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How is FMS-DU's MBA (Management of Services) different from your full-time MBA program?

To answer that question we'll have to go back and explore why we launched this course in the first place. All over the world, MBA programs have a common core element where you have to teach the basics. So the finance, accounting, operation management, marketing or human resources have to and should be taught in all MBA programs.

So we realized that the services sector in India was growing fast but there was no stream of specifically trained managers to manage roles for this sector. By services, I mean services offered by the banking, financial services, consulting or FMCG sectors, as opposed to the products offered by these sectors. So traditionally MBA programs have taught management of products, but here I am talking specifically about the management of services.

So as an initiative to celebrate our Golden Jubilee in 2004, we launched the MBA (Management of Services) program. This was an MBA focusing on services and its special skill-sets. So the core courses in MBA (MS) are not vastly different from those in the full-time MBA, but from the beginning itself we sensitize the students about the services sector in these courses. The full-time MBA has some electives focused on the services sector, which are compulsory courses in the MBA (MS).As areas sectors like civil aviation, public services, telecom and others come up, we believe that the services sector will be very big and in 10 years most b-schools will have to start a similar MBA program.

How different are the jobs offered to MBA(MS) as opposed to the full-time MBA?

In terms of the jobs offered to MBA (MS), they're not too different from those offered to the full-time MBA students right now. Even the recruiters are the same. The MBA (MS) course is more of a super-specialization keeping in mind the future.

In fact now the entrance exam for the MBA (MS) and full-time MBA is the same, which was not so earlier. We're also looking to integrate the campuses of the two courses. Right now the full-time MBA runs from the Delhi University north campus and the MBA (MS) runs from the south campus. In about 3 to 4 years, we are looking to move FMS completely to the south campus.

What are the reasons behind shifting the campus?

South campus is closer to the airport, to the other prestigious institutions like IIT, Delhi or Jawaharlal Nehru University and most importantly it is closer to Gurgaon, the hub of industry in Delhi. We'll build a new building and hostels for all FMS students in the new campus for which we have a fund of Rs 36 crores.

Nearly every national or state university in India has a department of management studies and most of their MBA programs count in the third or fourth rung. Why has only FMS Delhi University managed to break into the top-league of b-schools in India?

Well, we too have lived a stage when we existed as an island. But now DU respects us a lot because we have over time managed relations well with them. As a result of that we are able to function very independently.

Why have other universities' management departments not done that well? It's because most of them have been overnight converts from commerce departments to management departments. One cannot create a management department by just renaming the commerce department without adapting the faculty and resources involved. Moreover, the pedagogies of commerce and management education are vastly different. In DU, the department of commerce runs its separate courses (MIB, MHROD) because we respect the differentiation between commerce and management.

There is only one issue we face as a result of not being completely autonomous like say, the IIMs and that issue is in my opinion the price of democracy. You see, DU is one of the largest universities in Asia, if not the world and teaches nearly 300,000 students in its colleges, departments and correspondence courses. In such a huge system, decisions take time. But then, these decisions turn out to be better because they are scrutinized so thoroughly in the public system which is a result of the Indian democracy.

In fact, all the top b-schools of the world function as parts of universities, whether it is The Wharton School, Harvard Business School or Stanford GSB. It is only in India that we have the notion of autonomous institutions.

Has a small campus ever been an impediment at FMS?

Not really. The only limitation is that whatever we have as part of FMS is not exclusive to us but is part of the University. So for example, FMS has a great auditorium in the south campus but other departments in the university are free to use it when it is lying empty. At the same time, the huge library of DU has management books which are largely meant for and used by FMS students. So being part of DU, their resources are available to the students at any time.

Having a huge campus doesn't really make a difference if most of it is used for maintaining lawns. In fact if institutes in India get 12-acre government land, they should be using it to teach 12,000 students which they're not.

Moving to admissions, what has the turnout been at the FMS entrance test? How do you shortlist candidates for interview after the FMS entrance exam?

Last year a little more than 52,000 candidates took the FMS entrance test. We have a pre-decided number of people we want to call for the interview stage. Say for example, for the MBA (MS) program we set a ratio of 1:7 for admitted to interviewed, we call 280 candidates for the interviews. If, for example, the number of seats for the general quota is 26, we shortlist 182 general category students for the interview.

The admission process has been the same for several years, except for this year when we are looking at some changes. The most important change is that we'll declare the scores of every candidate who takes the FMS entrance test. The scores will include the percentile rank for the overall score as well as the sectional scores.

What management area has FMS been strongest in?

In terms of placements, we have been traditionally strong in the marketing area but of late, investment banking, private equity and venture capital jobs have been pushing up finance. To support that we have recently recruited six faculty, all of whom are PhD, in advanced specialty areas of analytical subjects like statistics and accounting.

What is the way forward for FMS Delhi? Are you looking at seat expansion or newer courses?

The next priority for is us to reconfigure the 3-year part time MBA program taken up by working professionals. Three years is too long a time to commit if you have to attend classes every weekday after work for three years. We would like to redesign it, perhaps shorten it to two years and make it more convenient.

There are no immediate plans for seat expansion, though we would have done it had the OBC quota materialized from the Central Government last year. We still don't know how the issue is going to pan up for the next year. We will surely expand, but only while ensuring that the student-teacher ratio is maintained. We'll have to recruit quality teachers who are hard to come by.



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What used to be a set of simple graph-based arithmetic questions, DI in its new-age incarnation is a confusing mixture of charts, tables and logical reasoning and thus a pet peeve for many.

Hitesh Devalia of Endeavor Careers makes sense of new-age DI and provides useful tips to help you tame this section.

pdfClick here to download his New-age DI Tutorial.

The tutorial has a challenge questions set at the end.

Click here to download the solutions to the Challenge Questions in the PDF file.

(or right click and 'Save as...' before opening it in Adobe Reader)


And yeah, if you like it, feel free to forward it to your friends!



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The event played host to some very eminent speakers from companies of great repute in the domain of Consulting. We had speakers from some of the consulting bigwigs such as A T Kearney, Deloitte, BristleCone, Protiviti, IBM, Avalon Consulting etc giving us insights on the challenges and opportunities in the consulting field.

The inaugural session of the day witnessed Mr. Kaustav Mukherjee from A T Kearney Limited, the global management consulting major. Mr. Mukherjee is a Vice President and Partner with A.T. Kearney Limited. Speaking on the occasion, he quoted the significance of the consultant in today's environment as someone who uses his/her talent to generate ideas that last. A global traveler having worked worldwide, Mr. Mukherjee gave a good account of the consulting scene globally. He reiterated the plethora of opportunities that is available in India today as an emerging market. He also spoke about the challenges faced by the big consulting firms. Nothing could sum up the rise of India and its opportunities in the Consulting sector as much as Mr. Mukherjee's statement that he 'wanted to be born 20 years later than when he was born' would sum it up. In response to a question from the audience, he mentioned that even to a company like A T Kearney, losing a consultant to pressures of work is its biggest loss.

Mr. Mukherjee was in the esteemed company of Ms Kalpana Jain, Senior Director at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Pvt. Ltd. in Financial Advisory Services practice. She gave a fresh new dimension to the discussion, explaining the importance of cultural sensitivity in this new era of consulting. She also emphasized on adopting different work cultures to cater to different needs of clients. She talked about the workload of typical consultant's life.

The next session saw Mr. Ramit Gupta, Associate Vice President with Avalon Consulting. He talked about key enablers of consultancy as globalization has evolved. He further explained the trends in de-verticalization of the value chain, citing examples from global and domestic industry. The students were then witness to Mr. Shobhit Gupta, Associate Director, in the Risk Consulting Practice of Protiviti, India. He underlined change as the genesis of consultancy. He talked about how avenues were always open but how these avenues can be better capitalized on today. He compared different consulting firms on the basis of their clientele, popular perceptions, technical aspects etc. He further spoke about being able to predict risk as a key indicator of consulting efficiency.

Next up was Mr. Gaurav Sharma, a Managing Consultant within the communications practice at IBM India. He brought out the effectiveness quotient of a consulting firm by focusing on the program management aspect. He talked about the keys of project success and spoke about managing the basics as an important means of achieving the objectives. He too like other speakers before him stressed on the importance of working in teams.

The final speaker of the day was Mr. Mrityunjay Mishra, from JuxtConsult India. He added a new dimension to the discussion by talking about online research and advisory services as an effective tool to help arrive at effective Consulting decisions.

Keeping with the aim of generating an Industry – Student thought synthesis, DMS organised a case study competition for its students. Teams were shortlisted from the preliminary participants by Mr. Samir Shukla, Senior Consultant at BristleCone and these teams were to present their case to the panel of judges.

There was a lot to learn for the students of DMS on this eventful day. Some of the experiences came from speakers of companies every aspiring consultant would dream of being part of. The audience got an idea of the highs and lows of being a consultant, got a dose of the kind of lifestyle they lead and also learnt of the challenges faced by them. The young enthusiasts looking for a career in Consulting had a lot to take away from the invigorating sessions.
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The seminar started with an introduction to IPR and its indispensible need in the present business world. In fact according to Jim Patterson “Constant Innovation has been the key determinant for the success of an organisation and thus IPR has become an effective tool to safeguard the strategic knowledge that a company uses to reinvent itself”. He delved into various strategies like trade-secrets, patents, copyrights and trademarks used to protect intellectual property. He emphasised that “Intellectual property (IP) has become an asset just like property.”

The seminar was an interactive one with discussion on various cases. One of such was the purchase of production capabilities of Rolls-Royce Motors by Volkswagen in 1998 and the subsequent strategic purchase of Rolls-Royce trademark by BMW. The case highlighted how BMW used IP to its strategic advantage. Other cases included the tussle between Qualcomm and Nokia over IP.

Marty Shivley explained how IPR creates revenue for an organisation from which a part again goes in funding R&D; for development of IP. He shared his experiences of various IP operations in Microsoft and the way in which the company tackled various IPR issues. He narrated his briefings regarding IP with Bill Gates and the seriousness with which the Microsoft chairman listened to these briefings. “He would often go in the minute details as he has a very good understanding of these issues”, Shivley added.

The seminar ended with a flurry of questions from the budding entrepreneurs and a few inquisitive ones got a chance to meet them personally and gain some deeper insights.
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In CAT 2006 too, the message send by IIMs was very clear: We are looking for people who are 'well read'. It proved to be a nightmare for those who were not good readers. Gone are those days when there used to be many passages with 5-7 questions each and it used to be a game of speed reading.

Chandramauli Bhatt of Endeavor Careers decodes Reading Comprehension as asked in CAT 2006 and provides leads to acing RC in CAT 2007.

pdfClick here to download the Decoding RC Tutorial.

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As always, if you like it, feel free to forward it to your friends!



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698

Technical institutes have always been prime targets for mass recruiting MNCs. The EDcell in SVNIT aims at bucking the trend by organizing events aimed at encouraging entrepreneurship. The success of such events in last year's Mindbend and Autofest technical festivals has emboldened them to take the next step and have a separate entrepreneurship festival.

Entru-meet '07 is designed to equip the upcoming businessman with every skill he/she would need over the course of building a new firm. Spark- the business plan event will be the main draw of the festival with professionals from MICA Ahmedabad mentoring the winning proposals.

The Apprentice is inspired largely from the popular television show with which it shares its name. The participants will have to pass through several rounds each of which tests a different skill needed to be a smart entrepreneur.

Business Baazigar- the event for the street savvy businessman, was one of the major events last year and is expected to be one of the crowd pullers this time around.

Lock,Stock and Trade is an event catering to the new found love of Stock Trading in the youth. This game gives you the opportunity to gamble on the bourse without any real world risk, and many other events to promote entrepreneurship.

Entru-meet '07 will also feature lectures and workshops with an emphasis on Social Entrepreneurship and Technopreneurship. It is being conducted in association with the Entrepreneurship cells of such prestigious colleges as IIT Mumbai and MICA Ahmedabad and also with Global organizations like the Global Entrepreneurship Network( GEN), The Indus Entrepreneurs( TiE ),ASHOKA a global Non-Profit organization working towards Social Entrepreneurship.

MANTIS will conduct MyFirm Workshop. MANTIS is India's only organization devoted solely to business management education through simulation games. They have already conducted their workshops in such institutes as IIT Mumbai, IIT Roorkee,IIT Delhi and FMS Delhi. There will also be a workshop on Innovation and Creativity in Entrepreneurship by ECell MICA. EDCell SVNIT has widened the scope of participation by inviting students from arts and commerce streams to take part in this festival.
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Continuum, the rolling seminar series, is a regular event at Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management, IIT Bombay. This event aims to cover the latest trends in management by inviting eminent speakers from business and academia. Each of these seminars focuses on issues and challenges faced by a management function, and aims at drawing insights from the knowledge and experience of the speakers. The seminars are well attended by delegates from different organizations, our distinguished alumni, and students from various business Schools.

Marketing Continuum 2007

Having reached a “launching pad” level of economic growth and with its very large young populations, India is moving rapidly towards becoming the world's prominent producer and consumer. The entry of vast numbers of new consumers into the world economy from emerging markets will represent one of the most important opportunities available to consumer -goods companies over the coming decades. The Marketing Continuum 2007 will see a series of lectures and panel discussions on the theme “The Indian Growth story – What's in it for Marketing”.

The event would witness keynote address by Mr. Venkat Chandramouli - HR Director, Cadburys India. The panel discussion would be constituted by Mr. Raman Pandya - Consultant in Company turnaround & Sales acceleration strategy and former President Retail, Essar; Mr. Abhijit Sanyal - CE Staples Business - Foods, Reliance Retail; Mr. Venkat Subramanyan - Director S&D;, Shell India Marketing, Mr.Hasit Joshipura - Managing Director , GlaxoSmithKline and Ms. Anita Sharan - ex-Editor, Brand Equity, Economic Times. There would be lecture by Mr. KBS Anand - Head,VP Sales and Marketing, Asian Paints, and a workshop by Mr. Satish Belani - Director (Operations), AC-Nielsen India.

Operations Continuum 2007

Achieving operational excellence within the supply chain is the foundation of business strategy, core competency, market position and increasing the share holder value. Supply Chain issues are becoming increasingly imperative and the challenges in infrastructure thwarting the very existence of good operations, the companies worldwide are looking at how best to optimize supply chain and plan a future path for growth. It is in this context, that the Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management, IIT Bombay brings forth Operations Continuum 2007 on the theme “Achieving Global Excellence in Supply Chain”.

The event will see Mr. V. Thulsidas - CMD, Air India deliver the Keynote Address. There will be talks by people of the stature of Mr. Biswaranjan Sen - Head, Supply chain, Hindustan Unilever Ltd.; Mr J P Banerjee - Business & Strategic Development, John Deere; Mr Yogesh Kundra - VP Transport, Reliance Logistics Limited; Mr Satish Moorjani - VP Tractor Division, M&M; and Mr. Milap Shah - Senior director of Business Development and Asian Operations, Global e Procure.

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The event spread across three highly interactive sessions with speakers representing Commodity Exchanges, reputed Brokerage Houses and Trading Community. They spoke on various aspects of commodities trading in India from an Indian and a Global perspective.

The event began with a lighting of the lamp ceremony and a welcome address by Dr. B.S. Sahay in his capacity as the Director of IMT, Ghaziabad. This was followed by the keynote address by Mr. P.H.Ravikumar, MD & CEO – NCDEX. Mr. Ravikumar also released the journal 'Comquest' commemorating the event which contains contemporary articles in the field of commodity derivatives written by Business School students and faculty along with contributions from the industry.

The first session focused on introducing 'commodity futures and their challenges and prospects' to the audience. Mr. D.K.Aggarwal, Director – SMC Commodities started the session by presenting before the audience the benefits that commodities offer as an investment class vis-à-vis equity markets. He put forth the arguments on lower transaction costs in this space along with the safety levels of having a minimum intrinsic value. Mr. Sanjay Kaul, Director & CEO – National Institute of Commodity Markets and Research further spoke extensively on the topic by bringing out the relevance of commodity trading as enablers of investment. He also spoke at length about evolution of commodity futures in the country and role of futures market in proper risk allocation and long-term price determination. This was followed by a talk by Mr. Sunil Baijal – MD, Futures First on trading as a profession and its relevance to today's manager's vis-à-vis other professions.

The second session focused on perspectives related to contemporary scenario of commodity markets in the country and issues related to it. Mr. Rajesh Jain, Vice President & Head (R&D;) at SMC Comtrade Pvt. Ltd. started the session speaking on the topic of 'Evergreen Rules of Commodity Trading' where he shared his views on safe investing and the importance of understanding the market before getting into a particular trade. This was followed by a talk by Mr. Jayant Manglik, Head – Religare Commodities on hedging strategies in commodities markets. Mr. S.K.Jindal, MD – Jindal Exports took the stage after this to speak on various hedging strategies adopted by business community and how commodity exchanges play a vital role in helping them achieve their business objectives. The session concluded with Mr. Gaurav Arora, Head - Jaypee Commodities taking the stage to speak about commodity trading and its impact on inflation.

The third session dealt with the topic of 'Reforms in Commodity Futures'. First to speak on the topic was Ms. Sanvali Kaushik, VP & Head – South & West Zone, NCDEX. She spoke on the topic of startup reforms and India's strategic disadvantage of being a price taker in mimic contracts. She also spoke at length about the challenges facing commodity markets in India in the wake of regulatory constraints on flow of capital outside of the border in the commodities investment space. Soon after her enlightening dialogue, Mr. Vijay Sardana, Executive Director – Centre for International Trade in Agriculture and Agri-based products took the stage and spoke about market perspective on reforms with a specific focus on wheat crop in India.

The event came to a conclusion with Faculty Co-ordinator for the organizing team, Dr. Parvinder Arora from IMT, Ghaziabad acknowledging the participation from various members of industry and academia.

The event, organized by Fin-Niche, the Finance Club of IMT Ghaziabad was well attended by industry and academia alike. From the student community, reputed Business Schools including Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resource Development (SCMHRD), Management Developnment Institute, Gurgaon (MDI), University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UPES) were represented at the venue. The principal sponsor for the event was SMC Investment Solutions with Co-sponsorship coming from Forward Markets Commission (FMC).
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“I am very pleased to see the efforts of the students, and I am sure that this rural marketing fair is a unique initiative by any management institutes in the country. Despite the academic pressure, the students successfully organised this on such a grand scale and I am really impressed with them,” said Fr. E. Augustine, Dean- Administration & Finance at XIMB.

The fair witnessed huge participation because of the innovative game designing for market research for Britannia Industries Limited, Lotte Confectionary, Hindustan Unilever Limited and Cholayil Private Limited.

Besides this Paradeep Phosphates Limited and ICICI Limited also witnessed enthusiastic participation. Huge shining banners and attractive promotional campaign attracted large number of people visiting the haat (market) on Sunday & Monday.

The innovative market research campaign for 'Britannia Marie' and 'Vita Marie Gold' was an excellent learning opportunity for the students which also complemented the company's effort to promote their products in rural areas.

“I am delighted to see the overwhelming response from all students and the target audience as well. We would like to be associated with XIMB in all future endeavours. The market research campaign is very creative and we need them to promote our products like 'Britannia Tiger' & 'Marie' range of products which are very successful in rural areas,” said Mr. Badri Beriwal, Product Manager, Britannia Industries Limited.

“Pedagogy in all management schools is almost same, the students' activity and the extra-curricular activity differentiate students from XIMB to others,” he added.

Twenty-two year old, Amit Rath a visitor in the fair said, “It is an opportunity for villagers to seek information and buy products of daily use at competitive prices. It also gives us some insight about the product from the company representative.

“Besides brand awareness and quality consciousness, the farmers learnt many new things about farming as well as different products. The fair also provided a platform for farmers as well as company people to come on a single platform and gain from each others experiences,” informed Praveen Kumar, Team Leader for PPL.

People from different walks of live visited the fair. Like Prashant Sahoo, a commerce graduate said it was altogether different experience for him as he could never think about these things. “The text book knowledge must be supplemented with the practical field experiences,” argued Saurabh Mishra.

Britannia, HUL and Medimix were huge hit among women, while Lotte got popularity among the children. PPL attracted farmers and ICICI Lombard attracted matured people and older generation. Therefore the Gramotsava'07 had something for everybody.

The students' effort also impressed professor as well who visited the fair to encourage them. Prof. S. S. Singh, who is having experience of more than 26 years in the rural sectors, lauded the students' effort. “The fair is a grand success not only in terms of size but also in relation to the crowd it attracted through creativity and innovative designing of games to catch the maximum eyeball.”
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The Marketing Continuum 2007, this time around, was centered on the theme – “The India Growth Story – What's in it for Marketing?” The inaugural address by our very own, Prof. Shishir Jha truly set tone for the events lined up during the day. This was followed by the keynote address of Mr. V. Chandramouli, HR Director, Cadbury's India Ltd., where he spoke
extensively on the “dancing Indian elephant” and the need for Indian marketing to evolve in view of the current scenario. Next in line, was the panel discussion on “The Evolution of Modern Retail: Challenges & Opportunities”. Mr. Raman Pandya, former president – Retail, Essar Ltd. was the moderator for this event, which encompassed enriching talks by Mr.
Abhijit Sanyal - CE Staples Business - Foods, Reliance Retail; Mr. Venkat Subramanyan - Director S&D;, Shell India Marketing, Mr. Hasit Joshipura - Managing Director, GlaxoSmithKline and Ms. Anita Sharan - ex-Editor, Brand Equity, Economic Times. The post – lunch session by Mr. KBS Anand - Head, VP Sales and Marketing, Asian Paints introduced the unique concept of “Umbrella Branding” and its relevance in today's times. Finally, there was
a workshop on “Pricing Strategies” by Mr. Satish Belani - Director (Operations), AC-Nielsen India.

The days' proceedings were best summarized by chief - event coordinator, Soumya Donkada – “The in-depth insight, shared by speakers from a variety of backgrounds% of backgrounds was an experience transcending classroom learning and helped most of us relate academic concepts to industry realities.”

Taking up the baton forward was the Operations Continuum, 2007 set against the backdrop of “Achieving Global Excellence in Supply Chain”. Prof. S. V. D. N. Rao of the School of Management set things rolling with his inaugural speech highlighting the role of the supply chain in overall company performance. This was followed up by the keynote address of Mr. V Srikrisnan – Executive Director, Air India, where he touched upon a variety of issues within the aviation sector and how the supply chain is gearing up for the same. Mr. K R Siddhartha - GM, Customer Service Excellence, Hindustan Unilever Ltd. then stressed upon industry best
practices within the FMCG and Retail sectors, and their emergence in the Indian context. The next session by Mr. J. P. Banerjee - Business & Strategic Development, John Deere encompassed the supply chain intricacies faced by the industry leader in agricultural and construction equipment, and the way in which they integrate their global value chain. The last
event of the day was a live case study taken up by Mr. Satish Moorjani - VP Tractor Division, M&M;, highlighting the transition of the supply chain to deal with the ever-changing global scenario.

As summed up by chief – event coordinator, Ananth – “The phenomenal efforts taken by industries to achieve excellence in the supply chain is testimony to the latter's overall importance in the scheme of things. Getting to know how this is done directly from the men who do it was something I'll cherish for a long time to come.”
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Athenaeum is derived from the Greek “Athenion”, the temple of Goddess Athena. Athena is the Goddess of Wisdom and of course Civilization itself. The “Athenion” temple of ancient Greece also symbolized the place where scholars congregated to deliberate and nurture Philosophy and Thought.

The process is initiated with a call for research papers from the Academia and Industry. The abstracts received are sent for a blind review to an expert panel of eminent research scholars who are associated with us in advisory and contributory roles. The scholars whose abstracts have been short-listed by the review panel are then requested to formally send in their full papers for a peer review. At the end of the peer review process, the selected papers are short-listed for presentation on the day of the Symposium which will be graced by eminent personalities from the Academic world and the Industry. The event intends to showcase scholarly work from academia and industry on the same platform, providing a professional forum of idea interchange. The deliberations and learnings that are gleaned out of this conference are planned to be published as a compendium of papers by a leading publishing house in the country.
Important Dates



Last date for submission of Abstracts : November 30, 2007

Shortlist of Selected Candidates ( I Stage) : December 5, 2007

Last Date for submission of Full Paper : December 30, 2007

Intimation of Acceptance of Paper : January 7, 2008

Last Date for Submission of Presentation Slides : January 30, 2008

The Athenaeum : February 15 & 16, 2008

More details on http://www.bim.edu

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The students sold Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography 'My Experiments with Truth' for a day across Mumbai. This was an innovative attempt to inculcate Gandhian values in the heart and soul of the general public. The literature was arranged by 'Sarvodaya Samstha', a Non-Governmental Organization and the proceeds of the sale from the event would go to an Old Age Home located in Mumbai. Hence, the relevance of the event was three-fold. It aimed to provide a platform for the students to apply the concepts learnt in class to real life situations, to inculcate Gandhian philosophy and ideas in the minds of the people and to help the NGO achieve its social objectives.

The event was successfully conducted on 2nd October, 2007. A total of 170 students from NITIE took up the task of selling the inventory and generating awareness about Gandhian philosophy. Some of them hit the streets, while others put up stalls at Big Bazaars and Food Bazaars across Mumbai which attracted a huge number of buyers. The students were able to sell a huge number of copies of the coveted autobiography 'My Experiments with Truth' by M.K. Gandhi. The enthusiasm and dedication of the students paid off as they were able to achieve a sales figure of 51,700 rupees. The entire money earned through sales would go to an Old Age Home in Mumbai.

The event was a huge success and a wonderful experience for the students as well. Vijit Banthia, a student, said, “Mahatma Gandhi's teachings are of great importance to every Indian. Our aim is to reinstate those teachings in the minds of the people though our effort.” Another student, Bharat Ram Kumar said, “It is not only a tribute to the Father of our Nation, but also an occasion to contribute to society and give something back to it.” The success of the event proves that Gandhian ideas and philosophy are as relevant now as they were 50 years back.

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Can you update us about the status of class sizes in your post-graduate courses?

We had 180 seats in the Post Graduate Program in Management (PGPM), 60 for PGP in Human Resources and currently 32 students from India and 15 foreign students for PGP in International Management. From the next academic year we would have 240 students for the PGPM program, and the number of seats in other programs would by and large not vary much. We are looking at increasing seats only in the PGPM program which happens to be our flagship program. We have just recently got the AICTE approval for the expansion as well.

What has the CAT cutoff at MDI been in the last couple of years?

The cutoff has regularly been over 98 percentile, and that's where we would expect to see it in future as well. Even though MDI has increased the PGPM intake, we do not want to bring down the quality of students we admit.

What do you do when there is a tie in CAT percentiles? Do you look for sectional percentiles?

There is seldom a tie even on the second decimal place. But if there still is a tie, then the quantitative and verbal sections would have an edge over the data interpretation section.

How many applications have you been getting for the PGPM program in the last couple of years?

We have been getting around 18,000 to 20,000 applications each year, from which starting this year we will select around 240 students. The number of applications has gone down marginally. In 2005 we received more than 20,000 applications while in 2006 we received around 18,000 applications, so there has been around 5 to 10 pc reduction.

What do you attribute this drop in application sales to?

It could be probably because our cutoff scores have begun to be known in the market, and applicants who are not expecting to perform well in the CAT exam, or have not performed well, would want to try their luck in some other type of b-school.

What is the unique proposition offered by MDI over others Indian b-schools in the same league?

One of the propositions is the increased number of foreign students that we have in MDI. With India being recognized as a hotspot for foreign investment, it's very crucial to have the kind of exposure that a student gets at MDI. The second reason being our drive to introduce essential components of important foreign languages, which is going to be beneficial to the students once he goes out into the international corporate arena. Number three is the value of our program itself. It is something that has made its own place in the market and of course, we have consistently had very good placements. Our students get placed in a matter of hours once the placements start.

Could your briefly run us through the stages an application goes through once it reaches your office?

Initially when a student applies, we note down his CAT application number, and we have a special agreement with the CAT committee, under which they send us the scores of all such candidates. Based on this we call about 1,200 to 1,400 students for the interview and group discussion stage. The weightages in the final score vary from year to year, but by and large they are 2/3 for the CAT score and 1/3 for the group discussion and interview.

What do you look for in candidates during the interview and group discussion stage?

We look for basic communication ability. We try to see if the candidate can talk sensibly, if not knowledgably on a particular topic. We look for general awareness of the society that he is in and in-depth knowledge of the sector that a candidate has worked in, if he has work experience. Number two, we look at the candidate's attitude and try to judge if he can cope with the academic stress of an MBA program. In the group discussion, we focus on the candidate's ability to summarize the discussion. It helps us judge if the candidate besides communicating his ideas clearly, can also listen to what is being discussed in the group and understand the flow.

Does more weightage to CAT scores during final selection stage bring along a compromise on the applicants' soft skills?

Well not really. During the interview round we look for certain skills and if we see that if the candidate lacks the bare minimum communication skills then we have a discussion on rejecting him and only then come up on a conclusion. In that sense we have a veto power during the interview and group discussion stage, regardless of the CAT score.

How do you treat work experience in your admission process?

The work experience is factored only after the candidate has satisfied the CAT cut-off criteria. We don't consider work-ex in the initial stages though. During the group discussion stage, we mark the candidate for the quantity and quality of work experience. The reputation of the company that he has worked in matters a lot.

You are accepting GMAT scores for PGPM starting this year.

If a student happens to be outside India at the time of CAT, then they have the option of taking GMAT as the entrance test. But the focus will be on normalizing the GMAT score at par with the performance of our larger CAT candidates. Under no circumstances will we compromise on applicants coming through the CAT route just for accommodating GMAT takers.

How many faculty members does MDI have and what is your plan to expand the number?

We have full time faculty strength of about 80 and we do have plans of increasing that in the future. As per the AICTE norms we should have a faculty student ratio of 1:12, but as of now, we have a ratio of 1:8, which is a ratio we would like to maintain. We are also on a feverish search for qualified faculty. Our hope is to have more than 100 full time faculty members before the start of the next academic year.

Are you prepared with the infrastructure and hostel accommodation for the expanded PGPM batch?

We have a problem there, but the advantage of MDI is that we have a lot of MDP accommodation. So in the interim we have been using any vacant MDP accommodation to host the 185 students in PGPM. Even with the increased batch size, the combined strength of the PGP and MDP accommodation is enough. But much more construction is on the anvil and there will be some disturbance in the meanwhile, but that would be sorted out soon.

What have been the recent hottest areas in your placements?

The investment banking sector has been very sought after. We also have foreign placements increasing; finance is another hot area. Manufacturing is picking up again. We have the same portfolio of companies as any other Indian b-school.

From the PGPM point of view, where do you think MDI is going wrong?

Well, our footprint in south India needs to be stronger. We generally also need to work on our brand image. Those are probably the key areas we need to focus on.

What do you do with the golf course on your campus?

It is used mostly by the elderly people who come to visit the MDI campus, though it is not a very popular sport among youngsters.



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Lakshya represents the conception and implementation of ideas in different companies under the five modules of Supply Chain Management, Operations Management, Financial Management, Systems & IT Management and General & HR Management. This time around, Lakshya has gone global with a good number of international participants in various modules. Some of the shortlisted participating companies this year are GSK, J&J; Medical, BPCL, HPCL, Asian Paints, Cadbury, Wipro, Infosys, United Nations, Titan, Dr. Reddy's Labs, GE Money Servicing, etc. Eminent jury panels comprising of stalwarts from various organizations across sectors adjudge these projects and the best project wins the coveted 'Overall Lakshya Trophy'.

It is a unique endeavor of PGDIE students of NITIE to nurture Industry-Institute interaction so as to keep students updated with current requirements of the corporate world. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) supports Lakshya and recognizes it as one of its kind in the country; fostering and disseminating developments and trends; bringing closer the expectations of the industry and the deliverables from NITIE.

To honor the great paragons who follow their vision by action, NITIE bestows corporate icons with Lakshya Business Visionary Awards for their extraordinary leadership and exemplary vision. The Lakshya Business Visionary Awardees for the year 2007 are Mr. Rahul Bajaj, Chairman, Bajaj Auto Ltd and Mr. Rama Prasad Goenka, Chairman, RPG Group. Over the years Lakshya Business Visionaries have been Mr. Azim Premji, Mr. Keshub Mahindra, Mr Y C Deveshwar, Mr. Ratan Tata, Mr Subir Raha, Mr K V Kamath, Dr. Verghese Kurien, Mr. Adi Godrej, Mr. Nandan Nilekani, Mr. Kumarmangalam Birla , Mr. S.Ramadorai to name a few.

The three day confluence also includes Empresario – an event that celebrates the spirit of entrepreneurship and aims at infusing the sapient elements of entrepreneurship in the students. The event will be kicked-off with the felicitation of some exemplary entrepreneurs, who have already made their mark in the industry. The entrepreneurship awardees this year are Mr. Tulsi Tanti, Chairman, Suzlon Energy Ltd and Mr. Kumar Subramanian, CEO and founder member, Adventity. In the past, NITIE has conferred Empresario awards to some successful entrepreneurs like Mr. Harish K. Mittal, Mr. Rajat Sharma, Captain G. R. Gopinath and Mr. Kishore Biyani. Empresario is associated with TiE, Mumbai and Nirma Labs. SIDBI Ventures is the main sponsor for Empresario 2007.

Empresario also includes a unique B-Plan++ Contest, Elevator Pitch Idea presentation, Guest Lectures and Spardha – the entrepreneurial game. All these activities will evolve ideas of making a difference and preparing a recipe for entrepreneurial spirit through dream, belief and passion. Empresario started only a few years ago and has already gained wide popularity gauged by 250+ entries from top B-schools across India.

With so much in offing for these three days at NITIE, it is surely going to be an enriching experience for all participants. It is a marvelous opportunity for the student community to interact with “the” achievers, gain from their experiences, and discover what made them stand out from the rest. The comprehensive details of the event are available on www.lakshya-nitie.com

The Lakshya of excellence will continue….!!!
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The Leadership Series is the flagship event of SIIB and has been so for the past decade of the institute's existence. As the name says it all, one understands that this lecture series cherishes and celebrates the fortitude of leading from the front, giving direction and astute management in the times of adversity. This event provides an extraordinary platform where students get to listen to the awesome experiences of some of the top honchos of the Indian Inc.

Some of the speakers who have graced the event in earlier years were Mr. Adi Godrej, Chairman - The Godrej Group, Dr. Anji Reddy, CEO - Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Ms. Ranjana Kumar, Chairperson - NABARD, Smt. Rajashree Birla, Aditya Birla Group, Mr. Habil Khorakiwala, Chairman, - Wockhardt Ltd., Mr. Homi Khusrokhan, MD - Tata Tea, Mr. Jagdish Capoor, Chairman - HDFC Bank, Mr. Ajay Piramal, Chairman - Nicholas Piramal, Mr. A. K. Purwar, Chairman, SBI, Mr. Zarir Cama, CEO - HSBC Bank, Malaysia, Mr. Richard Rushton, MD - SAB Miller India and Mr. S Kalyana Sundaram, MD - GSK Pharma Ltd.

The chief guest for the event this year is none other than Shri Jayant Patil, Honourable Finance Minister, Govt. of Maharashtra.

The 'Guests of Honour' for the event include eminent personalities, Honourable Shri Ujjwal Nikam, Public Prosecutor, Govt. Of Maharashtra and Mr. Naushad Forbes, MD, Forbes Marshal.
The list of distinguished speakers includes:

1. Mr. T R Doonga, MD, Tata Services Ltd.
2. Mr. Lakshminarayan, Joint MD, MICO.
3. Mr. D. Ramesh, V.P-R&D; (Global), Wipro Infrastructure Engg. Ltd.
4. Mr. Deepak Dheer, CEO-Stampings, Mahindra & Mahindra and Executive Director, Musco Steel.
5. Mr. Vishwanathan, VP, Corporate Relationships, AXIS Bank.


Based on the theme, SIIB is also organizing a movie festival which is currently being screened at the SIC campus from October 1 to 5, 2007, everyday at 10pm in the campus auditorium. For corporate people and other college students in the city, the institute has also initiated an essay writing competition based on the same theme. Participants are required to answer the question: “What is your one unique idea you would like to see converted to action?” in not more than 500 words and send in their entries to [email protected]. There are many attractive prizes to be won. Last date for the entries is October 5, 2007 till 3pm.

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His message to the IMI Students Body was concise - “….While emphasis in your MBA programme is more towards preparing you for business management, I suggest that you should not overlook the challenges and opportunities for improving management in almost all segments of Indian society, going much beyond the corporate sector.”

Dr. C. S Venkata Ratnam, Director, IMI in his welcome address added “We are pleased and honored to have Mr H S Singhania here at IMI. Our students are amongst the top business talent in India, and we are privileged to be able to present to them such a distinguished luminary as in Mr. Singhania to share his vision and experience with all students. Mr. Singhania's experience, practical knowledge, and deep understanding of business practices are all invaluable insights for students of IMI as they enter a highly competitive global marketplace.”

Mr. H S Singhania said “We are proud of our democracy. We are exuberant of our rights but more often than not we forgot our responsibilities and obligation to the society. This attitude has to be changed if India were to become a great nation. Some times political expediency takes precedence over economic logic but it is up to you to bring about a change, where good economics make good politics.”

He added, “ We are already the third largest economy in the PPP terms. The world seems to have discovered India all afresh. On the ground also we see tremendous changes all around. Globalization is no longer a theoretical concept but a borderless world has really emerged and India is truly now a part of it.

The potential growth of consumer demand, particularly the middle class is not merely an imagination of mind but seems to be happening. A recent study, namely “the Bird of Gold': the Rise of India's Consumer Market” done by McKinsey Global Institute suggests that if India continues on its current high growth path over the next 20 years, our income level will almost triple and India will climb from its position of the 12th largest consumer market today to become the world's 5th largest market by 2025.”

He concluded by saying “A major weakness with us is the lack of team spirit. We have to shed our egos and become a part of the team. The challenge ahead is indeed formidable and requires pooling of our energies and strengths. It is the team work that succeeds, whether it is in cricket, in business or in nation building.”

During the discussion, Mr Hari Shankar Singhania said that the one secret to success is hard work and the one change he wishes to see in every Indian is the belief that 'the change should begin with me and I can make a difference.


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The event this year was kicked off with a short film on SIIB. The institute has indeed come a long way since its inception and thus the gone by era was only reflected in modest terms. The various courses as well as extra-curricular activities were showcased to the audience. The day began with the lamp lighting ceremony followed by the welcome speech by Dr. Rajani Gupte, Director, SIIB, where in she explained the rationale behind this year's theme. Any young manager or entrepreneur always starts with a dream but many a times lacks the ability or the courage to act. Thus, this year's lecture series was meant to help the audience realize the potential of their dreams & ideas and inspire them to work on them.

The audience was then addressed by Dr. Mujumdar, Chancellor, Symbiosis International University as he further emphasized on the meaning of the theme. He used the example of the recent blockbuster “Chak De” and explained how that idea inspired the young Indian cricket team to win the world cup. He also shared his thoughts as to how he incepted the idea of the Symbiosis Cricket Tournament where in the BCCI chief Mr. Sharad Pawar was also present. All in all, according to him, it is not only the idea that sells but the whole product. He stressed on this point by making the audience understand that unless the end result is good, the whole hard work of converting a good idea to action would otherwise go waste.

The session continued with the address of the chief guest for the event, Honourable Shri Jayant Patil, Finance Minister, Govt. of Maharashtra, as he took centre stage. He emphasized on the Indian mentality of cooking up ideas but not going through with them till the end. This, he pointed out, was the major reason for the low conversion of good, solid ideas into action or good products & services. According to him, the major reasons for this would be globalization & technology shift. Due to these points, the major paradigm shift is towards countries such as China, Brazil and other African nations. As a result, there is a major shift in the business trends too.

Continuing with his insights, he shared his experiences of foreign tours and went on to cite the lack of infrastructure, good judicial system and unwillingness of the system to bring about a change. Before he ended his address, he did point out that all these evils can be sorted out well as India had a good young workforce working in the corporate world and coupled with better infrastructure & judiciary system, the rest would be a cakewalk for our country.

The inaugural session continued with the stage now set for the two guests of honour, Dr. Naushad Forbes, Director, Forbes Marshall and Adv. Shri Ujjwal Nikam, Public Prosecutor, Govt. of Maharashtra. Dr. Forbes addressed the audience first and rolled out a three point plan for the implementation of any idea. According to him, innovation is anything new that could be developed for commercial advantage. It could even be an idea growing on another but could be a new concept altogether for a firm or even an educational institute.

His three point formula for success consisted of overarching purpose, focus and commitment towards the end result. He stressed on the need to have a purpose, an aim, which when defined becomes the centre of attention and you only strive to achieve that. An example pointed out by him was that of china as they concentrated only on their GDP growth before anything else. Next up was focus without which nothing can be achieved in this world. For success in any venture, one needs to channelize all their energies towards that one goal. Only then will the task will get completed. Last but not the least commitment is the last ingredient for any successful recipe. He cited the example of the SIIB Leadership Series 2007 team as to how they worked day in and day out for the last two weeks for the success of the event.

The last lecture of the inaugural session witnessed Adv. Shri Ujjwal Nikam, who began by humoring the audience that he never takes a free-of-cost lecture. On a serious note, though, he stated the obvious need of idea to action even in a profession like his which by his own admission is something different than a regular management course. However, he drew inference from his vast experiences of the Mumbai bomb blast case and the Sanjay Dutt case to educate the audience as to how it becomes imperative to use some unique methods when the regular ones fail. He stressed on the point that one should not be afraid of failure, rather one should be afraid of aiming low. Before he ended, he did notify everyone that not all can be like Gandhi or Nehru and seek their own paths as well as find success on them. But that again should not deter anybody from seeking them.

After a small break for snacks and tea, the pre-lunch session began with Mr. T.R.Doongaji, Managing Director, Tata Services Ltd. He stated that affection is a part of leadership and it builds devotees rather than making enemies. He quoted Stephen Covey on the occasion, “moral authority is more important than formal authority” and later on stressed on the fact that one should always look at the larger purpose of the business, i.e. custom oriented, employee oriented, product oriented and country oriented as a whole.

Mr. Lakshminarayan, Joint MD, Motor Indusries Co. Ltd, continued the pre-lunch session as he introduced BOSCH to the audience, as they enter into collaboration with the German giants. Drawing on his experiences at BOSCH he talked about what works at the practical level by citing the turn around of their Bangalore plant. He continued with the details about the turn around as he explained as to how they reduced their defective parts per million as a result of quality improvement. He stressed on the importance of transformational leadership and fostering the need for change, productivity and innovation.

The last lecture of the pre-lunch session was taken up by Mr. D. Ramesh, VP-R&D; (Global), Wipro Infrastructure Engg. Ltd. He made the audience realize that almost every body has ideas, but it is only a select few who are able to complete them into action. Discoveries, innovations and inventions have always been the results of various ideas in human history. What is needed is the passion to follow them. With time, the world has seen changes in material, men, method as well as machinery as today's world has enormous impacts of technology and computerization. He gave a good example of the Six Sigma processes as to how even the basic management methods have changed over time. Before he summarized, he stressed that problem solving is the key to success and a combination of idea, knowledge and passion leads to action.

The post-lunch session witnessed insightful lectures from Mr. Deeepak Dheer, CEO-Stampings, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Executive Director-MUSCO Steel and Mr. K. Vishwanathan, Vice President, Corporate Relationships, AXIS Bank.

As the evening approached and the lecture series eventually came to a close, the in-charge faculty, Prof. Adya Sharma thanked the speakers for sharing their insightful experiences with the audience, commended the students' organization committee for a good job done, especially commending the good job done by the students-in-charge, Rohit Joshi & Rohit Pajni, and thanked the director of SIIB, Dr. Rajni Gupte for her un-ending support. Until next year.

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What is Real India? Mr. Harish Bijoor, CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc., tried to answer this question while separating truth from hype. He dwelt on the increasing chasm between Rural and Urban India and pointed out that the current pace of growth will not be sustained unless it becomes inclusive. On the subject of growth, Mr. Abheek Singhi, Partner and Director of The Boston Consulting Group cited investor confidence and M&As; as the drivers behind India's growth. Mr. Singhi went on to explain the nuances of M&As; and the role consultants play in the same. The CEO of Marico's Consumer Products Division, Mr. Saugata Gupta, drew upon his experience and shared his secret to becoming a “Winning Manager”.
It was formally inaugurated on the 5th by Dr. A Jayathilak, the district collector of Kozhikode. Dr. Jayathilak was the MD of Kerala Tourism Development Corporation for 5 years and was instrumental in orchestrating the “God's own country” campaign which catapulted Kerala to its superbrand success. He delivered an insightful opening address on rediscovering Rural India.


The conclave dealt extensively with the topic of Rural India and had eminent speakers voice their opinions on the same. Mr. Paresh Chaudhry, Head, Corporate Communications, HUL, and Communications Leader, South Asia for Unilever took the example of HUL's Project Shakti, which trained rural women to sell HLL products. The project has resulted in an effective distribution channel reaching 100 million rural customers. Mr. P K Kesavan, Director - Ministry of Panchayati Raj said that rural growth can be achieved by unearthing business opportunities in rural areas and generating employment. An excellent example of this was afforded by Mr. Sunil Chainani, Director, Fabindia Overseas Pvt. Ltd. Fabindia with over 20,000 craftsmen across 250 districts working for it, focuses on bridging the urban-rural divide by bringing the best of rural craft to the urban customer.

The conclave ended with the HR Summit in which eminent HR Managers like Mr. Narayanan Nair, VP-HR of Mphasis EDS and Mr. Sheen Sunny Akkara, Director, Resource Management, Deloitte Consulting participated. The panel discussion mainly focused on the strategic role of HR in today's business environment. The changing expectations of organizations and the impact of globalization on the HR policies of companies were also debated.

In the run up to the conclave, Chanakya, an online quiz was held daily for a week which saw thousands take part in it. Ranniti, a one of a kind online treasure hunt was also organized as part of Horizons. Launched for the first time in India, this quiz drew enthusiastic participation from thousands of excited students. The Contact Singapore Case Study was also launched as part of the event. In a B-Plan Guidance workshop held exclusively for Horizons, Mr. Gururaj Potnis, CEO of Manthan Services gave key pointers to budding entrepreneurs.


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To be called Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIBM), Bangalore, the new institute will see an intake of 120 students in a two-year MBA equivalent program.

"The new campus is ready and the intake would bethrough the SNAP 2007 exam," SIBM Pune's Prof Pranab Deb informed PaGaLGuY.com. "The courses would be the same as they are in SIBM Pune, though a new faculty would be recruted for the Bangalore campus. The degrees would be given by Symbiosis International University (SIU)," he added.

Sources in Symbiosis informed that SIU was looking to start an SIBM in Hyderabad by 2010. Besides, SIBM is also making efforts to expand internationally at Singapore, Mauritius and Bhutan, though in the distant future.

SIBM is in talks with institutes in these countries, informed a source.

Interact directly and ask admission related questions to the admission committees of SIBM Pune and SCMHRD Pune.



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The event which has been set around the theme of Grecian Wars is all set to witness the men and women battling it out amongst themselves for prizes upto Rs. 4 lakh. “Human Resources, Marketing, Information Technology, Operations and Finance, we have left no stone unturned. We have discussions and games on various aspects of management. We have got entries for games even from international B-schools like Ivy League B-Schools such as Columbia Business School, USA and Leeds University, England”, munches Sandeep Poddar, Lead Co-Ordinator, Core Committee, Milestone 35.

The theme game-Battle of Thermoplyae-has created much buzz amongst budding managers, be it from IIM or IIFT. The game revolves around the new 1 lakh car by TATA which has shaken the automobile industry from Detriot to Pune. The car which has been billed the next people's car after Volkswagen's Beetle, has already attracted much attention amongst analysts and even politicians. “The teams have to create a strategy around the car, its operations, marketing, and all relevant aspects related to it”, commented Poddar.

Then there is the quiz-Battle of First Nexus-which will see not only students but even the corporate world's best minds competing to win a quiz hoisted by ace quiz master Pranab Mukherjee, who is flying specially to conduct this grand event. “The competition for the quiz is tough, the participants will not have it easy in this Battle of First Nexus. The fact that Pranab is conducting the quiz is going to make it one of a kind”, says Akhil Agarwal, a final year Student Manager-that's what all students are referred to as at IMT Nagpur.

The event is also expected to see a ramp walk conducted by a designer from the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) with models being roped in from around the country. “It's about ending the day with a refreshed mind after an intense battle with tough competitors. Revelry, as was for the Greeks, is important for winding down a day. We have dramas, dances and even music from India renowned Indian Ocean, famous for compositions like Kandisa ”, states an emphatic Poddar.