India CallingA 2012 Business and Cultural Trip to India

Dear Participants of the 2012 BCST to India:

To enable Singapore Management University (SMU) President Arnoud De Meyer’s 5-year plan, the Office of Student Life (OSL) at SMU and SMU students began organizing Business and Cultural Study Trips (BCSTs) to various countries around 2 years ago. Since then, China and Vietnam have come forth as the “hot” destinations for the December BCSTs. This year, a team of seven SMU students from India decided to add one more destination to this list: India, of course!SMU, as you may have realized, is an Asian university to a large extent except for the Caucasian influx every semester “on exchange”. Hence, we felt that given the large SMU Indian community, it was essential that SMU students from other nationalities are directly exposed to the great Indian economic miracle as well as be able to drown them- selves in the unparalleled cultural diversity India seems to enthrall all its tourists with. And hence, this Business and Cultural Study Trip to India in December 2012!

“Whatever you say about India”, Shashi Tharoor, one of the most sought after Indian intellectuals, remarked, “the opposite is also true”. No other observation is better in summarizing the idea of India to the outside world. The second most populous country in the world today, India epitomizes diversity. In languages. In religions. In races. In skin col- ors. In food. In clothing. In socio-economic status. In struggles. In accents. In scandals. In scams. Most important, in stories: for, as cliché as it may sound, each one of the billion people in India has a story that is uniquely personal, that is uniquely his.

The median age here stands at around 24.9. It is home to over 1.2 billion people and is easily qualified as the second most populous country in the world. On PPP terms, it is the world’s third largest economy. Having an army that is the third largest in the world, it boasts of being one of the top ten countries with highest military expenditure. A recent PwC report suggests it could get the better of the US economy by 2045. IIM and IIT graduates from India are celebrated all over the world as being the best employees/students. However, with all these impressive pictures of progress and power, it has its own, unique set of problems. The Gini coefficient places it on the 79th rung in terms of social equality. Per Capita GDP in PPP terms continues to be one of the lowest in the world: around $3700. The political scene has taken a huge beating after a series of corruption scandals and a widening gap between the influential and the powerless. The state of school education for the underprivileged is unimaginably abysmal. Infrastructural development remains a far-fetched, rosy dream for its people. To us, India is a paradox in itself. It’s a white lie. No management school in the world today can afford to escape studying, with awe, the growth, problems and potential in India.

We understand that you’ve taken a leap of faith by becoming a part of this initiative. We promise that each one of you will leave the trip with some of the best insights into India Inc., recognize the social problems and policy solutions required and most important, be able to have fun exploring the sub-continent!

About the Destinations:

The BCST to India has been divided into three legs as shown in the map above:

• New Delhi and Agra

New Delhi, India’s capital city and political hub, is a place of key government institutions and a witness to its rich history. In our 4-day stay in New Delhi, we hope to give you an overview of how the Indian Government runs a country home to over one billion people. We aim to accomplish this through visits and interactions with a few key institutions like the Ministry of Finance, Planning Commission of India and the Reserve Bank of India. To give the team a flavor of India’s rich historical background we plan to visit the Red Fort, Qutub Minar and the Rashtrapati Bhavan. In addition, our visit to Agra pro- vides an opportunity for our team to see one of the World’s seven wonders: the Taj Mahal followed by a visit to the Mughal city of ‘Fatehpur Sikri’

• Ahmedabad

As the largest city of Gujarat, Ahmedabad is not only home to over 40% of India’s pharmaceutical and textile industries but is also a key dealer in various other businesses and industries.Through factory visits to the Tata Nano Plant, Indian Oil Refinery, Amul, local textile plants and cultural experiences in the Mahatma Gandhi Ashram and the Akshardham Temple, we hope to convey the image of Ahmedabad as a site of industrial and cultural heritage.

• Mumbai

Mumbai, the country's financial powerhouse and economic nerve center constitutes our final segment. Our 5-day stay here will provide the students with a multifaceted experience of Mumbai. While our visits to the Bombay Stock Exchange, Deustche Bank, and an Indian private bank, will provide a financial understanding of Indian industries, through our visit to the ‘Dabbawalas’ we provide an insight into the concept of frugal innovation that is prevalent in India.

Moreover by visiting Tata Consultancy Services we hope to give our students a look into the IT sector of India. A flavor of the Bollywood Industry through a potential visit to Mr Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s production house, and a visit India’s largest petrochemical plant owned by Reliance Industries are also planned for the trip. In Mumbai we promise an enriching intellectual experience for our team.

The Executive Committee

Jay BhedaSchool of Economics

Class of 2014

Shreya ChitlangiaSchool of Business

Class of 2014

Purva ChopraSchool of Business

Class of 2015

Rohini ChopraSchool of Economics

Class of 2015

Sagar Hiren DesaiSchool of Business

Class of 2013

Raghav GuptaSchool of Business

School of AccountancyClass of 2014

Archit Ajit SharmaSchool of Information Systems

Class of 2015