerfettiVan Melle India), Mr. Atul Sinha (VP-Branded Edible Oils, AT Foods) and Mr. Sumeet Narang (Marketing Manager, P&G;).

A culmination of the Top Brass of various sectors, Summit SIBM will provide an invaluable opportunity for any aspiring manager to interact with the top of the corporate ladder and to take home insights that will last a lifetime!

Registration Details

To register, please send delegate details and courier cheque / DD of appropriate amount in favor of “Director, Symbiosis Institute of Business Management” to the below mentioned address or register online at www.sibm.edu/summitsibm

Corporate Delegate Fees


Day Pass (1 day)

Weekend Pass (2 days)

Summit Package (4 days)

1 person

Rs.2,500

Rs.4,500

Rs.7,200

2 person

Rs.2,200

Rs.4,000

Rs.6,000

5 person

Rs.1,800

Rs.3,200

Rs.5,000

* rate per delegate

Registration for B-school students :- Rs. 250 per day