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He suggested- dharma, deshbhakti (patriotism), kushalta (outstanding skills), nirbhay (fearlessness), sahanubhuti (empathy) & tyaga (renunciation) to become better human beings. According to him to succeed in life it is important to become a better human being besides being a good manager. “The bigger thing is integrity than the placement. Learn and practice integrity and don't walk over the body of your colleagues. It is better to travel than to reach to a destination,” said Mr Seshan.

Introducing Mr. Seshan, Dean Academics of XIMB, Dr.Brajaraj Mohanty recalled his earlier visit when he was accompanied by several commandos and huge crowd huddled around him for meeting him. “It is an honour and privilege for the students to interact with such personalities. Perhaps they will take some lessons form him to achieve their goal of becoming better human beings,” said Dr.Mohanty.

He started the session in the XIMB auditorium with the history of India followed by his stints in the government. He recalled his tenure as an IAS officer, and said, “It is absolutely possible to be honest in the bureaucratic systems. I don't have a single rupee in my account earned by illegal means. I did many things from driving fully loaded buses to drafting the environment law.”

Mr. Seshan particularly talked about education, health and governance issues. He expressed deep concern that about 215 million students have no school, forget about good school. He pointed out that in a knowledge based economy, HR (Human Resource Management) is more important than marketing and finance for any organization. He expressed satisfaction over the growth of industry and manufacturing, but rued about the condition of agricultural and villages. He suggested improvements in seed quality, weed management, and cultural practices as some of the measures for improving productivity of the agriculture.

Talking about democracy and governance he said, “Despite all chaos, the democracy in India has not collapsed as it did in the neighbouring countries. The state of affair was that I was transferred to five departments in a single day on June 2, 1962. But I am very hopeful that we shall overcome.” He further elaborated his statement and said, “Democracy is the bad form of the government and the rest other systems are even worse than the democracy. The fundamental of democracy is not the right to vote but the right to disagree. Election Commission in our country is doing an excellent job. It is not because I headed it for six years but we suggested changes in the extremely complex systems of elections. So far army has never been used for elections in our country which is quite common in many developed countries of the world.”

He termed reservation as a political gimmick to be used just before election, which is fuelled by the TV channels. According to him, people should not be worried as it has been given to underprivileged people and it does not affect others in the current situation anymore.

Mr. Seshan showed keen interest in the Rural Management programme of XIMB and he spent over three hours understanding and exploring the different dimensions of it. He was very enthusiastic about the rural issues as he had worked in different positions in the government as an IAS officer. After retiring about 11 years ago, he has been associated with different institutes and has agreed in principle to take up some elective courses at XIMB.

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The conclave was co-chaired by Rajat Gera (Professor, Marketing Area of IMT Ghaziabad) and Dr. Vimi Jham (Chairperson,Alumni Relationship Committee) headed. In the inaugural session, Dr. B. S. Sahay (Director, IMT Ghaziabad) emphasized that the aim of marketing specialist in today's times should be to convert these challenges into opportunities.

The panel discussions brought together illustrious alumni of the institute as well as other marketing professionals to exchange views on a common platform. The discussions were carried out on a range of topics such as “The evolving Indian Market “, Marketing Strategies and Tactics”, “The New Marketing Challenges “ and “Marketing Case Studies”.

The speakers included experts from corporations such as Microsoft, Bharti, Wipro, Samsung, and Mother Dairy along with a host of entrepreneurs who were more than happy to share their experiences with the budding managers in the august gathering.

The sessions enlightened the audience and gave them fresh perspectives.

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The event got underway with the launch of NITIE's own On-campus Student Venture 'Impact'. Impact, an initiative by an inhouse committee of Management Students of NITIE would be completely run by Students and would cater to entire Gamut of needs of a MBA aspirant. This initiative would help these student entrepreneurs integrate their Classroom learning with Practical aspects of running a venture, thus Creating “Business Laboratory” kind of Environment.

Launch of this Novice intitaive was followed by Captivating; Interactive Sessions with two of India's most Successful Entrepreneurs, Mr. Suhas Gopinath- Worlds Youngest CEO and Mr. Alok Kejriwal, Chairman Contests2win.com

Mr.Alok Kejriwal is the founder of Contests2win, a consumer Media Company for people to play various formats of contest. Recalling his starting days Mr.Kejriwal told “One should not to be scared of failure, should go ahead and take a risk if one believes in an idea. Be focused and passionate to do what you set out to do”. With the help of various innovative ideas implemented by Contests2win, Mr.Kejriwal showed how innovative ideas would always find a market and they could in fact change the very rules of the game. Mr. KeJriwala.

Mr.Suhas Gopinath, CEO, Globals Inc, who at the age of 16 was recognized as the World's youngest entrepreneur in by CNBC and e-Business, Canada spoke on his Entrepereneurial Experiences and the need to be focused. He began with the difficulties he faced as a minor starting a business.He also recounted the difficulties that he faced in treading the lesser taken path. He also stressed on the need to break away from the traditional Indian mindset of getting a good education and finding a well paying job. Quoting his idols Bill Gates and Michael Dell, Mr. Gopinath drove home the point that it is possible to succeed if you have determination and passion even if you do not have a degree with your name.

The Talk was followed by a Q&A; session where Students and even the professors present asked the speakers on various aspects of entrepreneurship, the challenges and Changes needed in Educational set up in India, the future of such ventures in India.





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Mr. Saxena has extensive experience in both India as well as abroad. Having worked with leading organizations like Office Tiger in the US, he carries with him a long and distinguished career interspersed with Black Belt projects. He has worked in the capacity of Master Black Belt and is currently working with the BPO arm of Deutshe Bank on a couple of Black belt assignments.

The students were enthusiastic about the talk as it fell right in the middle of their Six Sigma training schedule. Mr. Saxena shared his views on the whys and wherefores on the nuances in Six Sigma implementation.

He spoke about the difficulty in convincing the clients on doing a Six Sigma project. It was an important task, to make the client understand that the project would make a significant impact on the bottom-line of the organization.

The gathering got a true taste of various application areas in Six Sigma. The diversity of industries in which Mr. Saxena has implemented the methodology certainly enthused the students.

More pertinently, Mr. Saxena let out his “trade secret” on “10 lessons in Six Sigma”. The most important lesson was that of understanding the problem area of the client and delivering the correct solution in the required time.

The program lasted not more than twenty minutes, however it proved to be an eye opener for many of the people gathered, students and faculty alike concerning areas in which Six Sigma can be implemented.







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Mr. Pelle was received at the institute by the Director of SCMHRD, Mr. K S Subramanian who remarked that, Mr. Pelle's visit would go a long way in the strengthening the ties between Perfetti Van Melle and SCMHRD.

Inspite of being an Italian national Mr. Pelle considers himself half-Indian on account of spending a considerable time here in India for his assignment with PVM India.

He started off with his understanding of the emerging markets and where he saw them in the future. Dwelling on the turning point in the evolution of these countries he touched upon technological developments and political changes.

Mr. Pelle who is also the Chief Operating Officer for Russia and South Asian Operations brought out facts and figures which supported his analysis about the emerging markets. Being a strong marketer and an advertising strategist made him compare the product customization that business players had adopted for emerging markets. He explained this through advertisement clippings of Garnier Fructis, Sunsilk, Wrigley's Orbit, Polo, Happydent Protex, Happydent White, Choromint and Chloroalit. The adaptation of Chrolomint to the Indian markets was also understood through the “Doobara Mat Poochana” campaign involving retailers. This had helped Perfetti brands have high recall among retailers and helped in improving overall sales.

He also touched upon the analysis of the Goldman Sachs report of the BRIC countries and spoke at length on the USP of each of these countries. The session was indeed insightful and showed a new perspective to the students.
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Mrs. Roopa Kudva, Executive Director & Chief Rating Officer heads the ratings business of CRISIL. Ms Kudva, an alumna of the Indian Institute of Management - Ahmedabad, joined CRISIL in 1992. She has also worked in emerging markets in the Mediterranean and Middle East countries during her secondment to Standard & Poor's, Paris, as Director, Financial Institutions Ratings.

With India Inc. on an expansion spree, the financing of such activities becomes a major focus area. Organizations rely on a favourable credit rating to raise funds. The task of a credit rating agency is very difficult since even a slight misjudgment in assessment of an organization can in turn affect its own reputation.

Ms. Kudva started the lecture by a brief introduction to the concept of credit rating. She also clarified that a credit rating must not be misunderstood to be an audit of the issuing company or a general purpose certification of goodness of a company and neither is it a recommendation to buy, hold or sell the rated security. She clearly delineated the purpose of credit ratings on a global, national and local scale. The various aspects of a credit risk framework and the key principles involved were explained in a very lucid manner. There was an in-depth discussion on the key elements to be considered while carrying out the business risk assessment for an organization. The session served as an ideal launch pad for students looking to pursue a career in this domain.

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These teams were declared winners at the Asia Semi Final of the GSVC at the ISB. The competition had 215 registrations with a total of 118 business plans sent in from 25 schools in China, Taipei, Singapore, Dubai and Thailand including India.

Talking about the ISB's role as a mentor, Dr V Chandrasekar, Executive Director, Wadhwani Centre for Entrepreneurial Development said, “We are proud that the ISB plays an important in grooming these talented and creative social entrepreneurs of the future. Social Ventures have the power to not only promote entrepreneurship but also make a high social impact. Some of the projects mentored by us in the last two years have won various types of resource support and are currently being implemented. “

Teams “Doctor Seed” from China and “Verdacure” from Thailand were announced as the winners of the Asian Semi Final of the Global Social Venture Competition 2007

The plan submitted by the Chinese team was on deployment of a plasma seed processor that would result in higher germination rate, resilient plants and higher yields of crops. The Thai team proposed a project for the production of high quality affordable medicines developed from herbs available in Thailand with an oral care product being the first to be developed.

The award for the most innovative “Social Return on Investment” (SROI) analysis was given to the team from Singapore “Sarvodaya” for its proposal of facilitating cultivation of Aloe Vera in marginalized lands through self-help groups and NGOs, setting up processing facilities, thereby ensuring viability of model and increased income for marginalized farmers. The SROI analysis requires the teams to think through how the social impact of their plan can be quantified.

ISB hosted GSVC in Asia in association with Helios & Matheson Information Technology Ltd, a leading Healthcare focused IT services organization. Many senior executives from Helios and Matheson were active participants in the event. “We feel proud to be part of an activity that has evinced greater enthusiasm and commitment from participants belonging to different nationalities and diverse multi-cultural and societal backgrounds. The feedback that the competition has received reiterates the importance of hosting competitions such as this to promote the social ventures”, said G.K. Muralikrishna, Managing Director, Helios & Matheson.

The jury comprised several eminent personalities such as Hammer Award winner Matthew T. A. Nash, Sara Olsen, social entrepreneurship expert, Vijay Mahajan, MD& CEO- Basix India and some noted venture capitalists and entrepreneurs.

GSVC is one of the most high profile competitions for scripting innovative Business plans and setting up Social Ventures that have clear and quantifiable social objectives and are financially sustainable.

The GSVC began in 1999 and is a student-led initiative pioneered by the Haas School of Business, Columbia Business School, and the London Business School. The Indian School of Business (ISB) is a full partner – with responsibility of promoting the competition in business schools in Asia, mentoring the teams, and holding the Asia semi-final round

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One of the recommendations made by the ISB students was the use of technology effectively to combat corruption and improve governance. This was voted for presentation at the World Bank's Brussels Meet and will help enrich the Agenda by representing the voice of leading business schools and future business leaders. Further, the recommendations generated from this global consultation will enable the leaders of today to hear the ideas and perspectives of the leaders of tomorrow.

Speaking about his group's proposal, Shivanand Sinha, student Class of 2007 at the ISB , said, “India is a technology capital of sorts today and hence we focussed on how to use technology effectively. We debated on the innovative ways of combating corruption by empowering the common man by giving him a two way communication device – the mobile phone”

The ISB students came up with the following three recommendations-

-Private sector to set examples and be role-models to public and civic groups on fighting corruption

-In this regard, we have numerous examples in India such as Bangalore Agenda Task Force for urban governance and E-Choupal providing market information to rural farmers

- Leveraging technology as a medium of disintermediation to fight corruption

- Disintermediation helps discourage corruption and intermediation propitiates corruption

- Electronic pathways, such as cell phones, has a huge potential in providing in whistle-blowing instances of corruption

- Empowerment of the private sector entity

- Form associations to voice concerns of administration and state-capture corruption

- Provide incentives to private enterprises to be part of associations

- Harness the “Power of one”

Moderating this conference, Harish Bijoor, Professor of Rural Marketing at the ISB said, “In the world of business today, we encounter a reasonable level playing field. However, the ultimate leveller of development gains is corruption. To that extent, the debate on corruption is the most essential debate to participate in. This World Bank initiative is completely laudable as a bottom-up policy making initiative.”

The conference connected over 30 leading business and public policy schools around the world, in twelve sequential two-hour sessions. The ISB was the only B- School from India to be invited to participate in this consultation programme. The ISB Students connected with students from Russia, Vietnam and Indonesia during this consultation conference.

Organised by the World Bank , this conference is being run parallel to and complement the high-level conference on Fighting Corruption: New Frontiers in Public-Private Partnerships, organized jointly the World bank and the Government of Belgium, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Brussels.

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Mr. M Damodaran observed that it is the first time that all the three topics…Business Ethics, Corporate Governance and CSR…have been addressed together. “This is without argument the first where I have seen Business Ethics specifically mentioned and more importantly placed in the batting order above Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility. The ends are important, the means are just as important. Legitimate means would take you to desired goals. You cannot legislate, as Alan Greenspan famously said, for honesty you cannot legislate for good conduct. That you (young Indians) must together ensure that this country which is today talking about inclusive growth, the point that we should carry have-nots along with us”, observed Mr. M.Damodaran.

The two day event focussed on Ethical challenges in areas of Finance, Marketing, CSR and CG, concluding with the valedictory address by Mr N Ram, Editor-in-Chief, The Hindu group of publications..

Father P Christie, Director – LIBA, observed that this is possibly the first time that such a conference involving very senior industry professionals is being organized by students of a business school. “As creators of the managers of tomorrow, we at LIBA believe that inculcation of ethics at a very early stage in individual professional life span is crucial. It will probably be the critical DNA that separates institutions from the rats. We are fortunate that several industry chieftains have come forward to share their beliefs with the future managers of India and do hope that the student community will benefit immensely from this interesting exposure”.

First day's sessions included national and international experts and researchers focusing on the areas like Ethical Challenges in Financial Sector, Ethical Challenges in Marketing and Ethical Challenges in Business with a Global Perspective. The speakers included :

· Mr M S Sundara Rajan, Executive Director, Indian Bank
· Mr Arindam Banerrji, MD & COO, Deutsche Bank Operations International
· Mr D P Padmanabhan, M D, Eurocon Tiles,
· Mr Sridhar RamanujamCEO, Brand-Comm
· Mr Krishna Mohan, President, Ogilvy & Mather.
· Mr David Hopper,Consul General, U S Consulate, Chennai,
· Prof. Dr Liedekerke Luc Van President, European Business Ethics Network, Belgium
· Prof. Spillane James SJ, Sanata Dharma University, Indonesia

Second day's session analyzed the scenario of CSR and CG in India with sessions on “Corporate Social Responsibility - A Competitive Tool for Corporate Excellence”, 'Corporate Governance – Precepts and Practices and 'Issues and Challenges of Corporate Governance in India'. Following were the speakers:

· Mr R Ramamurthy, Covenor, CSR Panel,
· FICCI – Tamil Nadu Chapter.
· Mr Yoshiaki Kodaki, Consul General, Japanese Consulate, Chennai
· Mr Venkat Changavalli, CEO, Emergency Management and Research Institute
· Mr J Mohapatra, Executive Director, National Thermal Power Corporation
· Mr R Ramaraj, formerly MD & CEO Sify Ltd
· Mr M A Alagappan, Executive Chairman, Murugappa Group
· Mr S B Mathur, Chairman, National Stock
· Mr G V RamakrishnaIAS (Retd), formerly Chairman of SEBI and Disinvestment Commission, Govt. of India
· Dr Madhav Mehra, President World Council for Corporate Governance, London
· Mr P Shankar IAS (Retd.), former Chief Vigilance Commissioner, Govt. of India

As part of this initiative, LIBA has launched an international case study contest, wherein students have to contribute case studies based on Business Ethics in a Globalized World. The contest is sponsored by Indian Oil and carries a prize money of 1000USD as first prize and 500USD as second prize. More details at www.liba.edu

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The director Prof. Krishna Kumar, in his keynote address welcomed the guests and spoke about phenomenal improvements that have taken place in the institute over the last year. Commending the batch on their excellent placements, he said that they were a testimony to the industry's belief in IIMK's growing stature. The introduction of the doctoral programme this year is another step in the institute's meteoric rise. The FPM course will go a long way in making IIMK a hub for quality research.

The occasion was also graced by the presence of the institute chairman, Dr. A C Muthiah who is also the chairman of SPIC. In his address, he congratulated all the graduating students and said that each one of them was extra-ordinary. While one machine, he said, can replace fifty ordinary men, no machine can replace an extra-ordinary man. With such talent around, he said, the increase in the number of foreign universities participating in the exchange program was unsurprising.

With the chairman voicing the words "By the authority given to me by the IIMK Society, I award you the PGDM and I charge that by thought, word, and deed, you prove yourself worthy of the award", the batch of 2007 were officially declared post graduates in management

The event also saw the IIM-K Gold Medal for scholastic performance awarded to Dr. Jaidev Rajpal and the IIM-K Gold Medal for best all – round performance was jointly awarded to Gaurav Sharma and Firdaus Mantri.

Shri Hari Shankar Singhania, a Padma Bhushan awardee, addressed the graduating students and exhorted them to be the change agents of the society, stating that they have to go out and change the mindsets of the people and instill in them confidence to dream big. “Nobody gets a clean slate”, he said, asking the students not to wait for an optimum opportunity to leave their mark. Cautioning them to always stick to their values, he said that Integrity, including Intellectual Honesty was the key to reach the top. He concluded his address by praising the parents for the support that they had lent over the years and hoped that the efforts of the graduating batch were a source of pride for them.

After the ceremony, a visibly moved Jaidev thanked the faculty for their excellent guidance and motivation. Looking back on his two years here, he said, “We learn as much from our classmates as from the books”. Dr. Rajpal's breadth of experience as a medical professional and civil servant secured him a higher designation than that offered by McKinsey & Co at other campuses.

The joint gold-medallist for all-round performance, Gaurav Sharma, said that it was hardly surprising that the excellent infrastructure and beautiful surroundings conspired to create an environment that was conducive for all-round development. In two years, he said, the institute had afforded him the opportunity to do a little of everything - sports, cultural activities and exchange programs with foreign universities.

Firdaus Mantri, who was also awarded the gold medal, said that he was just happy that his efforts were acknowledged. Firdaus, along with a few other students at IIMK, was part of a pioneering project on developing Calicut as the next IT destination of the country.


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During the seminar, eminent speakers from the industry addressed issues related to the budget and its impact on various dimensions of corporate INDIA.
Inaugurating the event Prof Harish Chaudhary, DMS IITD discussed the budget in context of common man. Mr. S.N. Mukherjee, Executive Head (Finance), Siemens gave a review of last 3 budgets and implications of the current one on Telecom sector. He talked about the wish list of the sector from budget and its increasing role in economy.

Speaking at the seminar Mr. Hemendra Mathur, Associate Director, Yes Bank eloquently explained various taxes that are introduced in the budget and its overall impact. He explained about the inverse relationship between maturity of an economy and the criticality of the budget. Going into minor details, Mr. Vijay Gupta of Deloitte commented about the sectoral significance of budget. He gave details of FBT, MAT etc. Mr. Prashant Nair of NDTV gave an insight into the impact as positive, neutral or negative. He mentioned sectors ranging from Tobacco, IT to housing and Agriculture.

While speaking about expectations of foreign companies from Budget and problems they face in India, Mr. Rajiv Anand, Associate Director, PWC gave examples from his own experience. Mr. SC Aggarwal, VP (Global Tech.), Ranbaxy gave a direct tax perspective and compared Global Trends in Tax rates and how it has an overall effect on economies. Mr. TK Arun, Resident Editor of Economic Times, New Delhi emphasized on progress of economy as a whole rather than in parts. Budget should reduce the disparities rather than focusing on sectors that are in vogue but effect only a minority.

Mr. Anshu Gupta of NGO Goonj touched a chord when he said” Delivery mechanism is as important as allocation'. We should understand ground realities and ensure the benefit of budgets and its impact reaches everyone.

Perhaps the event can be best summarized in Prof. Harish Chaudhary's words “Implementation is as important a part as formulating the budget and someone has to take the responsibility”

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Eminent personalities from academia and industry assembled on the same platform to gear up for the intense discussion on the various aspects of the budget in a storming session that lasted for two hours on the Saturday evening. Panel members included Dr. Bibek Debroy, Distinguished professor, former Director of Rajiv Ghandhi Foundation and Contributing editor of Indian Express, Mr. Tushar Pandey, Country Head (Strategic Initiatives – Government) Yes Bank and Mr. Manpreet Sehgal, AVP (Wealth Management) Kotak.

Mr. Bibek eloquently discussed the last three budgets and explained as how the entire show for the growth was orchestrated. While discussing the growth story in sync with the liberalization and globalization policy, he brought in the entire new perspective to look at the budget not in isolation but as a sequential process. He also critically analyzed the creation of few of the outlays, inefficiency in the usage of the funds and on the lack of any big bang announcements in the current year budget.

Tushar Pandey, Country head, YES Bank discussed some of the important aspect of public private partnership for the development of the infrastructure. Also, he discussed the much-debated issue of usage of Forex for the development of infrastructure. He discussed the ways that the corporate sector contribution can be stimulated for mobilization of funds dedicated to the process of development.

The effect of budget on the capital market was discussed in detail by Mr. Manpreet Sehgal, Asso. Vice President, Kotak Wealth Management. A comprehensive sector wise analysis was presented to present as how few specific sectors like Cement, IT, Automobile etc. will be affected by the budget.

The session was concluded with a thought provoking discussion between the panel members and the students. The event can best be summarized by the comment from one of the panel member: “The creation of outlays is as important as the ensuring and measuring the outcomes”.

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Mr. Mittal has been awarded Fortune magazine's “European Businessman of the Year 2004,” “Steelmaker of the Year” in 1996 by New Steel in the USA, and the “Willy Korf Steel Vision Award” in June 1998 from American Metal Market and PaineWeber's World Steel Dynamics. Following the creation of Arcelor Mittal, the world's largest steel company, Mr. Mittal was awarded “Business Person of 2006” by the Sunday Times', “International Newsmaker of the Year 2006” by Time Magazine and “Person of the Year 2006” by the Financial Times for his outstanding business achievements. In January 2007, Mr. Mittal was presented with a Fellowship from King's College London, their highest award.

Established in 1980, the Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad is today widely recognized as a centre for excellence in management and technology education, quality research and strong industry interface. IMT has been consistently ranked among the top management institutes in the country and had broadened its horizon by opening a campus at Nagpur in 2004 and the first international campus in Dubai in 2006. Aiming to be a globally recognized Business-school, IMT has international partnerships with 11 institutes.

On the occasion of the Convocation, IMT will honour an eminent alumnus through the Distinguished Alumni Award instituted in 2005. The award has earlier gone to Mr Rajeev Karwal, Mr Prasoon Joshi, Mr Ravi Soni and Mr Arshi Narang.

Post-graduate degrees and diplomas will be awarded to 476 students from the Ghaziabad and Nagpur campuses. These include 170 students of Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management, 38 students of Master of Human Resource Management & Corporate Governance, 40 students of Master of International Business, 22 students of Post Graduate Diploma in Executive Management, 60 students of Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management (Part-time), 107 students of GMBA (Nagpur), 2 batches of 38 students of GMBA (Ghaziabad) and 1 student of Fellow Programme in Management.

In terms of placements, the graduating students are excellently placed in some of the best companies. Even before the start of the placement process, 31 students had PPOs from leading companies. 102 companies vied to recruit 253 students of the class of 2007 from the PGDBM, MHRM, and MIB courses from the Ghaziabad campus. The largest recruiter this year was Kotak Mahindra Bank, which handed out 31 offers. Infosys, Cognizant Technology Solutions, ICICI Prudential, Bharti, and Trident were also amongst the leading recruiters on campus. As a testament to the growing brand equity of IMT Ghaziabad, the placement process saw many first-time recruiters including Union Bank of Switzerland, Irevna, BA Continuum, eClerx, Jumbo International, Covansys, Dell, and Accenture. They joined an already impressive portfolio of companies visiting the campus for the recruitment process, which includes GE, JP Morgan Chase, Dabur, Marico, HLL, Henkel, Godfrey Phillips India, Citibank, HSBC, SBI, SabMiller, Wipro, Infosys, Cognizant Technology Solutions, Satyam, Bharti, Idea, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Essar Group, Vedanta, Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Avalon, Anand Bazaar Patrika and Radio Mirchi, to name a few.



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Prof. S. Sundar, PGP Chairman of BIM, Trichy gave the welcome address. He brought out the difference in the structures of medical and management education, the former being more practical and the latter more theoretical. He said that research was one of the methods of bridging the gap and making management education more meaningful.

Prof. David Jawahar, Conference Chairman and Head of the Centre for Contemporary Management Research (CECMAR), gave an introduction to CECMAR and Athenaeum '07. The response to the call for papers was encouraging with papers from all over the country and also Canada, Dubai, Iran, Mexico and Pakistan. Athenaeum '07 will have 24 papers being presented, including two papers by students of BIM, over two days. Papers will also be presented by Dr. Colin Funk from the Banff Centre, Canada and Ms. Amber Raza from the Karachi Institute of Economics and Technology, Pakistan. The event is also ISO 9001:2000 certified.


Mr. R. N. Misra gave the Key Note Address of the conference. He praised the topics selected for the conference, Bottom-line HR and IT in Business & IT as Business. Both topics were of paramount importance in present day management. Employees nowadays expect more from their work. They require more than just a job or good pay, they are looking for career growth, a meaningful work environment, good work atmosphere among other things. This makes HR very essential in the management of a company. There has also been an integration of HR with other business practices. A key example is the integration of Information Systems with HR, spawning a new dimension of management. BHEL, Trichy has incorporated HR into their ERP modules joining many other companies in doing so. From electronic process to knowledge-based internet service, e-commerce has come to stay; more and more work systems rely on IT systems. Workers need to understand the IT systems in order to understand their work systems. It has become the central nervous system of the organisation. BHEL has been a pioneer in their field in this area and in their dealings with ancillary industries, enabling them to reduce their cycle time and become more profitable.

Mr. Misra also put forth some points which he felt were essential for the occasion.
Respect for Human Beings
Empowerment
People Development
Root Cause Analysis
Benefit of Ratio
Target Setting


The inaugural issue of the Journal of Contemporary Management Research was released by Mr. Misra, with Prof. Y. Lakshman Kumar receiving the first copy. The Journal will initially be a bi-annual journal.


The vote of thanks was delivered by Prof. Raghavendra, Conference Co-Chairman. He thanked the efforts of the Director, Prof. Sankaran, the faculty members and the students. He also thanked the press for their overwhelming support for the event.

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The ceremony was marked by a befitting solemnity. In his annual report the Director, IMT Ghaziabad, Dr. B. S. Sahay, highlighted the progress made by the institute in the last year and the high standing it has earned for academic excellence, research contributions, executive development and industry interface. He gave the graduating students the mantra of dreaming big, thinking big and doing big for the nation and the world at large and urged them to contribute to the progress of India and to take pride in playing a role in the nation's success.

Director, IMT Nagpur, Dr. Anwar Ali, in his annual report spoke of the strides taken by IMT Nagpur in its three years of existence and the growth of the Nagpur campus in terms of infrastructure, intellectual capital, and international linkages. He urged the graduating batch to carry the values and never-ending thirst for knowledge instilled by the institution into their professional lives.

While speaking on the occasion, Mr. Kamal Nath stressed that there was no one-size-fits-all solution to complex and intricate business problems in today's global economy. Since India is poised to play an important role in shaping the new world economy, he exhorted IMTians to be open-minded, honest and innovative to contribute significantly to the mission of India's growth.

In his keynote address, Mr. Mittal while congratulating the students, described the event as an important milestone in their life. He explained the importance of passion in personal and professional life and explained how a combination of professional as well as entrepreneurial spirit is the need of the hour. Mr. Mittal described India as the second fastest growing economy of the world. He also noted the change in global mindset towards India. Citing his own example, he stressed that success is not an overnight phenomenon and one must take joy and satisfaction in doing the task at hand with utmost sincerity and dedication.

At the solemn and impressive ceremony attended by the IMT fraternity and eminent personalities from the academia, industry, government and media, post-graduate degrees and diplomas were awarded to 476 students from the Ghaziabad and Nagpur campuses. These include 1 student of Fellow Programme in Management, 170 students of Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management, 38 students of Master of Human Resource Management & Corporate Governance, 40 students of Master of International Business, 22 students of Post Graduate Diploma in Executive Management, 60 students of Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management (Part-time), 107 students of GMBA (Nagpur) and 2 batches of 38 students of GMBA (Ghaziabad).

IMT honours its eminent alumni through the Distinguished Alumni Award instituted in 2005. This year the Distinguished Alumni Award was given to Mr. Abhijeet Dutta Ray, Executive Vice President, Strategic Planning, Lowe Thailand.

The convocation programme concluded with the buoyant students celebrating their graduation from one of the top Business schools in India and looking ahead to emulating the successes of the institute's eminent alumni who are today in positions of great responsibility all across India and the world.

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During this occasion, Fr E Abraham, Director XIMB in his valedictory speech, gave an important lesson to the graduating students. "As you go out of this institute, you should learn to adapt in different circumstances. Different people behave differently to the external environment like the treatment of carrot, egg and coffee to the boiling water. Carrot which looks firm but softens after boiling, egg which appears fragile becomes hardened after boiling and coffee which changes colour of the boiling water. It depends on you, how you behave in the corporate world like carrot, egg or coffee." During this occasion Fr Abraham shared 'Director's Report' recalling the activities, engagements and achievements of the faculties, students and administration in the last one year.

Introducing Subhodh Bhargava Chairman of Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited & Wartsila India Limited, Rajive Kaul Chairman Board of Governors of XIMB termed him as an exceptional individual to work who has a clear vision and constantly delivers results on any given tasks. "India will become the biggest back office of the world and it will become the third largest economy of the world only after US and China. By 2020, India will have about 60 million cars, 400 million air traffic passengers, 700 million phone connections, 200 Indian MNC, adult literacy of 95 % and contribution of services and industry of about 94% to the country's GDP. These all will happen at a time when you all will be deeply involved in building a strong and vibrant India," said Mr Kaul. He gave clear message to the graduating students to be prepared for the challenges ahead as India will be the fastest growing country for another two decades at least.

Delivering convocation address at XIMB the Chief Guest, Subodh Bhargava said, "You are just out from the most enjoyable phase of the life and going to begin a new life, where each one of you have huge expectations, fantasies and apprehensions about the future. At this juncture let me remind you that some dreams in the life come true and some do not. There will always be some good news and some bad news and unlike case studies you will never get a clear picture and complete data to analyze. Let me tell you the real life is very ambiguous and uncertain as change is only constant and uncertainty is only certain in this world."

Sharing industry insights about the management graduates, Mr Bhargava said, "Perhaps the first challenge you will face is of the industry's perception about management graduates. Industry people perceive that an MBA graduate has great analysis power by which they mean that he is not practical in his approach. Secondly, he is a good manager and highly independent which means interpersonal skills need to be sharpened. According to them, a management graduate insulates himself or herself to the external environment and not associated much with ground reality of the society." He recommended students to be prepared to face such situations very soon.

"To be an effective leader, you need to shed know all syndrome as people in the industry are there with or without formal degrees. In the world of multiple choices, choicelessness is what you can expect for yourself. You can not choose your boss, your peer groups and even your team also. Under those circumstances what you need is not the ability but also humility, patience and values," advised Mr Bhargava.

According to him the business manager of 2020 need inspiration, motivation, walk the talk, analytical and cognitive ability. "As you go along you need much more skills and the most important to me is open mind and ability to learn. You will also learn that experience is a baggage which we have to leave behind. To survive you need to be globally competitive as shape of the business in 2020 will be decided by young mangers of today with their competency and skill and strategy," he quipped.

During his speech, Mr Bhargava shared some interesting insights about the managerial functions in the pre and post liberalization era. According to him the post liberalization era ushered new challenges for managers- restored management decisions making to mangers along with risk, suddenly Indian managers found new wave of entrepreneurship and for the first time, Indian mangers started thinking strategically.

In his concluding remarks Mr Bhargava said, "Learning to accept changes is the most difficult part of the life, empowerment is a tool which the Indian manager is yet to learn. You need to develop skills and competence to cope with challenges of the corporate life. During this process you might take risks, failure is inherent but it should disappear in the night and each new day presents new challenges. Believe in your skills, competency and confidence to succeed in the life."


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Mr. B Muthuraman became Managing Director of Tata Steel on July 22, 2001. After graduating from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, he joined the company as a Graduate Trainee in 1966. Initially, he served for ten years in the Iron Making Operations and Engineering Development Division before joining the Marketing & Sales Division of Tata Steel at Kolkata. He rose to become Director of Marketing in 1991 and Vice President (Marketing & Sales) in 1994. In 1995, he was chosen to lead the prestigious Cold Rolling Mill project of Tata Steel and in the year 2000, he was made Executive Director (Special Projects). Under his leadership, Tata Steel has charted many new paths. Mr Muthuraman took the initiative of de-commoditizing steel through branding and retail initiatives and reducing the dependence of the bottom line of the company on market conditions. He was also instrumental in starting 'Steeljunction' in Kolkata. Mr Muthuraman had received numerous awards like the Best CEO award in 2003 from the Indian Institute of Materials Management at the BOC Pavilion, 'The National HRD Network's Path Finders Award 2004' — CEO category in 2004,Business Standard CEO of year for 2004-05 etc.

The Convocation began with a report on the institute's performance by Dr. Ranjan Ghosh, the director of GIM. The conferences, consulting and exchange programmes, placements, research activities etc. in the last academic year go out to prove the mettle of brand GIM yet again. The chairman of the institute, Mr. R. Gopalakrishnan further encouraged the audience by pointing out, “You will find as you progress that what gives success is not the lessons that can be taught. It is learning the lessons that can not be taught.”

Mr. B. Muthuraman, the chief guest for the evening inspired the students by talking about the importance of “spending time with oneself” as “learning comes from action and introspection”. The Dean of the institute, Prof. C.M. Ramesh appreciated the words of wisdom that left an indelible print on the minds of all attending the gripping graduation ceremony of the now professional managers.

The Campus, located at Ribandar, on a hill slope, is housed in a Heritage Building Santa Casa De Misericordia The Royal Portuguese Hospital, dating back to the Portuguese Rule in Goa had been recongnised as one of the premier institutes of country. Different surveys has also ranked it as Top B schools of India, like Indian Business Magazine BusinessWorld India has ranked GIM as 18th in Best B-Schools in India for the year 2004, 15 Top institutes offering the MBA degree or equivalents in India by rediff in 2005 and also ranked 17th in the BusinessWorld India's Cosmode BW survey in 2005.

GIM is also Approved by the All India Council of Technical Education of the Government of India (AICTE) for offering postgraduate courses in management at the MBA level and also recognised by the Government of Goa and by many of the major industrial corporations in the country.GIM also has exchange programme with universities of Belgium, Germany and Portuguese.

GIM placement this year was rocking and young managers of GIM were picked as hot cakes. Within 50 hours, 116 students from different academic backgrounds with varying work experiences were placed in 31 companies. This year companies from the IT, Consulting, Financial Services, Banking, Telecom, Automotive and other sectors recruited students. A total of 193 offers were made to 116 students where as
A total of 78 companies showed interest in recruiting students from GIM and 47 were slotted for the final placement process. Of these, only 31 companies could recruit GIM students. The average salary showed an increase of 22.13% to Rs. 6.41 lakh per annum this year as against Rs.5.24 lakh last year. Similarly the highest (annual) salary offered was Rs. 9 lakh, as against Rs.8 lakh last year.

The Goa Institute of Management has received accreditation from the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and this was the first convocation of the institute after the honour. The evening also marked the graduation of two batches of the Executive MBA programme. On the occasion of the convocation, students were recognized for awards and medals in various categories like the best summer project, the best dissertation etc. Victor Lobo was awarded the Best student in the sphere of Academics and Sushant Rao walked away with the rolling trophy of Best student. From the E-MBA programe, Yeshwant Desai recieved the same award. Vishal Shringarpure delivered a gripping valedictory address cherishing the memories of the institute, on behalf of the entire GIM batch of 2007 which left the audience mesmerized.

It was matter of great honour for the Batch of 2005-07 to be awarded the diploma after two years of hard work but the environment was filled with mix feelings; of joy of achieving the Diploma and also the grief of parting away with friends and the institute. All of them showed strong interest in contributing to alma mater. They parted away from the institute with the ambition of succeeding not only in corporate life but also on personal front, till they again gather for alumni meet to share the feelings of nostalgia of wonderful two years at GIM.

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Five teams battled it out for the top position and to represent India in the world finals of the L'Oreal Brand Storm 2007 to be held in Paris later this year. Teams from MICA, IIM-A, IIT-SOM and JBIMS went all guns blazing to impress the judges' team from L'Oreal which comprised of Mr. Didier Villenueva ,MD L'Oreal India and Ms. Sujata Tyagi , Director HR, L'Oreal India . Every team made a twenty five minute presentation to a packed auditorium comprising of students, corporates and journalists. The audience was held in rapt attention as the teams came up one by one to unveil their global marketing and branding strategy for REDKEN FOR MEN, a hugely successful L'Oreal brand in the USA and Europe.

After all the presentations and the nail biting suspense, the results were announced by Mr. Villenueva. Team “Koesha” from MICA comprising of emerged victorious with a wafer thin margin. They will now represent India in Paris in June at the International Finals of Brandstorm 2007. All in all, Brand Storm 2007 came to be seen as the breeding ground of corporate India's finest brand managers.

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While economic growth is important, it is imperative that the development process is all-inclusive and the spin-offs of the process trickle down to all sections of society. Several issues like striking a balance between agrarian and industrial interests, SEZs, need to be explored and debated to enable informed decision-making. It is such strategic, social and geo-political issues related to the development process that will be set before the galaxy of distinguished speakers at PURVODAYA.

The conclave would encompass vital sectors, which would play a prominent role in "Ascent of the East". The program is divided into four sub-themes each focusing on a key area namely Mining & Manufacturing, Infrastructure, Service Industry and Sustainable Growth along with Manthan – The Panel Discussion.

Speakers who have confirmed participation (till date) include dignitaries like:

1. Mr. Sunil Mitra
· Secretary - Power, West Bengal Government

2. Mr. Ashim Kumar Burman
· Chairman, Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC)

3. Mr. Debashish Som
· Managing Director, WBIDC (West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation)

4. Mr. G. Ojha
· Director (Personnel), SAIL

5. Mr. Vivekananda Pattanayak, IAS (Retd)
· Ex- Chairman, Orissa Public Service Commission, presently Administrator, Bhubaneswar Stock Exchange

6. Mr. Prakash Apte
· Director, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

7. Mr B.K. Mundhra
· Chairman and Managing Director, Simplex Infrastructures Ltd

8. Dr. A. K. Chanda
· Chairman, Kolkata Port Trust

9. Mr. N.K Choudhary
· CEO, Mittal Steel Temirtau

10. Mr. Suman Chattopadhyay
· Chief Editor, Kolkata TV

11. Senior Speakers from
· IBM

· Development for International Development (DFID), UK
· Senior Partner from Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC)
· One more speaker from ITC.

In addition, the event also includes a challenging competition for students across the nations. Titled SARVUNNATI it aims to bring together the future leaders from different B-schools across the country to present their innovative ideas on various issues of the resurgent east.

PURVODAYA, we hope, will generate ideas that will leave their impression on the "sands of time" and give solution to those outstanding issues that act as roadblocks to the growth of the East.

PURVODAYA welcomes you to shape and share its vision for the Ascent of the East.


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The conclave was inaugurated by the Director of IIT Kharagpur, Prof S. K. Dube, with the director (Personnel) of SAIL, Mr. G. Ojha as the chief guest. The occasion was also graced by Prof. G S Sanyal, the “Bhishma Pitama” of IIT Kharagpur, who has been involved with IIT Kharagpur since its very inception.

During the 2 day conclave several luminaries representing the government and the industry spoke on diverse subjects, from Mining and Manufacturing to the challenges faced in developing the Services Sector in Eastern India. These included Mr. Sethuraman Sivaram, Director, Deloitte,Mr. B D Mundhra, Chairman and Managing Director, Simplex Infrastructure limited, Prof. Prakash Apte, Director, IIM Bangalore, along with Mr Sunil Mitra, the Principal Secretary, Power, from the West Bengal government. These were some of the eminent personalities and experts who each delivered their vision of the future of Eastern India. The entire conclave was conceived and executed entirely by the students of Vinod Gupta School of Management in order to stimulate the ideas of the student community that is going to carry out the plans of today tomorrow.

During the discussion on MINING, a broad agreement was reached on the importance of keeping mining and the subsidiary manufacturing industries close to each other to create value, rather than merely exporting commodities. The quantum of the investment that was expected in the Eastern states was pointed out, with the commitments of both foreign and domestic investments in the mining industry being laid out. The ex-CEO of Mittal Steel Kazakhstan, Mr. N K Choudhary drew attention to the quality of ore deemed exploitable, and demanded higher efficiencies in ore extraction, along with utilization of a lower quality ore.

This was followed by the Panel Discussion “MANTHAN”, where Prof. Prakash Apte, Director IIM Bangalore pointed out the dichotomy of providing higher education subsidies while primary education across the country continues to languish. He recommended a market based solution to this problem, with opening up of the higher education sector, while providing targeted subsidies to primary education in the country, especially for rural India. Mr. Hota, ex-CMD of IDCO, mooted an ambitious plan to develop a coastal infrastructure of ports stretching from West Bengal to North Andhra Pradesh, which would be connected to the hinterlands of Orissa, Jharkhand and Bihar by speedy rail transportation. These would lead a paradigm shift in the evolution of Eastern India's development.

The INFRASTRUCTURE SESSION saw Mr. Sunil Mitra, the Principal Secretary for Power from the West Bengal government outlining the power sector reforms that are currently proceeding apace. He pointed out the success of this programme, which has led to profits being generated by the Public Power Sector, as a perfect example of the Ascent of a resurgent east, which has gone almost unnoticed by either the media or general public. These efforts in public reforms are not given wide publicity, but are tremendously effective. The development of other social infrastructure, including the lack of adequate educational infrastructure was lamented, and a suggestion was made to set up more quality ITI's where the workers that would drive India's manufacturing sector could be trained.

The session on the growth of the SERVICE SECTOR was clearly dominated by the discussion on the differentiators that led to the emergence of Eastern India, and Kolkata as an alternative for the major companies to set up offices there. A point was made about the lower cost of land and quality labour, with institutes such as ISI and Jadavpur University, but the future availability of talent was again noted with concern.

The session on SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT also pointed out the need to bring the fruits of development down to every individual, while at the same time, ensuring that this security could be ensured for the coming generations as well.
In Parallel, there were also the case study and Paper Presentation on TOURISM DEVELOPMENT as well as LAND ACQUISITION POLICY. Innovative plans and solutions were given by students from all over the country over these emerging sectors and challenges.

In his concluding speech, Prof. Probir K Gupta, Dean of the Vinod Gupta School of Management summarised the conclusions of the conclave, with a special emphasis on the need for inclusive development, and the need for every individual to draw upon his or her skills to make their own dreams come true to bring development to the east.