An Internal Newsletter for IIMC Community · in Metallurgy from the Bengal Engineering and Science...

Volume 1, Issue 3, December 2011

From The Editor’s Desk

An Internal Newsletter for IIMC CommunityAn Internal Newsletter for IIMC Community

Welcome to the third editionof the “IIMC Sandesh”, theInternal Newsletter of IIMCalcutta. Given that we arein the midst of celebratingthe Golden Jubilee of theInstitute, the past fewmonths were expectedlyvery eventful and thecampus was buzzing withactivities. Therefore, I faced

a problem of plenty and against my liking had to bemore selective on things to cover in this edition of IIMCSandesh. Nevertheless, this issue has many new andexciting features. It starts with the introductions of thenew comers to the campus in various programmes,including the profiling of the largest ever PGP batch.It captures the glimpses of many of the memorableevents, including event at the completion of 50th yearof IIMC and rekindles our memories of the visits bysome special dignitaries to the campus such as thevisits of Honorable Prime Minister Dr. ManmohanSingh, former President of India Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalamand His Holiness the Dalai Lama. It also highlights theachievements and contributions of some of the fellowmembers of the IIMC community during this period,and shares some important and useful news andinformation.

A number of people worked tirelessly to collate allthese information and present this issue of IIMCSandesh before you and I take this opportunity tothank them all. Their efforts will be rewarded only if

you enjoy reading the same and give your appreciativeand constructive feedback. This is my last editorial forthis newsletter and Prof. Anindya Sen, Dean(Academic) will lead this initiative going forward. Whilebidding adieu, I would like to remind you that one ofthe important objectives of this newsletter is to sharethose stories, milestones, experiences and learningthat otherwise do not reach all IIMCans alike andthereby give us an opportunity to rejoice and celebrateeach other’s achievements and success. Please takeit as my farewell request to each one of you - dosupport this initiative and the team led by Prof. Senby sharing your thoughts, information, ideas,experiences, stories, viewpoints, suggestions, feedbackand contributions regularly, so that IIMC Sandesh soonblossoms into a newsletter that the IIMC Communityeagerly looks forward to and feels proud of!

Enjoy reading this issue and all future issues of IIMCSandesh and wish you all very happy days ahead!

Sougata Ray

C o n t e n t s

Students in the News 2-9PGP Lecture Series 10-11Faculty in the News 12-13Special Mention 14-15Events 16 -24Staff in the News 25Need To Know 26-27

IIMC SandeshStudents In The News 2

The institute’s Golden Jubilee year also marks the40th year of IIM Calcutta’s fellowship program. Thisis a testimony to the sagacity of the institute’s visionin those early days, which recognized that alongwith imparting management education, it was alsonecessary to advance the boundaries of knowledgein order to be considered a world-class institution.

Today, the fellowship program at IIM Calcutta iswidely considered to be the best place for doctoralstudies in management in India. The program focuseson training outstanding scholars whose leadershipin teaching and research will advance managementeducation and practices, and who will be able tomeet the continued need for qualified faculty inmanagement education in India and abroad.

It is therefore not surprising that the program attractsthe best and the brightest scholars with diversebackgrounds and experiences from all over thecountry who work on cutting-edge ideas in the fieldof management research. Given the large numberof applicants and the intensive course of study,admission to the program is extremely selective.This year’s incoming batch includes:

Arindam Mondal (Strategic Management Group)has done Electrical Engineering from the BengalEngineering & Science University, Shibpur and hasworked with Coal India Limited for 20 months. Hehas been actively involved in social causes likeliteracy and leprosy awareness campaigns, andplays chess and table tennis.

Nivedita (Operations Management Group) holdsan MSc in Mathematics from Jadavpur University.She has been working in the management educationsector for some time. She is trained in HindustaniClassical vocal music, Kathak and Odissi, and knowsother dance forms like Bharatnatyam, Manipuri,Indian folk, Hip-Hop, Jazz and Salsa.

Kamalika Chakraborty (Strategic ManagementGroup) has done her B.Tech in Chemical Engineeringfrom the National Institute of Technology, Durgapur.She has worked for three years at the Indian OilCorporation as a process engineer at the HaldiaRefinery. Her interests include singing, listening to

music and dancing.

Abhishek Jaysing Shinde (Operations ManagementGroup) has done his B.Tech in MechanicalEngineering from V.J.T.I., Mumbai University andhas worked for two years as an Assistant Managerin Reliance Infrastructure Ltd. He has received theJRD Tata scholarship from Mumbai University foracademic excellence.

Deepika (Economics Group) is an MA in Economicsfrom Patna University. She is a keen debater andhas also been awarded the top prize, consecutivelyfor two years, in a debate competition organized bythe Government of Bihar. She is also a movieenthusiast.

Ashish Kumar Jha (Management InformationSystems Group) is a B.Tech in Electronics andCommunication from GGS Indraprastha University,New Delhi. One of his projects on “AutonomousUnderwater Vehicle Development” was ranked thebest by NIOT, Govt. of India. He has also held variousleadership positions at his undergrad school.

Nishant Kumar Verma (Operations ManagementGroup) is a Bachelor of Engineering from BIT Mesra,Ranchi in Electronics and Communication, and hasworked for 1.5 years with Tech Mahindra and servedBELL CANADA as a network provisioner. Nishantlikes to listen to ghazals and Sufi music in his sparetime. A spiritualist, Nishant is an admirer of SwamiVivekananda.

Sidh Kumar (Behavioural Sciences Group) is a B.E.

2011 Batch of Fellowship Students


from the Delhi College of Engineering and has 12years of experience in the Telecom Sector and 5years in the steel sector. He is from the IndianTelecom Service and is currently on deemeddeputation from DoT to BSNL. Sidh played a crucialrole in establishing BSNL Internet operations networkand setting up the Enterprise Vertical in BSNL. Sidh’sexperience in managing cross-functional teamstriggered his decision to enter inter-disciplinaryresearch in management at IIM Calcutta. He isextremely fond of reading books and listening to oldHindi songs.

Diptiman Banerji (Marketing Management) is a BEin Metallurgy from the Bengal Engineering andScience University, Sibpur. After working for 3 yearswith Ispat Industries Limited, Diptiman did his PGDBMfrom ICFAI Business School – Kolkata. He has sincethen worked for 11 years in Customer Service deliveryand as a Relationship Manager in the Telecom andIT sectors. He is interested in listening to old Hindiand Bengali songs, likes to go on long drives andloves watching classic Hollywood movies.

Sarada Gadepalli (Strategic Management) is a B.Tech in Civil Engineering from IIT Kanpur and shedid her MBA from the Faculty of Management Studies,University of Delhi. She has worked in the IT sector

for 10 years in a wide range of roles including systemsconsulting and business development. She is atrained Carnatic classical singer. She also likesreading, quizzing, trekking and travelling.

Padmavathy Dhillon (Behavioural Sciences) is aB. Tech in Electronics and Electrical CommunicationEngineering from the Punjab Engineering College.She has worked for ALSTOM for 12 months. Shelikes to read and is a keen gardener.

Suvajyoti Bhattacharjee (Finance and Control) isa B.Tech from Jadavpur University. He has workedfor 19 months with Cognizant Technology Solutions.He is interested in Actuarial Science. He is also anardent chess player and a cricket enthusiast.

Ramjit Kumar (Sociology) is an M.A. in Sociologyfrom Jamia Millia Islamia University. He is interestedin reading and listening to old Hindi songs.

Amit Baran Chakrabarti (Strategic Management)is an architect from Jadavpur University and hasobtained his PGDM from IIM Bangalore. He workedwith IOCL for 7 years. He likes to watch Hindi movies,and also likes reading and listening s to old Hindiand Bengali music.

Please join us in welcoming them to IIM Calcutta.

Compiled by Sarada Gadepalli and P. Srikant

IIM Calcutta launched the 5th Academic Session ofthe Post Graduate Program for Executives forVisionary Leadership in Manufacturing (PGPEX-VLM) on 3rd April 2011 under the Chairmanship ofProf. Ashis K Chatterjee. After the due processes ofwritten test and interview 38 students have beenselected. The selected candidates are all First ClassGraduate Engineers with more than 5 years of workexperience in the manufacturing sector in variouscapacities.The functional exposure of the batch includesConsulting by 6 students, Operations Managementby 13 students, Product Development & R&D by 3students, Project Management by 5 students, Sales& Business Development by 3 students and SupplyChain Management by 4 students. They representa varied diversity of industry, such as Automobile,

IT, Power, Engineering, Retail, Metal & Mining andEnergy and Oil & Gas. The average and highestage of this group are 29 and 32 respectively andthat for work experience are 8 years and over 10years respectively.

Profile of the 5th Batch of PGPEX VLM


The important factor of IIM Calcutta’s 2011-13 batchis that the Institute has been able to meet the MHRD’sdirective to fulfill the 27% OBC quota in admissionswhile registering 462 students, which happens to bethe largest batch across all IIMs. The batch of 2011-2013 (48th batch PGDM, 18th batch PGDCM) has33 girl students (7%) and the rest are males. Thebatch comprises of 26 overseas students too. Thisbatch will exclusively carry the tag of being the GoldenJubilee Batch of the country’s premier mostManagement Instititute as you are well aware thatthe Year 2011 marks the Golden Jubilee Year of IIMCalcutta. The Fellow Program in Management, theInstitute’s other prestigious academic programregistered 16 students including 6 girl students. Andincidentally, for the first time in the history of IIMs, acompletely blind student got admission in the PGDMcourse at IIM Calcutta this year.

The students from IIM Calcutta typically have a historyof academic brilliance displayed all through theireducational years. Every year, the best students fromIndia’s premier institutes are admitted to IIM Calcutta.This year too, 23% of students in the PGP1 batchcome with an IIT degree. 13% of students are fromNITs, while 55% of students have studied in otherIndian engineering colleges. The batch of 48/18

comprises of 93% students with an engineeringbackground whereas 2% of students have a puresciences background. The rest of the students havea degree in medicine, commerce, management orarts. It is interesting to know that about 4% of studentshave previously studied in colleges abroad, like NUSand NTU (Singapore) and Queensland University(Australia).

A majority of the students of IIMC hold degrees inelectronics and computer science. This year we alsohave some students who have joined from medicalschool. 16% of the students have experience infinance and consulting, the preferred careers ofgraduates of this institute, before joining IIM Calcutta.

This year we have quite a few students who havestarted an entrepreneurial venture. Some notablestudents include Hariharan V., who has priorexperience in farming and owns a field of his own.Anupam Kumar, who currently studies at IIM-C andis a product of Patna’s famous “Super 30” group, hasstarted out on his venture called “Escape”, whichaims at educating disadvantaged students in English.Ashish Baboo has also started a school to for childrenfrom economically challenged backgrounds, whileTejas Padalkar and Anuj Agarwal’s companies operatein the metal manufacturing sector.

Profile of 2011-13 PGP Batch

Danie l Bre tones,president of ANDESE(Association Nationaledes Docteurs enSc iences Econo-miques) and alsoHead - Finals Jury(extreme left) & MichelPébereau, Chairmanof the BNP ParibasBoard (extreme right),presenting the Winner's award to Team CeleStar -Abhimanyu, Ankit and Kunal at Orangerie, Paris.13th April 2011.

How would you feel if you “aced” a global competition

organized by one of the world’sstrongest banking groups, in theprocess defeating more than 2300teams of 12,832 participantsacross 140 countries over 18online rounds and 2 gruelling in-person rounds in Paris?

That is exactly what TeamCeleStar – Abhimanyu Bansal,Ankit Goyal and Kunal Agarwal

– is experiencing, having been crowned winners of“Ace Manager – The Third Set”, a global competitionorganized by BNP Paribas at Paris on 13th April,2011. The three students of the Indian Institute ofManagement Calcutta have won tickets for VIP seats

IIM Calcutta students win BNPParibas Ace Manager


at various tennis tournaments, EURO 3000 each anda broad choice of international internships within BNPParibas’s three core business areas.

Online Rounds

The preliminary stage, held between mid-Februaryand mid-March, required the participants to work ina virtual environment solving 18 business casesacross a diverse range of areas, right from Corporate& Investment Banking (Derivatives, IPO’s, LBO’s etc)to Investment Solutions (Estate Planning etc) to RetailBanking (Factoring Solutions etc). Incredibly, theteam was consistently ranked first from Case 4 toCase 18, demonstrating their broad expertise in allareas of finance. The students displayed greatteamwork and time management skills – perfectlybalancing the competition as well as their coursework,including the final exams, which even had two paperson a single day. At the end of the online rounds, TeamCeleStar topped the preliminary stage, and wasselected for the finals along with four other teams.

Finals in Paris

On the D-day morning, the teams worked onthree business cases related to various facetsof finance and banking. In the afternoon, theparticipants presented their results, along with theirvision for the bank of the future, to the jury comprisingof professors from participating universities andmembers of BNP Paribas Group’s seniormanagement. The jury then posed questionsabout the solutions presented by the teams. In theend, Team CeleStar emerged as winners, defeatingthe other four teams comprehensively. MichelPébereau, Chairman of the BNP Paribas Group,

presented the awards at a ceremony held in theOrangerie, Paris.

Curriculum and Peers at IIM Calcutta

Attributing the team’s excellent performance to theirinstitution and peer group, Ankit Goyal said “Thesheer analytical content in every course, advancednature of finance courses and a peer group focusedon finance is what makes IIM Calcutta an excellentplace for anyone interested in finance and banking.It was the primary reason which encouraged me tojoin the premier B-school”. Kunal Agarwal mentionedthat their managerial abilities and soft skills, especiallycommunication and people skills, played an importantrole in the finals, noting that “real-life” was the perfectword to describe the finals. Additionally, he notedthat the guidance provided by seniors had beencritical for the team, starting from the all importantadvice to participate in the competition. Kunal quipped“It was one of the proudest moments of my life to winsuch a big event. It feels great to have representedmy institute at such a grand stage and won. Thisevent definitely put my financial as well as businessacumen skills to the ultimate test. The rigorouscurriculum, especially of the finance courses, at IIMCalcutta helped me tremendously in “acing” thiscompetition”. Barely able to contain his excitement,Abhimanyu added “It has been an awesomeexperience, and I guess the feeling is yet to sink in.It is surreal to be crowned the global champions ofan event of such scope, breadth and depth. It wasn’teasy, as the event clashed with our final exams andinternships, but I’m glad that our efforts andcommitment paid off. It was truly a once in a lifetimeexperience”.

For budding managers at IIM Calcutta, Lattice refersto a framework that enmeshes the strands of business,innovation and entrepreneurship within the contextof the Indian society. Lattice, the Annual BusinessSymposium organized by the PGPEX students atIIM C, provides a platform for leaders across thecountry to share their mission and vision with thenext generation of business leaders. The theme forthis year’s Lattice was Innovation for India: 2011 andBeyond. Lattice 2011, organized in the year of the

Lattice 2011 aims to unshackleIndia's quest for innovations!


IIMC’s golden jubilee anniversary celebration, willattempt to understand what could jumpstart the Indianinnovation juggernaut. IIM C believes that the Indiangrowth story needs to be expedited and sustainedby a spurt in innovations and that the crucial indicatorssuch as patents per capita need to rise.

To capture the restless spirit of Indian innovationeminent speakers from across the spectrum of theIndian innovation factory had been invited. Thesespeakers are leaders who are working on the frontiersof innovation in their respective domains and havea deep understanding of what keeps the innovationbug ticking in India. In keeping with the tradition ofLattice, the audience was inspired and challengedto open their minds to new possibilities. Last year’sevent on the Importance of Socially Conscious

Leadership had generated much enthusiasm withspeakers from media, industry and the defense forcespresenting their viewpoints. This year the leaderssharing the dais for Lattice included the CEO of RoyalEnfield, the Regional Director of Shell Foundation,the CEO of Shanta Biotech, Additional GM BHELand the founder-managing trustee of SamarthanamTrust.

Lattice 2011 was organized in association with BharatHeavy Electricals, State Bank of India and the RoyalEnfield. A student debate, with participation frommanagement schools across the city, was alsoorganized on the theme of innovation. This was a fullday event on November 5, starting with theinauguration at 11:45 AM and ending with the prizedistribution for the debating competition at 5:00 PM.

IIM Calcutta launched the fifth batch of the PostGraduate Program for Executives (PGPEX) in thepresence of Director, Professor Shekhar Chaudhuri,Dean (Programme Initiatives) Professor SougataRay, Chairman – PGPEX, Professor C PandurangaBhatta, Chairman, Career Development & PlacementOffice, Professor Amit Dhiman and Advisor:Administration, Shri Dinesh Varma on April 16, 2011.

This batch has 39 male and 5 female students. Thebatch comprises of 8 Post Graduates and 36Graduates. 42 students have engineering degrees,and 1 each from Arts and Science respectively. Theycome from diverse backgrounds such as IT,Investment Banking, Oil & Gas, Petroleum & Energy,

Telecommunations, Banking, Government HeavyIndustry, Manufacturing, Automotive, Research &Product Development and also the Indian Army.Students from specialised domains like Oil & Gas,Petroleum & Energy and Research & ProductDevelopment services are also included. The averageand the highest GMAT score stands at 718 and 770respectively. The highest and average workexperiences are 250 and 114 months respectively.The average age of the students is 33 years. Theyenjoy very senior positions, for instance, SeniorConsultant, Engineer Lead, Project Lead, SeniorSoftware Engineer, Manager Planning & Assurance,Head-Planning: Research & Development, SeniorQuality Analyst to Director and Joint Director.

Profile of the 5th batch of PGPEX

On the 5th of September, we hadthe pleasure of having on campusMr. Amish Tripathi, IIM Calcuttaalumnus from the 32nd batch. Theevening was conducted by thecampus literary club Persona. Mr.Tripathi, whose novel “The Secretof the Nagas” hit the bookstands

recently talked about his motivation behind the bookand why his take on Shiva is different from the neo-mythological fiction we have encountered of late. Heanswered numerous questions from an eageraudience and also shared highly entertaininganecdotes from his stay on campus. He signed copiesof his first two novels for the hordes of enthusiasticstudents.

A session with Amish Tripathi


The 2011 Summer Placement process for the batchof 2011-2013 kicked off on November 7, 2010. Thenumber of students in the batch was 458, makingthis the largest batch in the history of any IIM. Keepingin mind the increase in the batch size, the placementstrategy this year was modified to focus on invitingnew recruiters to campus. Also, another major shiftin strategy was to modify the compressed 5-dayprocess adopted last year to a comparatively relaxed5-day process followed by a rolling process so as toaccommodate the huge increase in the number offirms visiting the campus this year. The total numberof firms that visited the campus for SummerPlacements this year was a record 160. This numberincludes a record 66 first time recruiters. The rollingprocess was conducted to ensure that candidatesand firms both get a good understanding of what ison offer since many of these firms were visiting thecampus for the first time.

The initial 5-day process was a slot-based processwherein each slot lasted for two days. Slot-0 tookplace on the 7th and 8th of November, Slot-1 wasspread out across 3 days, the 9th, 10th and 11th ofNovember. Following the slot-based process, therolling process commenced on 14th November andculminated on 18th November with the successfulplacement of all the 443 students who wished to takeoffers from the process. 15 students chose to exploreother opportunities.

To give a brief idea of the profiles of the students,the batch of 2011-13 had 68% students with priorwork experience. The average work experience ofthe batch is 18 months. The batch had around 92%engineers apart from doctors, economics graduates,naval architects, botanists & accountants, amongstothers. Among the students with prior work-experience, 45% had experience in Systems, 10%in Finance, 6% in Consulting, 14% in Power &Manufacturing and the remaining were spread outin various sectors. 4% of the students in the batchare overseas candidates.

Over 85 students will be interning in internationallocations. Internship locations offered include London,New York, Germany, Hong Kong, Singapore,Malaysia, Thailand, Switzerland, Brazil, Kuwait, Dubai,Vietnam and South Africa.

The 2011 Summer Placement process has been a

historical achievement for IIM Calcutta. Defyingconcerns of a downturn, the successful placementof the largest batch ever reaffirms the trust thatrecruiters place in the institute. The change inPlacement strategy (from the compressed 5-dayprocess to a 5-day process followed by a rollingprocess) would be an important precedent for thefuture when the batch size is expected to becomeeven higher. There has been a considerable increasein the diversity of internship profiles offered to studentsthis year in terms of the opportunities to intern withnew firms in new sectors.

2011 PGP Summer Placement

Highlightsl Hosted the highest ever number of firms

on campus during Summer Placements:160 firms

l Hosted the highest number of first-timerecruiters ever during Summer Placements:66 firms

l Hosted all bulge bracket Investment Banks(some of these firms did not visit the othertop Bschools)

l Re-introduced the option of NGOs/Start-ups and PSUs through rolling process forstudents who were keen to pursue summerinternship in such firms

l Increased diversity of opportunitiesavailable for students so as to enable themto be comfortable in choosing the internshipdestination of their choice.


On the occasion ofTeacher’s day, studentsat IIM Calcutta got theopportunity to learn somevaluable lessons fromsportsperson turnedchange-maker VirenRasquinha. The formerIndia Hockey captainnarrated anecdotes fromhis life and career, the

lessons he took away from each experience and howhe, as part of the Organization Olympic Gold Quest,is now training potential Olympic medal winners inthe pursuit of making India a sporting superpowertoo.

The talk on campus had been organized by the club‘Colloquia’. Rasquinha, with his excellence in thefield of sports coupled with a management degreefrom ISB, seemed to be an apt choice of speaker,one who could establish a connection with the buddingmanagers in the institute, and share the secrets ofbeing a success in whichever field one pursues. Healso spoke about the lack of proper facilities fortraining Indian sporting contingents, which has ledto the performances being below par at theinternational level. He went on to cite the examples

of various sportspersons like Mary Kome, GaganNarang, Saina Nehwal, and others who have achievedgreat laurels inspite of the system, but have thepotential to do exceedingly well with a little help.

Rasquinha talked about the good work the NGOOlympic Gold Quest (OGQ), of which he is currentlyCOO, is undertaking, in the direction of nurturingOlympic talent in India. He talked about the innovativefund raising campaign “Power your Champion” thatthey have taken up, where anybody can commit asum of Rs. 100 a month to be donated to the trainingand other requirements of the athletes that are partof OGQ currently.

Rasquinha graduated from ISB in 2009 and turneddown a lucrative offer from an Investment bank totake up the cause of upliftment of sports in India.“Before going to ISB, I used to wonder why sportingbodies are not able to take proper care of particularsports teams. Having seen the manager’s perspectiveon it now, I understand the numerous problems andconstraints he faces”, said Viren.

Visiting faculty at IIMC and Founder, PipalMajik, Mr.Chandradeep Mitra thanked Viren with a token ofappreciation for coming to campus and sharing suchvaluable lessons with the students.

Hockey great interacts withIIM Calcutta students

The 4th batch of PGPEX VLMP program consistedof 29 students, out of which 5 were sponsoredstudents. Placements at IIM Calcutta’s PGPEX VLMPprogram saw 22 students placed out of 24 students.One student opted out for Entrepreneurship and 1Student did not avail of the placement facility. Thesectors in which the students got offers includeConsulting, Operations, IT, Logistics, GeneralManagement, Manufacturing and R & D. The 4thbatch had some of the leading companies offeringsalaries ranging from Rs. 10.50 lacs to Rs. 18.00lacs. A total of 16 companies participated in the FinalPlacement Process and 7(seven) PPOs were received

from different companies on the basis of internshipof PGPEX-VLMP students.

A total of 30 offers were made which included 11 inConsulting, 7 in Automotive, 4 in IT, 3 in BusinessDevelopment/ General Management, 2 in Metal &Mining and 3 more in others. Some of the companieswhich participated in the Final Placement were TataConsulting, HP Consulting, BMG Consulting, TakeSolutions, Anand Group, John Deere, Tata Cumminsand Hitachi. Tata Consulting made 8 offers, whichwas the highest among all recruiters. The highestand average salary was Rs 18.00 Lakhs and Rs12.80 Lakhs respectively.

4th batch PGPEX VLM Placement


The quality of offers to the 4th Batch has beenimpressive. Offers have been made and acceptedat the level of Director/VP/GM. Contrary to the lastyear, this year the number of offers and participationof recruiters was higher with more diversified rolesfor the students. The final placement was done for37 students (Batch strength 44, while 5 studentsopted out of placement assistance, 1 student rejoineda PSU with higher responsibility and 1 was asponsored student). The sectors in which the studentsgot offers included Energy, Infrastructure, Operations,Healthcare, IT, Telecom, Business Consulting,Education, Logistics and Banking. The roles offeredto PGPEX students ranged from mid to senior levelwith designations like Deputy General Manager,Assistant General Manager, Principal Consultant,Senior Business Development Manager, Manager(India). The 4th batch had some of the leadingcompanies offering salaries ranging from INR 15.00lacs to INR 28.00 lacs. The average and highestsalary was INR 19.66 lacs and INR 28.00 lacsrespectively.

A total of 52 offers were made for 37 students, whichincluded 4 in Finance, 12 in Consulting, 4 in Business

Development and General Management, 16 in ITConsulting and Telecom, 4 in Corporate Strategy, 8in Sales and Marketing and the remaining 4 in othersectors.

The First time recruiters to IIM Calcutta’s PGPEXprogramme were CEB, Lava International, ShapoorjiPallonji Group, ABS, Carestream, AricentTechnologies and Bertling Logistics. CognizantTechnology Solutions made the maximum numberof offers. Some of the other regular valued recruiterswhich participated include Goldman Sachs, Yahoo,Microsoft, Google, Cognizant, PWC, Blue Star,Amazon Consulting, iNautix and Carestream.

In keeping with last year’s trend, this year as well,PGPEX placements allowed students to leveragetheir past work experience and stay within the samesector or leverage the PGPEX program to switch outof sectors. Finally, one student rejected a good offerto join a network security start-up. A swallow doesnot make the summer, but the PGPEX programmeis about allowing people to make these kinds ofchoices. All in all, a satisfying placement season thataugurs well both for the program as well as the 4thbatch.

4th batch PGPEX Placement

Abhik Paul, of the 1st batch ofPGDCM from our institute, has co-written a book, God At Last, whichwas launched recently at theOxford Book Store, Kolkata. It's athriller but is based on eschatology,the study of Doomsday, asproposed by the religions of thew o r l d a n d o t h e r s l i k eNostradamus.Currently; he is a

Senior Engagement Manager with InfosysTechnologies Ltd. He has also written on religion-related blogs and has been a keen follower of therecent surge in religion related literature. A careerprofessional in Supply Chain process consulting, hehas been able to fuse his religious studies into thepresent literary venture. He has earlier written abouthis experiences in process consulting in the form ofa tongue-in-cheek novel. Presently he lives in Chicagowith his wife and daughter.

Book “God at last” by our AlumnusIn the second weekend of September, a host offriendly matches in various sports were arrangedbetween IIM Calcutta and the Army Institute ofManagement (AIM), Kolkata with a view towardsfostering relations between the two colleges, alongwith preparing the IIM-C sports contingent for futuretournaments.

Unfortunately, the two-day long meet was dampenedby torrential rain, with the basketball and badmintonmatches washed out. However, with rain relentingthe next day, the table tennis and football fixtureswere played at AIM. With both IIM-C table tennisteams containing players who had previously playedfor their respective states, it turned out to be an easyvictory as both the men’s and women’s table tennisteams beat AIM in straight sets. The football matchproved to be more of a contest, with both sides failingto find the back of the net in the first half of the match.In the end, though, IIM-C scored two goals to win thematch.

IIM Calcutta vs. AIM, Kolkata

IIMC SandeshPGP Lecture Series 10

I IM Ca lcu t ta has p roducedentrepreneurs, corporate honchosand excellent managers, but only fewhave had the courage to go beyondthe realm of the corporate world andtake the initiative to make a changeat the grassroots level. Mr. VinayakLohani is one such alumnus of IIMCalcutta, who graduated in 2003 andset up Parivaar, an organizationworking for total care and overalldevelopment of children fromcategories like orphans, girl children highly vulnerableto exploitation, victimization, and trafficking, streetchildren, abandoned children, extremely impoverishedchildren from tribal areas and other vulnerable children.

On 23rd September 2011, we had the privilege ofhaving Mr. Lohani on campus to deliver the 4th Lecturein the Institute Lecture Series. Mr. Lohani is inspiredby the teachings and work of Swami Vivekananda. Hetalked about his early professional life and what inspiredand motivated him to take this unconventional routeafter an MBA. He candidly talked of his life at IIMCalcutta, and the time when he grappled with the ideaof breaking off from the rather restricted system andthink of a different path ahead. He mentioned the day-to-day difficulties in the initial period after college whenhe was still in the ideating phase and looking foravenues to explore.

Immediately after graduatingfrom IIM in 2003, Shri Vinayakstarted Parivaar with just 3children in a small rentedbuilding with almost no financialresources. He mentioned how,initially, he used to deliver somelectures to students appearingfor Management entranceexaminations so that he couldmeet the expenses. Graduallypeople began to be inspired by

his dedicated service and started to support this initiativeand the number of children at Parivaar grew. Parivaar’smission and theme began to attract dedicated youth,many of whom joined Parivaar Ashram as residentworkers and this has culminated in it becoming thewidely contributing organization it is today.

At the talk, Mr. Lohani answered a barrage of questionsfrom the IIMC students and faculty, most of whomquizzed him on the motivation, hurdles (especially inIndia) of entering into social work given the possibilityof joining the corporate and earning more money.

At the end, the Director Prof. Shekhar Chaudhuripresented him with a token of appreciation for comingback to his alma mater and inspiring the young minds.He also wished him the very best for his futureendeavours and assured of constant support from theIIMC family.

A memorable session with Vinayak Lohani

Kiran Bedi, Magsasay Award winning retired IPS officerand key member of India Against Corruption, visitedthe IIM Calcutta campus on 18th October to talk on“The Requirement and Role of Transparency inGovernance and Management”. Ms. Bedi called onthe budding managers to analyze governance and

investigate the role of corporates in fostering corruptionin public life.

"Each student should do at least four projects duringthe two-year stint on cases of corruption in public life.Have you ever tried to find out why so many publicprojects implemented by private parties encounter timeand cost over-runs? Or why it takes so long to deliversome services? In doing so, you will discover whatrole corporates play to add to the corruption and thewalls they have built to prevent being exposed," sheremarked during her talk.

Bedi's rationale behind the Discover Corruption projectswas that in the process, students would learn abouthow information is suppressed to breed corruptpractices. She went on to say that they should

Kiran Bedi enthralls IIMC students

IIMC SandeshPGP Lecture Series 11

implement transparent governance practices in theircareers too since these are equally beneficial forcompanies as it would help them earn customergoodwill.

The activist also asked the students to read the Rightto Information Act, 2005, something she believed notmany people are completely aware of. "The governmentmakes policies, but implements nothing and gets awaywith it. They get away because we, the civil society,ask nothing." she said.

Pointing to Section 4 of the Act that gives suo motupower to put all information of public importance in thepublic domain, she said that even six years later, apartfrom MGNREGA, suo motu disclosure had not beenimplemented in any other government scheme.

"Had the government implemented the act in letter andspirit, the 2G and CWG scams would not have

happened. Why is the government feeling harassedby RTI petitions? That is because it is reactive, notproactive. There is an inherent inhibition to share,"Bedi said.

Later, Ms. Bedi fielded questions from the studentcommunity as well as some members of the faculty.Queries ranged from the inefficacies in the policesystem to the Hazare campaign, leading to furtherdiscussion on how it is every individual’s duty to do hisbit to root out corruption. Ms.Bedi’s candid demeanourand valuable advice peppered with light-hearted humourwas appreciated by everyone present in the packedauditorium. The Director of IIM Calcutta, Prof. ShekharChaudhuri, felicitated her at the end of the event,thanking her for her thought provoking words, andhoping that everyone in the audience would makeefforts to contribute to a better nation.

It is not often that one gets the opportunity to listen toa leader of global stature and recognition. Ever sinceHis Holiness, The Dalai Lama, agreed to give a lectureat IIM Calcutta, anticipations of that blessed day startedto grip us. The day arrived. We had a hurried lunch aswe strode towards the Auditorium to ensure a seat inwhat would be an overflowing hall. As His Holinessslowly walked onto the stage amidst a thunderousapplause, the first thing that struck me was his humility.He bowed to us with clasped hands and chose to givethe lecture standing at the podium instead of deliveringit seated. He had me hooked from the moment hestepped on to the stage.

While we were aware that the lecture would be on‘peace’, His Holiness conveyed his message in aunique manner. He hit a common ground instantly byestablishing his belief that everyone is the same bynature. He cited the merits of the Indian culture andsaid that he was a messenger of India to the World.He held his audience captive by interspersing hislecture with benign jokes.

One strong message that struck me was that educationand intellectual clarity that the students here are oftenproud of is incomplete if there is a lack of inner values.I was pleasantly surprised when a spiritual leader ofhis stature gave us the option of being religious orotherwise. But he insisted that inner values define ouractions and the pursuit of inner beauty will lead tohappiness. He elaborated that progress can be madeby us, the 21st century generation, only if we vigorouslyadopt equality, love and compassion as virtues.

Often we students get into this mirage of competitionand equate money and power with success. Heresponded to our queries by categorising competitionas good or bad according to how we perceive othersand ourselves. He requested us to adopt service as away of facilitating relationships. Emphasizing thedialogue way to global peace, he also reiterated the‘ahimsa’ approach that India has successfully followedover centuries.

As he ended his speech, a sense of calm fell upon us-something that we often miss in this chaotic world. Itstruck me suddenly that I had just listened to a championof world peace and a leader respected across theglobe. After he concluded his mesmerising talk, Iimmediately ran towards the pathway and captured apicture of him on my mobile camera. A picture to keepreminding me of his message and furthermore, that Iwas there!

By A.R.Srivathsan, PGP Student

World Peace lecture by His Holiness the Dalai Lama

IIMC SandeshFaculty In The News 12

Prof. C Panduranga Bhatta, Coordinator, MCHVwelcomed Prof. Srikant Datar from Harvard BusinessSchool to deliver a lecture on the topic “DevelopingCritical Skills for Effective Leadership” on October 14,2011 at the Management Centre for Human Values,IIMC. The lecture was attended by faculty members,students of FP, PGP, PGPEX and participants of anIn-Company Program running in the institute. Prof.Datar shared the insights gained while working on hisbook “Rethinking the MBA: Business Education at aCrossroads.” The book is a result of extensive researchincluding hundreds of interviews with executives, societyleaders, deans and even students of managementacross the globe. The lecture described skills neededfor wise decision-making and effective leadership, byusing the knowing-doing-being framework developedby him in the book. Prof. Datar also discussed howindividuals can develop these leadership skills.

Prof. Datar raised concern over the issue of significantdecline in enrollments in MBA programs. Discussingthe critical skills needed to be imparted to students foreffective leadership, Prof. Datar stressed decisionmaking skills, critical thinking, innovative thinking,integrative thinking, cross cultural sensitivity, sense ofresponsibility and discipline, communication skills andthe ability to take help in completing tasks. In theknowing-doing-being framework, the “knowing”component includes facts, frameworks, and theoriesthat make up the core understanding of a professionor practice. The “doing” component includes the skills,capabilities, and techniques that lie at the heart of thepractice of management. The “being” componentincludes the values, attitudes, and beliefs that formmanagers’ world views and professional identities.According to Prof. Datar, without “doing” skills, “knowing”is of little value, but “doing” skills will be ineffective anddirection-less without the self-awareness and reflectionon values and beliefs that come from developing“being”.

The lecture was followed by a brainstorming question-answer session by the participants. Prof. ShekharChaudhuri, Director IIMC, presented Prof. Datar witha memento of honour. Prof. Bhaskar Chakrabarty fromPublic Policy Management Group, IIMC gave the voteof thanks to Prof. Srikant Datar for his thought provokingand enlightening lecture.

Arpita Mathur, FP Student, Sociology

Special Guest Lecture by Prof. Srikant Datar

IIM Calcutta showcased the lively side of the campusby holding a Student faculty interaction in the form ofa cricket match. The match has now become an annualaffair and is a testament to the bonding and camaraderiethat exists between students and faculty. The Facultyteam won the toss and chose to bat first in the 10 overmatch. Some elegant stroke play and power hittingsaw them racing to an insurmountable total of 150runs. A large number of students showed up to watchtheir favourite professors thrash the ball around theground and every boundary was followed by a loudapplause and cheering. A real highlight of the matchwas the light-hearted commentary by two second yearstudents who were later joined by Prof Prashant Mishra,PGP Chairman and Captain of the Faculty Cricket

team. The fervour in the faculty team did not die downin the second half of the match as well which sawsome serious fast bowling by their team.

The Faculty continued their undefeated streak bywinning the match by close to a hundred runs. Prof.Sumanta Basu who teaches Operations Research wasdeclared Joint Man of the Match along with Prof. SurenSista, a Marketing Professor.

The match marked the launch of IIMC Cricket PremierLeague (ICPL) 2012, an annual sporting event modelledon the IPL. With 8 teams, over 120 players and Rs 2.2Lakhs at stake, ICPL player auctions start on 3rdJanuary.

Faculty-Students Annual Cricket Match

IIMC SandeshFaculty In The News 13

Al Osool Al Arabia L.L.C. in association with IIMCalcutta, under the patronage of Oman Chamber ofCommerce and Industry, organized a seminar onChallenges in Risk Management by Professor AshokBanerjee and Current Trends in Management Educationby Professor Krishanu Rakshit in May 2011 at MuscatHall, Oman Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Ruwi.His Excellenecy Anil Wadhwa, Indian Ambassador toSultanate of Oman was the Chief Guest, while AbdulAdheem Abbas Al-Bahrani, Director General of OCCIwas the Guest of Honour. This has been a successfulcase of being a leading initiative to promote IIMCalcutta’s LDP initiatives.

Seminar at Muscat

As part of the MIPLC Lecture Series, Dr. V.K. Unnispoke about "Contextualizing Patent Linkages in IndianPharmaceutical Sector: Lessons from the BayerCorporation Case" on October 25, 2011, at the MaxPlanck Institute for Intellectual Property and CompetitionLaw, Munich, Germany.

Max Plank Lecture

Professor C Panduranga Bhatta has received the ICFAIBest Teacher Award for 2011 at the 23rd AnnualManagement Education Convention of the Associationof Indian Management Schools (AIMS) held on August27, 2011 at Bhubaneswar. Professor ManishaChakrabarty received the Best Research paper award2011 in the International Conference on DataEnvelopment Analysis and Its Application toManagement; Centrum Catolica, LIma, Peru-14-16thSeptember, 2011. Professor Bodhibrata Nag has beenselected for the "Best Professor in OperationsManagement" Award conferred by the AsianConfederation of Business and CMO Asia at the WorldEducation Congress Global Awards in Dubai on 25thSeptember, 2011.

Awards won by our facultyDr. Rafiq Dossani, an IIM Calcutta alumnus from the11th batch (graduated in 1976), and currently a seniorresearch scholar at Stanford University's ShorensteinAsia-Pacific Research visited the campus for a talk onJuly 21, 2011.

Dr. Dossani’s research interests include South Asiansecurity, government, higher education, technology,and business. His most recent book, Does South AsiaExist? was published in 2010 by Shorenstein APARC.

During his talk on campus, Dr. Dossani related to theaudience the growth path of the IT sector in India. Heinitiated the talk with the history of the Y2K bug andhow the ingenuity of the Indian engineers and IT firmsin handling the bug had placed India on the IT map ofthe world. He then went on to discuss whether, adecade later, India has delivered on the promise itshowed then. He highlighted, through facts and figures,the various technical and workforce inadequacies thatplague the IT scene in India today. He also mentionedhow the portals of education in India are faring inproducing useful talent and how they can be bettered.The thought provoking talk captured audience interestand it was delightful to see the students and facultywho were present argue some of Dr. Dossani’s pointsand discuss their perspectives on certain issues.

After the conclusion of the talk, the Dean Prof. SougataRay felicitated Dr. Dossani and wished him the bestfor his future research pursuits.

Rafiq Dossani Talk

Despite having serious problems onthe personal front Prof Shoji Shibaconducted the compulsory sessionon Breakthrough Management(BTM) for the newly inductedstudents of PGPEX VLM during April4 to 12, 2011. In the midst of theprogramme, he lost his ailing motheron 11th April but did not report to hishometown and instead completed

the programme as scheduled. Incidentally, thedevastating earthquake followed by Tsunami in Japanon March 11 caused severe damage to his house andproperty but he remained committed to his duty intaking the session for the PGPEX VLM students at IIMCalcutta. This unparalleled gesture earned him theprestigious award by the Emperor of Japan.

PGPEX VLM Professor receivesEmperor of Japan Award

IIMC SandeshSpecial Mention 14

By Sudas Roy (PGDM Reg. No. 37/1)

A group of fifty brave hearts from all over India had thepioneering privilege to walk into the portal of the firstIIM in India, circa 1964, in search of that elusive andalmost unknown IIM Calcutta diploma called the PGDM.We were a motley group of students-highlyheterogeneous in background and social-demographiccharacteristics-but united in a zeal to taste the fruits ofmanagement education as purveyed to us by a teamof globally renowned faculty and through a formal linkwith the Sloan School of MIT. By April, 1966, 39 of us(or was it 40?) qualified, earned our diplomas in aconvocation under a makeshift pandal, received thedocument from the Chief Minister of the state and wentour separate ways.

Since then much water has flown down the riverHooghly. We faced life on our own terms in our chosenor accidental careers, we raised families, some of usleft the shores of the country for good while others

became part of the Indian growth story. Most of us lostcontact with one another and as ill luck would have it,as many as five of our colleagues left for the heavenlyabode over the years.

IIMC in the meantime, was also growing in age withthe golden jubilee anniversary beckoning in 2011.Some of us felt a sort of stirring within. How about areunion of the 1st batch in its year of golden jubileethat is, 2014 which would complete the 50th year ofour entry into the IIMC PGDM program? Some of thekindred souls met in Kolkata and in Mumbai in 2010-11 and discussed this proposition. (Luckily, at least ahandful of classmates kept mutual contacts alive).When this reunion idea was mooted, all those present,agreed in a Victor Hugoesque fashion that “the timefor this idea has come” and it was no point postponingthe reunion till 2014. An unspoken sub text underliningthe discussion was that though the life expectancy inIndia had risen considerably, still the earlier we met,

the better! Thus, this idea of a November, 2011 reunionwas born. It is quite remarkable that for 45 long years,the 1st Batch collectively went into a hibernation-so tospeak, but when it woke up from its long slumber, likeyoung children, its members wanted to meet rightaway!

Once it was agreed that November26-28, 2011 wouldbe the chosen dates, then started an exciting “searchand find” exercise. The immediate challenge was toferret out the whereabouts and contact details of asmany batch mates as possible. We googled and mailed,we Facebooked and linked in. However, the cyberspace was not the most promising meeting ground forthe simple reason that those who were more elderlyamongst us were not users of the “net” resources.Luckily such members were only a handful. Finally, byOctober, 2011, we could either establish contact orcould obtain contact details of about 30 survivingmembers of our batch.

Out of these, a smaller group of about 15 membersagreed to meet in Kolkata in November, 2011 for thereunion. However, as it so often happens, due tounforeseen and unavoidable reasons, some membersdropped out at the eleventh hour and a group of 11members along with their spouses finally met. Inaddition, 2 local members joined us in some of theprograms. Batch mates came from near and far. SanFransisco, Mumbai, Delhi, Lucknow, Bangalore,Chennai, Bhubaneshwar and Pune were the placesthey came from!

This group represented the diversity that marked the1st batch originally (a far cry from the recent batcheswhich often seem to be the products of a commondesign template!). We had, in our midst, an ex-Governorof a state, two consultants, 3 full time academics andfew part time ones. We had ex-managers of

The 1st Batch-PGDM Reunion

IIMC SandeshSpecial Mention 15

multinational companies as well as public sector units.We had an entrepreneur who was also a social worker,having adopted a village of 5000 people. We had“Uncle”, the eldest member of the group, who also hadthe unique distinction of heading a family of 4 IIMCPGDMs!

One unifying factor that bonded the group was that allmembers belonged to the group of “Senior Citizens”(as defined by the Income Tax Act and not by thedefinition of the Indian Railway!). The age group rangedfrom 66 years to 78 years! Batch mates travelled toKolkata along with their spouses after going throughtwo heart bypasses or three full hip replacementsurgeries! I quote this medical detail only to establishthe undying spirit of camaraderie that motivated thesemembers to participate. By the courtesy of one of thebatch mates, we could all billet ourselves for two nightsand three days in the sylvan surroundings of the TollyClub where on November 27, we had our reuniondinner preceded by very interesting presentations by2 batch mates on human values and rural development.Before commencing the proceedings, we observed aminute's silence in memory of the 5 departedclassmates.

That day began with a very pleasant cruise on theHooghly river with a stopover at the Belur Math. Thefive-hour cruise gave us ample opportunity to haveunmitigated “adda”, bringing ourselves up-to-date oneach other. Besides, impromptu bouts of mimicry ofcolleagues and past professors and a few songsenlivened the proceedings. A class mate with aphotographic memory gave verbatim accounts (mostlyhilarious) of some of the incidents of our EmeraldBower days! The beautiful setting of the river with ghatson the two banks and framed by the old and the newbridges on the western horizon and the spires of theBelur and Dakhshineswar temples on the eastern side,created an ideal backdrop and a mood enhancer forour fellowship!

The two highlights of our reunion were the receptionsand felicitations that we received from the IIMC AlumniAssociation Kolkata Chapter and from the Director, theDean and students of IIM Calcutta. On Saturday, 26thNovember, in a dinner hosted by the IIMCAA on theterrace of the Taj Bengal hotel, we were received withlot of warmth and spirit (!) by the fellow alumni of IIMC.Our cup of joy was full when we met 3 of our teachersfrom our student days: Prof. Barun De, the eminent

historian, Prof. Kaminii Adhikari, our OrganizationalBehaviour Professor and Dr. Bani Sinha, the OperationResearch specialist. We were deeply touched by theirpresence. It was truly a nostalgic occasion and did Idetect some moist eyes in our midst? To cap it all,Alfred Stephanos (31st batch) and Kavery Narang (9thbatch), took us back to the sixties and seventies bysinging some “golden oldies” which were staples inour younger days. By their touching gestures offelicitating each one of us, the IIMC Alumni Association,under the leadership of Mr. Debashish Gupta, bridgedthe chasm of 45 long years and made us feel that wehad come back home! Thank you, IIMCAA KolkataChapter!

On Monday, 28th November, on the last day of ourReunion, we assembled in the Joka campus in one ofthe swanky modern classrooms in the New AcademicBlock. At once, our mind travelled back on a timemachine to our makeshift campus at the EmeraldBower, which was long on history but awfully short onamenities and which we called our home for two years.The contrast was dramatic and once again broughthome the point that our Alma mater had travelled manya miles since we left it. The Director, Prof. ShekharChaudhuri and the Dean, Prof. Sougata Ray welcomedus with great warmth. The Director provided a glimpseof the road travelled so far and a road map for thefuture. We were again felicitated along with our spousesand presented with lovely mementos. Our batch matesmade short presentations on their live's lessons whichthey shared with the few bright and eager studentspresent in the room. The visit ended with a roundaround the campus and a lunch.

From the Tata Hall, the dining hall, we bid “good byes”and “adieus” and thus the curtain was rung down onthe first reunion of the 1st Batch of PGDM of IIMCalcutta.

Before I get carried away by the emotional undercurrentof the parting moments, let me clarify that the twomandatory functions associated with the reunion werecarried out with perfection. On the first day, two visitswere made to New Market and the Gariahat marketfor the spouses to indulge in sari shopping and on thelast day “mishti doi” and “rasogollas” were collected inample quantities by all the departing classmates!

Our next stop in this journey is winter 2014 to markthe golden jubilee of the PGDM 1st Batch! Insha Allah,we shall be there!

IIMC SandeshEvents 16

On the 22nd of August 2011, our campus hadthe honour of welcoming our ‘scholar’ PrimeMinister Dr. Manmohan Singh for a GoldenJubilee lecture. Other Guests of honour forthe occasion were Hon’ble West Bengal ChiefMinister, Ms. Mamata Banerjee, the Governorof West Bengal, His Excellency Mr. M.K.Narayanan, and IIM Calcutta Board ofGovernors Chairperson Mr. Ajit Balakrishnan.The Chairperson welcomed the guests witha speech where he talked about the laurelsIIM Calcutta had achieved over the years tobecome a reputed name in Asia, and acrossthe world.

Then followed a rousing speech from Ms.

Mamata Banerjee in which she praised the

work IIM Calcutta had done in producing

quality corporate managers. The Prime

Minister then began his lecture with a

heartwarming history of IIM Calcutta. He then

went on to talk about issues ranging from the

Indian economic policy to rising inflation,

sustaining a healthy growth rate and how the

12th plan is encompassing all of these. He

even talked about the corruption plaguing the

system and la id st ress on bet ter

implementation of governance structure and

greater transparency. The audience was

delighted to see the Prime Minister openly

expressing his views on seemingly polemical

issues, in the wake of the then recent Anna

movement.

The Director, Professor Shekhar Chaudhuri,

felicitated the guests for gracing the campus

in this milestone year, thus completing an

enlightening and memorable day for the IIM

Calcutta fraternity.

Prime Minister at IIM Calcutta


The 3rd CARISMA – IIM Calcutta Workshop onOptimisation Methods and Risk Analysis: Applicationsin Finance held at the Financial Research & TradingLab during 06-09 April, 2011 was a great success,achieving record attendance and further establishing

a reputation of being the only workshop in decision-support systems. The Workshop was jointly organizedby The Centre for the Analysis of Risk and OptimizationModeling (CARISMA) of Brunel University, London andIIM Calcutta. There were 42 domestic and 1 overseasparticipants. 24 of them were students, 17 wereacademicians/researchers and 2 belonged to industry,representing Tata Consultancy Services and theReserve Bank of India. The agenda offered a widevariety of topics, and it is clear from participants’feedback that the sessions they attended were greatlyappreciated. This was due not only to the quality ofthe input from speakers but also to the richness andpertinence of the discussions.

The 3rd CARISMA – IIM Calcutta Workshop

IIM Calcutta and IIM Ahmedabad, the country’s premierManagement Institutes, came together to host aConference on MANAGEMENT EDUCATION: THEROAD AHEAD, Meeting the Challenges of at the IIMCalcutta campus during October 14-15, 2011.

In view of the significant changes in the environmentin which organizations would function in the future, itis imperative to examine the manner in whichmanagement education is being imparted in India. Aseries of Conferences have therefore been plannedto take stock of the state of management education inIndia. The objectives of these conferences have beento disseminate the outputs widely so as to start anational debate on what needs to be done to revampthe management education so that it becomes morerelevant and responsive to the emerging needs of thenation. The discussions would be led by faculty teamsfrom the IIM Calcutta and IIM Ahmedabad as well asfaculty from US business schools.The first conference in this series held at the IIMAcampus in July brought together leaders in managementeducation for a two-day conclave to discuss variousfacets of management education so as to make the

education imparted more relevant to the needs ofemerging economies. It was agreed that the conferencewould be followed by several conferences on specificthemes that would emerge from the discussions onwhich in-depth deliberations are required.The second conference in this series took place at theIIM Calcutta campus during October 14-15, 2011.Thisconference focussed on the theme of “Meeting theChallenges of Globalization”. In an increasinglyintegrated world, managers must be able to formulateeffective strategies for their organizations across theglobe and be able to manage diverse teams ofindividuals coming from widely different economic andcultural backgrounds. Business schools have tried toteach these skills in various ways:· by increasing the percentage of international

students and faculty at the school· by increasing the global content of courses – both

functional and discipline-based· by creating integrative global management courses· by developing international exchange programs· by organizing immersion programs· by offering global field studies and projects· by establishing global research centers· by building overseas campusThe conference provided an opportunity for faculty,deans and directors of business schools in India toexchange their knowledge and experience aboutglobalizing the MBA education in their schools.

Conference on the Future of Management Education –Meeting the Challenges of Globalization


The first entrepreneurship conference provideda forum for the students to discuss and

understand the challenges and benefits ofentrepreneurship as compared to a corporatejob. 5 of our esteemed alumni included MeenaGanesh, CEO and MD of Pearson EducationServices, Krishnan Ganesh , Founder andChairman of TutorVista.com, A J IshwarKumar, Director of Sri Upasana Consultants,Moloy Bannerjee , a former Ford FoundationScholar at the Carnegie Mellon University andBala Natarajan who heads Progeon (nowInfosys BPO). Students got the opportunityto analyse live case studies and present theirperspectives to the alumni and at the sametime listen to the alumni dissect those verysame cases.

The Chennai Alumni Association of IIMCalcutta held a workshop for the students onthe 24th and 25th of October. The membersof the association who spoke at the workshopwere Ashok Jayaram (8th Batch), RaviSanthanam (15th Batch), Partha Dattagupta(22nd Batch) – Country Manager, SwatchGroup (India), J Krishnan (12th Batch) - MD,UniMity Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Dr. P.V.R. Murthy(13th Batch) - CEO, Executive SearchRecruitment Consultants, Sanjay Nayak (18thBatch) - President, McCann Worldgroup,Lakshminarayana (19th Batch) – COO, IdeaCellular, K. Mahalingam (22nd Batch) –Partner, T.S. Mahalingam and Sons, Bala J.Raman (19th Batch) – Cofounder & President,Congruent Solution (P) Ltd., Pratik Pota (27thBatch) – Executive Director (South), PepsicoIndia, Ajay Jain (18th Batch) – Director,Enzotech Solutions Pvt. Ltd. And VineeshChadha (30th Batch) – Partner, MXVConsulting.

Three case study competitions were carriedout in this workshop. The unique point of this

competition was that the cases were writtenby the alumni themselves based on theirvaried experiences. Mr. Partha Dattaguptatalked about his time as CEO of Barista. Hespecifically talked about the competitionBarista faced from new market players suchas Café Coffee Day. The second session hadMr. Sanjay Nayak talking extensively aboutthe advertising sector. The students of IIM Cpresented on the case based on the MobileTechnology Sector. Mr. Lakshminaryana thenspoke about the new avenues that IdeaCellular is foraying into, such as the ruralmarkets. The third session consisted ofstudents presenting the case in the RetailBeverages Sector. Mr. Pratik Pota spoke abouthis tenure and experiences at PepsiCo whilediscussing the launch of their recent newbrand Nimbooz.

The session and the workshop was wrappedup with the prize distribution ceremony inwhich the top presenting teams from acrossthe 3 case studies were awarded for theirperformance.

Chennai Alumni Workshop

Entrepreneurship Workshop bythe Bangalore Alumni Chapter


Management Education for a Sustainable Tomorrow2 Day Convention during November 14-15, 2011

The twin concerns for inclusive humandevelopment and preserving ecology havebrought the sustainability agenda at the centrestage of good governance for business andnon-business organizations around the world.

Investors are showing growing concern notonly about eco-efficiency, but also businessethics, corporate social responsibility, andhuman rights. The business organizations inIndia and globally are recognizing the needto address the social and environmentalimpacts of their activities by innovativestrategies for the rural market and customersat the bottom of the pyramid, which, togetherwith profits are popularly known as the ‘triplebottom l ine’ issues of SustainableDevelopment. The sustainable businessdebate is shifting from public relations toquestions of competitive advantage andcorporate governance. Therefore, there is anemerging need that the management schoolsaround the world not only attach greaterimportance to research on issues of

IIM Calcutta reaches 50th Year on November 14

Highlights:l The Event commemorating the completion of the 50th year of the Institute (Nov14 –

16, 2011) was inaugurated by the Former President of India, Dr. A P J Abdul Kalamon November 14

l Included a 2-day intellectually stimulating Convention on “Management Education fora Sustainable Tomorrow” with globally renowned academic leaders, ManagementGurus and Industry Leaders sharing their perspectives

l Directors’ Conclave with panelists including Directors/Deans from all IIMs and othermajor B-Schools in India to discuss the future of management education

l Distinguished Alumnus Award was conferred for the first time this year and alumnifrom around the world received the award in person on 15th and 16th November.

l Cultural programme: Mohan Veena by Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and Kathak danceby Danseeuse Shovana Narayan

l Exhibition of archival materials like rare and invaluable photographs and manuscriptsdepicting the history of IIMC and IIM system

l Curtain Raiser of the work-in-progress documentary film on IIMC’s Golden Jubilee,directed by famous film director Goutam Ghose

l A Special ceremony to honour IIMC’s former Chairpersons of Board of Governors,Directors, faculty and staff members on November 16 during a session on IIMC@50:Felicitation


sustainability, but start incorporating theSustainability Thinking in the managementcurriculum.

Given this context, IIM Calcutta, the first IIM,organized a Convention on “Management

Education for Sustainable Tomorrow”, whilecelebrating the completion of the 50thAnniversary. The Convention was held duringNovember 14-15, 2011 as a part of the on-going Golden Jubilee Celebrations of theInstitute. Former President of India, HisExcellency Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam inauguratedthe Convention. During this two-dayconvention globally renowned speakers fromvarious stakeholder groups shared theirperspectives on the sustainability issues.

The objectives of the Convention were two-fold. Firstly, it helped to develop awarenessand appreciation on the criticality ofsustainability thinking among the audience.Secondly, a greater clarity on ideas and

approaches has emerged on how to embraceand integrate sustainability education in themanagement curriculum to promoteSustainability Thinking among managementprofessionals. In the process, IIM Calcuttaplayed another pioneering role in promotingthe integration of Sustainability Thinking inManagement Education.

The host of speakers in the various sessionsof the Convention on “Management Educationfor a Sustainable Tomorrow” included industryleaders like Jamshyd Godrej, Chairman,Godrej & Boyce, Mr. Juan Costa Climent,Partner &Global Leader for Climate Changeand Sustainability, Ernst & Young, AjitBalakrishnan, CEO, Rediff.Com, Dr. RamNidumolu, Founder and CEO of InnovaStratand Low Carbon Enterprise Initiative, D.Shivakumar, Vice President and ManagingDirector, Nokia, IMEA, Sabyasachi Hajara,Chairman and Managing Director, ShippingCorporation of India and M.G. Parameswaran,Executive Director and CEO, Draft FCB Ulka,among others. The speakers also includeddistinguished academicians, professionalsand management gurus like Dr. Stuart L. Hartof Cornell University, Dr. Dipesh Chakrabarty,University of Chicago Dr. Himadri Pakrasi ofWashington University, Dr. Paul Shrivastavaof Concordia University, etc.

Other Events:

Legendary Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt graced


the occasion with his noted Mohan Veenaand Danseuse Shovana Narayan with herKathak dance in the evening of November14, 2011. Mr. Deepak Dhamija, an alumnusof IIM Calcutta and a budding theatre

personality, performed a drama with his troupeon November 15, 2011.

On the third day, November 16, 2011, therewas a session “IIMC@50: The Felicitation”reminiscing about the Institute. The three-dayevent ended by honour ing formerChairpersons of the BOG, former Directors,retired and former faculty members who hadcontributed significantly to build IIMC into aniconic institution in the field of managementeducation.

Mr. Goutam Ghose, the famous Film Director,has been working on a documentary film onIIM Calcutta commemorating the Golden

Jubilee. A curtain raiser of the documentaryfilm was scheduled on November 14, 2011.The film will be released later this year.

IIM Calcutta had chosen this occasion toinstitute the Distinguished Alumnus Award tohonour select alumni who have distinguishedthemselves through their extraordinaryachievements and immense contributions tosociety and thereby made the Institute proud.Distinguished Alumnus Award Committeechaired by the Chairman, BoG of IIMC andcomprising members from inside and outsidethe Institute had decided the list of awardeesfor 2011 from amongst nominations receivedfrom various stakeholders, viz., currentstudents, alumni, and the faculty.

The alumni who have been selected for theaward have made outstanding contributionsin the corporate arena; in academics; ingovernment/ policy making; in the international

arena; and through their work in the NGOsector or philanthropy.

The following alumni have been named forthe Distinguished Alumnus Award 2011 andmany of them have received it in a solemnceremony on November 15 and 16, 2011 :Prof. Dipesh Chakrabarty, Mr. D. Shivakumar,Mr. Malli Mastan Babu, Ms. Meena Ganesh,Prof. Mohanbir Sawhney, Dr. RamachandraGuha, Mr. Sabyasachi Hajara, Mr. U. Shekharand Mr. Vinayak Lohani.


GuruSpeak 2011, a full day advancedmanagement workshop with Prof. VenkatRamaswamy, was held in Kolkata on 26thNovember 2011 at the Taj Bengal.

Prof. Venkat Ramaswamy is Hallman Fellowof Electronic Business and Professor ofMarketing at the Ross School of Business,University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA. Heis a globally recognised thought leader, ideapractitioner and eclectic scholar with wideranging interests in innovation, strategy,marketing, branding, IT, operations and thehuman side of organisations.

He is a prolific author of numerous articles -

including the popular 2000 Harvard BusinessReview art icle 'Co-opting CustomerCompetence' and the 2003 MIT-PriceWaterHouse award-w inn ing S loanManagement Review article 'The New Frontierof Experience Innovation' (both co-authoredwith C.K.Prahlad), the 2009 Emerald Literatiaward-winning Strategy & Leadership article'Leading the Co-Creative Enterprise', basedon his new book 'The Power of Co-Creation:Build It With Them to Boost Growth,Productivity and Profits' (Free Press, October2010; co-authored with Francis Gouilart).

His previous award-winning book in 2004,'The Future of Competition' (with C.K. Prahlad)introduced co-creation as a revolutionarybusiness concept. Prof. Ramaswamy is alsoa sought-after speaker and a mentor to globalfirms seeking to become co-creativeenterprises. He has helped severalorganisations across the United States,Europe, Asia and Latin America conceive andexecute new business ideas through co-creation and build capabilities for co-creationwithin organisations.

IIM Bangalore and IIM Calcutta, in associationwith the Indian Overseas Bank, hosted a jointseminar in the IIM Calcutta campus fromSeptember 24-25 2011.

In its Golden Jubilee year, IIM Calcutta hosteda joint seminar with IIM Bangalore and theIndian Overseas Bank on “Towards IndustrialRevival of West Bengal-- New Directions andPolicies” during September 24-25, 2011. Theseminar had a series of panel discussionsand open sessions on substantive issuesconcerning the industrial revival of WestBengal. Leaders from government, industry,academia and practitioners participated in thesession with substantial allocation of time foropen discussions. The recent change of

government in West Bengal has opened anopportunity for academics and practitionersto reassess and propose new directions forthe economic trajectory of West Bengal.

The seminar was focussed on the themeslike Strategies for a Turnaround of the IndustrialEconomy of W. Bengal, the Human ResourceDimension—New Strategies for Health,Education and Employment, promoting SMEand Traditional Industries, policies for LargeSca le Indus t ry—Towards Rev iva l ,Restructuring and New Beginnings, achievingCompetitiveness in Services in Bengal—aRoadmap and expanding W. Bengal’sEconomic Linkages with the Asian Region.

Seminar on “Towards Industrial Revival ofWest Bengal - New Directions and Policies”

GuruSpeak 2011 with Prof. Venkat Ramaswamy


In its golden jubilee year, IIM Calcutta inassociation with the Society of OperationsManagement (SOM) organized the 15thAnnual International Conference duringDecember 16 to 18, 2011 at IIM Calcuttacampus in presence of Mr ShekarViswanathan, Deputy Managing Director(Commercial), Toyota Kirloskar Motor as theChief Guest. The objective of this conferencewas to disseminate knowledge and share newideas and innovations in managingmanufacturing and service operations forbusinesses as well as for governments, NGOsand other non-profit organizations.

The conference was at tended byprofessionals, academicians and practitionersin the domains of Operations Managementacross the globe and chaired by ProfessorBalram Avittathur, Professor SaibalChattopadhyay and Professor Subrata Mitraof IIM Calcutta. The theme of the 2011 SOMAnnual International Conference was“Sustainable Operations Management.”Sustainability or sustainable development isa much-discussed and significant topic oftoday in light of the increasing environmentaldegradation (global warming, depletion of theozone layer etc.) and violation of human rights.Sustainable development is defined as thedevelopment that meets the needs of thepresent without compromising the ability offuture generations to meet their own needs.Sustainability has three dimensions: economic,social and environmental. While economicviability is necessary for an organization tosurvive, it is not sufficient to sustain theorganization in the long run if it causesirreversible damages to the ecosystem byway of emitting greenhouse gases and toxic

wastes and depleting non-renewableresources or it fails to ensure safety, security,dignity, healthcare, minimum wage,indiscrimination and better working conditionsfor its employees, the community and thesociety in general. Hence, it has becomeimperative for any organization to behave ina socially and environmentally responsiblemanner while trying to achieve its economicgoals.

The topics of the conference were :Sustainable Operations Management,Reverse Logistics; Closed-Loop Supply Chain;Green Supply Chain, Interfaces betweenO p e r a t i o n s M a n a g e m e n t a n dFinance/Marketing, Role of InformationTechnology in Operations Management,Manufacturing and Service OperationsManagement, Manufacturing and ServiceOperations Strategy, Inventory Control andMaterials Management, Logistics and SupplyChain Management, Quality Control and SixSigma, Procurement Management ,Techno logy Management , P ro jec tManagement, New Product Development,Productivity and Benchmarking, DecisionSupport Systems, ERP and E-Commerce,O p t i m i z a t i o n Te c h n i q u e s a n dApplications/Case Studies.

15th SOM Conference on SustainableOperations Management

Best Research Paper by our Alumnus

Prof Kanchan Mukherjee of IIM Bangalorewho is an alumnus of IIM Calcutta has beenawarded with the Hillel Einhorn NewInvestigator Award 2011 for his researchpaper. The Award was presented to him atthe annual conference of the Society forJudgment and Decision Making in Seattlein November.


IIM Calcutta in association with IIM

Bangalore organized the first ever

Joint India Finance Conference at

IIM Bangalore during December 20-

23, 2011. The Conference 2011 was

attended by the academics,

researchers, doctoral students and

practitioners across the country and

abroad in all areas of finance. The

topics included Asset pricing, Market

volatility, Financial institutions,

Financial innovation, Financial risk

management, Operational risk and

r e g u l a t i o n s , I n v e s t m e n t

management, High frequency

finance, Financial econometrics,

Capital structure and dividend policy,

IFRS and reporting trends, Value

creat ion and va lue based

m a n a g e m e n t , C o r p o r a t e

Governance, Financial crisis and

F i n a n c i a l a n d E c o n o m i c

development.

The first everJoint India Finance

Conference 2011

The students of IIM Calcutta once again welcomedback its silver jubilee alumni (batch of 1986) with openarms as Reminiscence 2011 was held on the 24th and25th of December on the sprawling lawns of the Jokacampus. The two-day celebrations witnessed a mix ofperformances including a play by the dramatics club,interactions, parties, and an alumni Vs students cricketmatch, all topped off with a healthy dose of nostalgia.

Awaited eagerly by the students, the faculty and thealumni alike, Reminiscence is an annual event at IIMCalcutta where the alumni return to campus after 25years to re-bond, recollect and to reconnect. This time,it was the turn of the 21st batch to grace the campus,as the student council and the alumni cell worked hardto ensure that the venerable CXOs, Entrepreneurs,and academicians alike had the most memorable twodays of their lives. Among them were Sunil Gupta(CEO, AVIS India), Srivatsan Rajan (MD, Bain and Co,India), Suhas Bhide (GM, IBM India), Sudhir Bapat(Regional Head, Sobha Developers) and several otherswith glittering careers and many feathers on their caps.

Although it is the Silver Jubilee alumni who are theofficial guests, the two-day event also saw recentbatches turning out in huge numbers, citing “We arecoming back home” as one of the many reasons. Thetradition was preserved this year too, with the eventseeing participation from almost 120 students from thebatches of 2011 and 2010.

The event came to a close in the early hours of 26thDecember, after a bonfire party and a night longperformance by JBS, the official band of IIMC.

Reminiscence 2011

IIMC SandeshStaff In The News 25

All about the new faces at IIMC

A special luncheon get-together for all thefaculty and officers was organized in thepresence of the Director, Professor ShekharChaudhuri, and the Dean (PI), ProfessorSougata Ray, on Wednesday, July 6, 2011 atTata Hall to formally welcome all members ofthe faculty and officers who have joined theInstitute during the last one year. This occasiongave an opportunity for the newcomers tomeet and interact with their colleagues whohave been with the Institute for a longer time.

Paper Contest won by our Librarian

The paper entitled: Exploring the Notion ofContextual Use: A Case Study of the Use ofElectronic Resources in an Indian ResearchOrganization" presented by Ms SwatiBhattacharyya, Librarian to the ASIS&TInternational Paper Contest has been selectedas the third place winner of the contest at the2011 Annual Meeting Bridging the Gulf:Communication and Information in Society,Technology, and Work at New Orleans, LAduring October 9-11, 2011.

Paper presentation

Biswajit Saha, Sr. Asstt. Librarian attendedthe conference; “Strategies for ManagingLibraries in the future” held at IIM Ahmedabadduring December 7-9, 2011 and presentedhis paper, “Application of Radio FrequencyIdentification Technology in Library &Information Centres”. Mahesh Patnaik, Asstt.Engineer – Civil has attended the 26th IndianEngineering Congress held at Bangalore

during December 15 – 18, 2011 and presentedhis technical paper, “Sustainable buildingconcepts and its development in India – needof the hour”

Hindi Fortnight 2011

Hindi Fortnight was celebrated duringSeptember 14-28, 2011 in IIM Calcutta tomark the importance of Official Languagesand the progressive use of Hindi. DirectorProf. Shekhar Chaudhuri inaugurated theevent and encouraged the staff to participatein large numbers. Various competitions likeGeneral Knowledge Quiz in Hindi, See thePicture and Make Hindi Sentences, Speak onany topic of choice in Hindi, Write as manywords as possible in Hindi in 15 minutes, forthe staff and Hindi Jam, Hindi Debate, HindiAntakshari etc. for the students were organizedto create awareness and a conduciveatmosphere for the propagation of Hindi.Acting Director Prof. Anup Kumar Sinha, GM(OD &ADMIN), Mr. Vibhas Gupta and CAO,Mr. Alok Chandra graced the occasion duringthe valedictory session.

Track Event won by IIMC staff

Shri Biplab Chakraborty,E x e c u t i v e A s s i s ta n t(Personnel section)hadparticipated in the trackevent of 800 meters and1500 meters run of the 27th

State Masters’ Athletic Championship ofMasters’ Athletic Association of West Bengalheld during December 24 and 25 atKanchanjangha Stadium, Siliguri. He stood3rd in both the events.

IIMC SandeshNeed To Know 26

In its golden jubilee year, IIM Calcuttapresented a whole-new state-of-the-art webportal for its users, registering its facelift inthe cyberspace. The new web portal waslaunched officially on June 3, 2011. The webportal provides the different stakeholders likeFaculty, Alumni, Students, ExternalOrganisations and Staff with their own login.The l ink to the new web portal ishttp://www.iimcal.ac.in/. There are wideranging features available which are specificto the user groups like Course web for thefaculty, Networking facilities with co-alumnifor the Alumni, Leaves and course registrationfor Students, Batch Profiles for externalcompanies for placements and internalworkflow for Staff like booking of Tata Hall,Auditorium etc among others. Apart from theuser group other specific features areprovisions for facilities like Chat, Forum and

Discussion boards for crossuser group interactions.

The new web portal wasdeveloped with an all-outsupport from the IIMCcommunity with a single-minded objective to presenta world-class web portalduring the Golden Jubileecelebration of the institute.It took almost four monthsto complete this web portalwith thorough interactivesessions by the differentuser groups at various

stages of its development. The just passedout PGP student community who graduatedin April 2011 and a special contingent fromthe Internet Solutions Group, an in-housestudents’ community who is the web solutionprovider for the Institute took a pioneeringrole to make this project a grand success.The institute hired professionally-managed ITSoftware companies for the project. SkyTECHSolutions was responsible for projectmanagement consultancy while Web Spidersdid the development and implementation.

The home page of the new web portal includesimportant links like organized Campus Tour,Gallery of photographs of various importantevents, Videos of important events andinterviews etc and Faculty resources. TheVideo Gallery currently has six videos onrelevant topics.

IIMC’s New Web Portal launched

IIMC SandeshNeed To Know 27

Primarily the home page would also feature

three important sections, which are News,

Events and Announcements. The section on

news would feature the latest news on IIM

Calcutta in various media outlets. The section

on events would give a glimpse on forthcoming

events which will take part in the campus and

the announcements section will feature all

kind of announcements like admissions,

recruitment, tender etc. By default the current

news, events and announcements would be

featured in the home page, however the older

ones will go to the archive. The web portal

also has links on social networking websiteslike Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and YouTube.

The new web portal is aesthetically rich withproper application of colour and font and thephotography is simply superb. The entirephotography has been executed by the LakeSide Lenses, a student-run photography clubof IIM Calcutta. The campus photographsinclude the new infrastructure which is readyfor the students of the new batch. Overall thenew web portal is more informative andentertaining than the old one. In its GoldenJubilee Year this is a gift from IIMC!

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT CALCUTTAJoka, Diamond Harbour Road, Kolkata 700104,

Phone: 91-33-2467 8300 – 8304, Email: [email protected]

Reporting/Editing support from: Ishan Mahajan, PGP Student, Aprna N. Pillai, PGP Student,Godhuli Goswami, Copy Editor

Newsletter Editorial Team:Professor Sougata Ray, Dean (Programme Initiatives), Professor Anindya Sen,

and Aloke Guin, Public Relations Officer

An Internal Newsletter for IIMC Community · in Metallurgy from the Bengal Engineering and Science...

Documents

Transcript of An Internal Newsletter for IIMC Community · in Metallurgy from the Bengal Engineering and Science...