IPL CEO enthralls students at IIM Lucknow!

IIM Lucknow woke up to a freezing Saturday morning with great expectations! This prestigious management school has witnessed some of the best CEO’s from India Inc. deliver key note addresses over the past 6 months, but Saturday promised a whole new degree of entertainment. Mr. Sundar Raman, the CEO of the Indian Premier League was slated to deliver an address on “Sports Management with IPL as a case in point”. The energy thawed the freeze across the IIM campus with students anticipating a highly enriching session.

Sports Management in India is increasingly becoming a highly sought after career for budding managers from India’s premier Business schools. Managing a sport in India demands no less than the most prolific Business minds in the country. Given this, to discuss and interact with the Big Daddy of Entertainment promised to be exhilarating experience for some of the brightest young minds in the country.  The address by Mr. Sundar Raman witnessed a full house with passionate managers and equally intense cricket fans coming out in full strength. Managing the Indian Premier League is a challenge of monstrous proportions and its CEO showed why. Strategies and Cricket proved to be the hottest ideas exchanged with Bollywood being discussed sotto voce.

Mr. Sundar Raman’s session proved to both enthralling and enriching. According to the Arvind Charanyan, the student coordinator of the Industry Interaction Committee which organized the event, “Mr. Sundar’s session was phenomenal. We have a lot of students who are very keen on pursuing a career in Sports Management. This session was a dream which came true for them.”

If the student enthusiasm at IIM Lucknow was anything to go by, management strategies will find their way into net practise in the offing!

India SME Conclave at IIM Lucknow

The SME conclave at IIM Lucknow conducted in association with the Indian Industries Association saw the participation of representatives of the three pillars of economy – the polity, the academicians and the practitioners.  The conclave focused on two aspects concerning the SMEs – Free Trade Agreements and Low Cost Financing.

The pre lunch sessions given by the guests who included Shri Pravir Kumar, Joint Secretary, MSME, Profs. Sukumar Nandi, M Akbar, K G Sahadevan of IIM Lucknow and Prof Biswajit Nag of IIFT delved on the impact of the ASEAN free trade agreement on the Indian SME sector. The professors talked about impact of the previous free trade agreements that India had with Thailand, Sri Lanka and Singapore. While the practitioners expressed concern over the upcoming FTA with ASEAN, the academicians helped them understand the benefits of having access to larger markets. The professors encouraged the practitioners to think beyond national boundaries and to set up manufacturing/service facilities outside the country. They stressed on innovation and improving the scale of operations of the current SMEs. They also wanted the industry associations to appraise the government about their concerns so that detrimental decisions regarding the product lists involved in the FTAs are averted. The delegates from the Industry clarified many doubts regarding the fine print of the FTA.

The post lunch sessions were given by Mr. Chaubal of SBI, Mr. Gunasekharan of SIDBI, Venture Capitalists, Mr. Shailesh VIkram Singh of 2i Capital, Mr. Ajay Kapur of SIDBI Venture Capital, Mr. Paul Joseph of MCX-SX which is a stock exchange for SMEs in India and Prof Vinay Kumar of IIM Lucknow. The bankers appraised the participants of the various products that they designed specifically for the SMEs to reduce cost of financing. The Venture Capitals explained their methods of financing organizations which had high risk profiles but very promising ventures. They explained how different financing options were available at each stage of the organizational life cycle. The dignitary from MCX SX talked about the secondary market financing for SMEs which were not big enough to register at the national stock exchanges like NSE and BSE. Prof Vinay Kumar brought about the perspective of the investor in evaluating firms and suggested areas of improvement so that financing from alternate sources could be possible at lower costs.

The objective of the conclave was met at the end of the day and the participants appreciated the creation of such a platform where they could pose their concerns and get instant solutions from eminent speakers. The conclave has been an indication for the role that institutions can play in ensuring the prosperity and success of Indian SMEs. Prof Nirjar of IIM Lucknow and representatives from the student committee Abhiyan told the congregation that the conclave was a step taken by IIM Lucknow to reinforce its commitment to the SME sector. The institute has other training programs planned for the sector to empower the entrepreneurs to emerge as victors in the changing economic environment

Road to Copenhagen

It was a day when the IIML campus looked greener and brighter. It was a day when students at IIML ensured that their voice is being heard.  A day, when IGFAB in association with Greenpeace, tried to make sure that IIML’s community message about Global Warming is communicated in a clear and colorful way to the Prime Minister. It was 7^th of Dec ’09. The event was deliberately scheduled just before the Copenhagen conference to ensure that awareness is created among the student community and also the message from the student community can be passed on the PMO via Greenpeace.

The day began late in the winter afternoon at 3 PM. The event was designed to involve the participants to share the message with Greenpeace in a unique & creative way. Approximately 50 students participated in the event which consisted of two rounds. One round was about poster making to portray the message that each team wants to share with the PM. The second round was about deciphering a message. In this round teams were given letters in a jumbled way and were asked to form the message. Each team was given was 5 minutes to complete the message.

Both the poster making and puzzle rounds got the participants glued to the event. The poster round culminated with teams creating excellent posters with different messages showing the ill effects of global warming. The creative acumen was truly at display and it oozed out from each poster that was created by the teams. Members from Greenpeace who also acted as the judge for the event found it difficult to pick the winners from the lot. Certificates were awarded by Greenpeace to the winners in different categories like Best poster, most creative art and most imaginative art. Greenpeace also screened a documentary on “Saving Ganga” just before the prize distribution ceremony to end a day which was an apt attempt to send across the message which IIML students wanted to convey to the Prime Minister. And the message was “Cope & Hedge In Copenhagen”.

QCom at work

Kubrick, Beatty, Hitchcock or Bergman? Three of them haven’t won an Oscar for the best director. Team Manifest, from IIM Lucknow, had to pick the one who had. This question would decide whether they would enter the final stages of Bizquizzitive, the open quiz of Confluence-2009 at IIM Ahmedabad, as the second team or the third team. The question had nine names on a grid, all world famous directors. Out of these nine, six had won an Oscar for best director and three had not. The team from IIM Lucknow, comprising of Anurag Singh and Sumantra Mukherjee, had already found out five of the Oscar winning directors. Getting the sixth wrong would mean that they would get zero marks for this question and move into the next round as third placed team. Getting it right would mean that they would enter the last round as the second team and a fighting chance of coming first. After much deliberation and hesitation, they decided to take a chance and named Warren Beatty as the sixth man.*

Bizquizzitive saw a participation of over 100 teams from all around India. There was a team with international flavour (exchange student) as well. There were teams from the host IIM Ahmedabad, Indian School of Business, IIM Calcutta, Narsee Monjee, MICA, ITM Navi Mumbai and many other B-Schools. The quiz was conducted by Gautam Bhimani, a well known cricket broadcaster and a quizzer. There was an elimination round after which the top twelve teams qualified for the semi finals.

The finals saw a see saw battle between IIM Lucknow, ISB and ITM with IIM Lucknow establishing early advantage only to lose it to ISB. The questions were well researched and there were a lot of adrenaline filled moments when teams succeeded in answering difficult and obscure questions. After a round of dry questions and another round of visuals, the quiz moved to the grid round after which the top three teams would stay on the stage to fight it out among themselves for the top three spots. IIM Lucknow, ISB and ITM were the final three teams left on the stage. ISB ran away with the quiz answering most of the questions in the last stage of the quiz and IIM Lucknow had to be content with second prize.

A special mention should be made of the fact that the team from IIM Lucknow consisted of only two members whereas all the other teams consisted of three members. In a heart warming display of nonpartisan-ness, the IIM A audience gave huge rounds of applause to the IIM Lucknow team who had defeated the best teams from IIM A.

Team Manifest attributes its success to the weekly quizzing sessions of QCom, the official quiz club of IIM Lucknow.

* They got it right. It was Warren Beatty Reds.

Jaagran – The Street Play

On 1st December, The World AIDS Day, IIM Lucknow’s very own dramatics team performed at Fun Republic, Lucknow for The Red Ribbon League, Times of India’s AIDS awareness campaign.

After a successful performance on the second day of Index, 29th November in front of an audience that included the Director of the Uttar Pradesh State AIDS Control Society and IIML’s director Shri Devi Singh, the group was invited by TOI to perform on December 1st.

The team was also chosen to be the top three teams selected from Lucnow to perform in a theater (in association with UPSACS)

Its disguised, its marketing.. Its Index 09

The 15^th anniversary of INDEX, IIM-Lucknow’s premier management event kicked off on the 27th of Novemberat Colvin Talukdar grounds to much anticipation and excitement. Crowds thronged the event early in the morning with the number touching thousands before the evening set in. IIM Lucknow’s premier event – INDEX’s features 12 new, exciting and innovative game stalls by students amongst others. The crowd was fascinated with the entire approach and expressed their delight at the costumes and props used by the IIM-Lucknow students.

Aside from these , INDEX offered a lot more for the general public. Crowd was especially appreciative of the socially relevant AIDS related games and events which were conducted with UP Aids Control Society (UPSACS). Several other stage events were conducted including Antakshari, musical chairs, housie and a kids’ talent show sponsored by Lilliput. The first day boasted of events like Sufi Night, Mr and Ms Index whereas the second day showcased the ever popular Salsa and rock shows for the Lucknow audience. The number of attendants touched five figures by the 28th evening.

Remembering Manjunath- The Candlelight

On 19th November 2009, the campus witnessed a rare sight. The students were very busy as usual, but they came together for a cause- to support Manjunath and his ideology on his 4th death anniversary. More than 200 students, support staff and faculty took part in the march organized by the Manjunath Shanmugam Trust. Students pledged that they would follow his footsteps and would not succumb to corruption. The march was kicked off by students lighting candles and waving banners. The march took place in more than 20 campuses across the country and the message was clear. We are together in the fight against corruption

Envisioning a Corruption free India – A Panel discussion

On November 17th the  Manjunath Shanmugam Trust and Hindi Section of IIML held a panel discussion on the topic ‘Envisioning A Corruption free India’ .The event was held two days before the 4^th death anniversary of Manjunath, an IIML alumnus who lost his life fighting against corruption.

The panel discussion aimed at increasing awareness about deep rooted corruption of our country and discussed ways through which we can fight against it. The discussion focused on: “How to fight against corruption using RTI; how Manjunath and his ideology are relevant in today’s India; and how can educated elite contribute to build a corruption free India?”

The event was graced by the presence of many distinguished personalities who shared their enlightening thoughts with the students of IIML and other prominent colleges of Lucknow.

. The key speakers of the panel were:

• Dr. Devi Singh, Director, IIM Lucknow
• Sri I.B. Singh, Senior Criminal Lawyer of Allahabad high court
• Dr. Jitendra Chaturvedi, Founder of Developmental Association for Human Advancement which is popular as “DEHAT”
• Dr. Sandeep Pandey, Magsaysay Award Winner (2002)
• Sri Vikram Singh, Ex. Director-General of Police, UP

The event opened with key note speeches from each of the leaders. Dr. Devi Singh remembered Manjunath and shared his thoughts on the role of education in making India a corruption free nation. He focused on the some key issues that are crippling India and informed that bribery has remained an inherent part of Indian Society. Dr. Jitendra Chaturvedi, the well known social activist and the winner of Manjunath trust award in 2009 gave some valuable insights from his experiences in working with the villagers and empowering them with the usage of RTI act. His speech inspired one and all to fight against bribery and eradicate corruption from India.

Students from other colleges of Lucknow also participated in the event. An essay competition for students was also held on the same topic. The student community showed a lot of enthusiasm towards fighting the prevalent widespread corruption.

IIM Lucknow Samvit’09 – The Leader’s Conclave

25^th October saw IIM Lucknow host some of the who’s who from India Inc. for a discussion on the theme “Emerging Pillars of the Indian Economy”. A theme so intricate entailed the expertise of the best in the Industry and IIM Lucknow pulled this off with panache.

The mega event christened “Samvit’09 – The Leaders’ Conclave” hosted Ms. Kalpana J Morparia, CEO – JPMorgan; Mr. Pramod Bhasin, Chairman – NASSCOM and President & CEO – Genpact; Mr. Ajit Balakrishnan, Founder & CEO – Rediff.com; Dr. Sandeep Pandey, Magsaysay Award Winner for Emergent Leadership, 2002; Ms Meera Sanyal – Country Head, ABN AMRO; Dr. Biswadip Mitra – President & Managing Director, Texas Instruments India. The conclave was anchored by Mr. Sanjeev Srivastava, BBC India Editor.

The event opened with key note speeches from the each of the leaders. Mr Ajit Balakrishnan and Dr Biswadip Mitra shared their insights on technology’s indispensable contribution hitherto and its potential for India. To a question on corruption remaining unchanged, Mr Ajit Balakrishnan intrigued the audience by focussing on the different facets of corruption and how India emerging from a licence raj era to a fairly liberal environment is per se, progress and an abatement of one type of corruption.

Ms Meera Sanyal shared her thoughts on the elections she contested. The student community was awed by her rationale and sense of conviction in contesting the elections while managing ABN AMRO in addition to contributing to social welfare activities. A second year student quipped “She is the true paragon of strength and conviction”.

Mr Pramod Bhasin delivered a flawless key note address followed by multiple interjections in the panel discussion, and made it clear that India’s progress can be supplemented only by the simultaneous existence of liberalization and social transformation.

Ms Kalpana Morparia disabused some of the most popular misconceptions about china and drew the panel into an interesting discussion on china’s progress viz-a-viz India. The panel of leaders collectively threw light on how china’s administration is governed by some of the smartest people in the country which facilitates sustained development.

The 25^th of October saw IIM Lucknow culminate the silver jubilee celebrations by opening a new chapter in its inimitable record. The school has strongly committed to exponentially enhancing the industry interaction via more workshops, seminars, guest lectures and going by the acknowledgement and appreciation for the conclave across all the IIM campuses, it won’t be long before the school conquers greater peaks in its path.

Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Samvit-09-Business-Leaders-Conclave/156902778980

Varchasava ‘09 I came, I won, I partied

IIM Lucknow organized its Annual Inter College Cultural and Sports competition ‘Varchasva’ from 2nd to 4th October 2009. The year 2009 marks the 25th anniversary of  IIM Lucknow and students of the institute celebrated this occasion with great vigour and élan through Varchasva. The fest, which began last year, proved to be much bigger and better in terms of scale and quality this year. Participants from around 25 colleges including IIM Indore, XLRI Jamshedpur,  NITIE Mumbai,  KJSOM Mumbai, BBD Lucknow, & IET Lucknow,LBS Delhi competed in various events.

The festival also acted as a platform to bring together the students, faculty and alumni of IIM Lucknow together. The event boasted of Jashn nites across three days comprising of Mehfil – Kavi Sammelan featuring the likes ofSurendra Sharma and Kumar Vishwas, gLam & gLitz – The Fashion Parade and Pronite by Faridkot, one of the leading bands in India.In Sports IIM Indore, NITIE, XLRI and IIM Lucknow slugged it out against each other in tennis, cricket, football, volleyball, basketball, badminton, pool, carom etc.IIM Lucknow was the winner in all the events in men’s category whereas XLRI took the honors in the women’s category.

In a nutshell, the three day extravaganza at IIML was a showcase of spectacular talent and an amazing spirit of sportsmanship by the students from across the country which came here to make the event a grand success.   Varchasva had something for everyone – be it a sports lover, or a music fanatic or a dance freak, a quiz wizard or simply a fun loving mortal. Needless to say, everyone had a rocking time!

IIML’s Bhavishya organizes Harmony Cup

IIM Lucknow’ s Social Initiative Group, Bhavishya organized a 3 day cricket event, Harmony Cup’09. The event culminated today on the birthday of the father of the nation. “Cricket for a Cause” was the motto of the enthralling event.

The event kicked off on 30th September and the matches were held on the IIMLucknow campus. The event witnessed exciting matches between the Faculty, Alumni and students of IIM Lucknow and also some Corporate teams.

The amount raised will be used for Prakash Bal Vidya Mandir, a school in Lucknow, Rajkiya Balgriha, an orphanage in Lucknow and setting up of a welfare fund established for the benefit of Fatima Arunkumar’s family.

The final day dawned with a special

match between “Faculty and staff Team” Vs “joint Student Council and Corporate Team”

Prof. Ashwini & Prof. Nirjhar stole the show with some blazing stokes. Both the players

gave hard time to the bowlers by hitting boundaries and sixes all over the ground to put

up a staggering total of 76 runs in 10 overs. The joint Council and Corporate team fought

back hard in a thrilling game that went on till the last ball with 3 runs to win. The

chasing team scored only a single off the last ball putting up a total of 75 runs!

According to Smriti Tiwari of ‘Bhavishya’ Committee, “The match was extremely

exciting, especially because it is a rare event to see the Professors let their bats do all the

talking!” TCS as part of it Corporate Social Initiative – “TCS Maitree” fielded Mr.

Harpreet, Mr. Danish Zafar & Mr. Navin Tewari in the “Corporate Team”. Director Dr.

Devi Singh awarded mementos to all the players and congratulated Team Bhavishya for

organizing the tournament for a noble cause.

The final day dawned with a special match between “Faculty and staff Team” Vs “joint Student Council and Corporate Team” Prof. Ashwini & Prof. Nirjhar stole the show with some blazing stokes. Both the players gave hard time to the bowlers by hitting boundaries and sixes all over the ground to put up a staggering total of 76 runs in 10 overs. The joint Council and Corporate team fought back hard in a thrilling game that went on till the last ball with 3 runs to win. The chasing team scored only a single off the last ball putting up a total of 75 runs!

Semifinal Match

According to Smriti Tiwari of ‘Bhavishya’ Committee, “The match was extremely exciting, especially because it is a rare event to see the Professors let their bats do all the talking!”

Director Dr. Devi Singh awarded mementos to all the players and congratulated Team Bhavishya for organizing the tournament for a noble cause.