Vinod Gupta School of Management, IIT Kharagpur
Volume 1, Issue 11, January 2008
Newsletter of Vinod Gupta School of Management
From the desk of Team Scuzzy:
Team Scuzzy
Khushamdid! Welcome to the Winter Edition of the VGSOM's Biannual Letter - Scuzzy. This letter would bring to life the important events of the last six months at VGSOM. The semester was marked with the entry of another batch of 120 prospective managers at the institute. All the people are unique in their own fashion and come with various levels of Faculty In-charge: work experience, and from different streams of Dr. Prabina Rajib, VGSOM Batch of 94 engineering. We have tried to give you a feel of this mix with the batch profile. Alumni Comittee: Standing (Left to Sitting (Left to Right): The issue covers the experiences of people at Right): Anuj Gupta VGSOM, many extracurricular activities and the Sharad Dhondiyal Shantanu Rawat cultural celebrations at IIT kharagpur. Saurabh Malhotra Ravi Seth Mohmmad Athar The session was marked with the entry of three R. Ramya Amit Joshi new professors at the institute. We have tried to Col. Indrabalan give their background and expectations from the Manyil students. The issue covers FUN at VGSOM with our new In this issue... found love for Salsa, Golf and Club activities. Ø Batch profile 2009 Ø VGSOM and Alumni in news. Happy Reading! Ø Guest Lectures 07. Ø Life at VGSOM Ø Enthusiastic Clubs. Ø New Professors at VGSOM Ø Achievements Galore
Scuzzy, Volume 1, Issue 11, Jan 2008
Batch of 2009 joins VGSOM
The batch of 2009 arrived at VGSOM on 26th July 2007. It was a time for many to take a break from their careers to pursue studies once again. The new batch has a healthy mix of experienced people from different industries and fresh minds direct from the best colleges across the country. A rich and diverse experience from industries across various sectors ranging from Power and Energy to Manufacturing and IT ,with profiles ranging from industrial marketing to core engineering have provided an ideal platform for peer learning. The presence of defence personnel from the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force is definitely an extra topping. Branch-wise break-up of 2007-09 Batch Chem ical 16%
2%
3%
Civil 24%
2% 7%
Com puter Science and IT Electrical Electronics and Com m unication Mechanical
12%
6%
Industrial and Production Metallurgical /Mining
28%
Others
Work experience Break-up Fresher 18%
22%
1-12 Months 11%
13-24 Months 25-36 Months 37 and Above Months
26% 23%
2
Scuzzy, Volume 1, Issue 11, Jan 2008
VGSOM & Alumni in News Mirae Asset Global Invt appoints Gopal Agrawal (Alumnus, VGSOM) Mirae Asset Global Investments (India) based in Mumbai, today announced the appointment of Mr. Gopal Agrawal as Senior Fund Manager. By roping in Mr. Agrawal, Mirae Asset Global Investments (India) is promulgating its strong commitment, long-term view of investment practices and market opportunities in India and their core expertise in Mutual Fund. Mr. Agrawal brings to the organization rich experience in fund management and an in-depth knowledge across various sectors such as oil & gas, petrochemicals, shipping, chemicals and fertilizers, engineering sector, metals, etc. At Mirae Asset Global Investments (India), he will be responsible for managing the domestic Equity funds. Mr. Arindam Ghosh, CEO, Mirae Asset Global Investments (India) , said "Gopal brings significant fund management expertise arising out of his invaluable experience and vast knowledge of Indian capital markets acquired over the years. We are confident his commitment and brilliant view on market will create tremendous record with us. We welcome Gopal to Mirae Asset Global and our team in India." Mr. Agrawal joins Mirae Asset Global Investments (India) from SBI Mutual Fund, where he achieved remarkable performance which ranked one of the best performing schemes in the industry as a fund manager. In the past, Mr. Agrawal has also been associated with UTI Securities, IDBI Capital, Kotak Securities and HDFC Securities as an equity analyst. Gopal is a Chemical Engineer and second ranked brain in MBM at VGSOM, IIT Kharagpur. He has a total experience of 13 years out which 7 years is with the Indian fund management industry.
Source : Moneycontrol.com IIT students venture into T-shirt biz The students in Kharagpur have successfully launched a business venture that is breaking new ground. In just one month their initiative has begun to fetch returns. Students of the VGSOM, IIT Kharagpur are busy tweaking a strategy for their new venture. Ashutosh, Santosh, Amit, Nishank and Dharamveer have got together and cashed in on the fad of personalised T-shirts. Customers here can design and buy their own creations over the Internet. ''The five of us wanted to do something different and creative. That's why we decided to do this and the reach of the Internet gave us the right platform.''We figured we could cash in on the bond the young generation has with the T-shirt,'' said Nishank Agarwal, co-founder, Webvastra.
Professors at the institute are happy at the initiative shown by their students. ''We are very proud of our students and happy for them .It also goes to show the exposure and training they are getting here,'' said P K Gupta, Dean, Vinod Gupta School of Management. Hopefully this success will inspire Indian youth to put their business skills to profitable use even while still in school and college. Source : Article in NDTV
3
Scuzzy, Volume 1, Issue 11, Jan 2008
Guest Lectures ‘ 07 Name
Organization
Designation
Topic
Anand Chaterjee
S.A.P.
Consultant
SCM - An overview and its role in IT
Pitabas Mohanty
XLRI
Faculty, Author
Financial Modelling
Dr. P.K. Banerjea
IBS
Senior Prof., Ex-CEO
Technology and Management - A diadic relationship
Anamitra Chatterjee
PwC
Manager Capital
Careers Management
A.V. Iyengar
Organon India Ltd.
-
Human
in
Managing Director
Sustainable Development - Post Corporate World Your Role
Sudhir Chand
Exide Industries
Ex- Director
Strategic Marketing & Organisation including CRM
Tapas Mukherjee
Phoenix Yule Ltd.
MD
Change Management & leadership
General Manager
Allen Solly - Brand Conceptulization and Management
G.B Rajesh
Madura Garments
“Sustainable Development – Post Corporate World – Your Role” by Mr. A.V. Iyengar
Mr. A.V. Iyengar is truly a multifaceted persona. Mr. Iyengar had worked in the capacity of Managing Director for Organon India Limited and has also been the Director of the Board for AKSO – Nobel. Mr. Iyengar is a Chartered Accountant who, from a position of Company Accountant, rose to become a Chief Executive during which period he guided the Company through the "Regulation Raj", introduced a new line of products (veterinary medicines), and opened up the export market for his Company. In addition to his business acumen, Mr. Iyengar has been an inspiring force behind many social initiatives like “Concern for Calcutta” and “Project Hunger”.
“Financial Modelling” by Prof.Pitabas Mohanty
Prof. Pitabas Mohanty, Professor of finance, Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI), Jamshedpur, is a Fellow of the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore. A gold medallist in MA, he is also a chartered financial analyst and a cost accountant with more than 10 years of teaching experience in investments and corporate finance.
4
Scuzzy, Volume 1, Issue 11, Jan 2008 “What is the manager's role?” by Mr. Sudhir Chand
The students of VGSoM were fortunate to be showered with wisdom from an industry giant with loads and loads of experience behind him. At the outset, Mr. Chand set the mood of the house into an interactive mode by making the students themselves answer questions like 'What is management?' and 'What is the manager's role?’ With live examples from the industry and from his own experience he gave convincing answers to these simple but unanswered questions.
“Technology Strategy and Management Strategy: A dyadic Relation” by Mr. P. K. Banejea
The students of VGSOM had the privilege of attending a guest lecture by Dr. P. K. Banerjea, Senior Proffessor, IBS, Pune. Dr. Banerjea took to academics after serving the corporate sector for four decades and is serving this B School for last six years. He retired as CEO of Ador Cooper Heat Technologies Ltd after serving for 12 years. Dr. Banerjea is a regular visitor at CDTRL University of Minnesota USA since 2004. He was invited by the Johnson School of Management in Cornell University USA in their Foreign Speaker Series in 2005. His area of research is ethics, technology and corporate governance. He has published more than 20 research papers in last five years.
“Career Planning and Growth” by Anamitra Chatterjee
Mr Chatterjee is an IIM-Calcutta and London School of Economics (LSE) Alumnus. Currently, he is working as a Head-Learning & Education (L & E), PwC India. He is one of the Lead faculties in the field of Soft skills and Leadership Development Courses. The students had the opportunity to exchange their views on “Career Planning and Growth” and Summer Internships along with an in-depth analysis of how to select a suitable profiles according to one’s interest and area of specialization. Accompanying him was an IIT-KGP Alummus-Mr. Pallav Banerjee, (1993 Batch-IIT KGP). Mr. Banerjee is currently working with as a Senior Consultant with Satyam Computers in London. He shared his views on the consulting profiles offered and the scope & work profile in consulting industry.
“Supply Chain Management : An Overview” by Mr. Anand Chatterjee
VGSOM, IIT Kharagpur, invited Mr. Anand Chatterjee, SCM Consultant in SAP Bangalore, to deliver a talk on “Supply Chain Management : An Overview.” Mr. Chatterjee has several years of consulting experience under his belt and some of the industry’s biggest names on his resume viz. Price Waterhouse Coopers, GE and Tata Research Development and Design Centre, etc. He has also been writing extensively in various national publications viz. The Economic Times, Express Computers, Network Computing and ICFAI Reader.
5
Scuzzy, Volume 1, Issue 11, Jan 2008
Life at VGSOM It was 3 30 am on a Saturday morning when the Yeshvantpur Howrah express completed its 1.5 day run to reach Kharagpur from Bangalore. My then acquaintance and now good friend and “loomie” (more on this term later) was the only company I had, right from the time the train had started. We hired a cycle rickshaw and the village/town that Kharagpur is, seemed a typical sleepy town until we reached the IIT main gate. It was not until 8 or 9 am until we got our rooms. Vinod Gupta School of Management was where I was going to be spending the most part of the next 22 months, and my room at the Shankar Dayal Sharma (SDS Block) in Madan Mohan Malviya (MMM) hall would be a good part of the time I spent here on campus. Now, SDS block, is one of the newly built hostel blocks, part of the MMM hall, and is exclusively meant to house the VGSOM/MBA students. Two rooms open from within the rooms into a small passage leading to a loo. And this explains the origin of the term “loomie”. The first two days were spent in buying things from bicycles to mosquito repellents, broomsticks and the like and then setting the room up. The registration ceremony is the first time I actually realize that I am now an IITian!! Well, I may not have come in through the JEE, but the feeling of being in an IIT is really something beyond description. I experience this feeling to this day, every single time I pass by the “main building” with “Dedicated to the service of the nation” written below “Indian Institute of Technology”. If you are from a metro, like Bangalore in my case, the difference will hit you hard...in your face..and of course, the cycle seat hurts you where it will...It really is a pain there until one gets used to it! For the first few days, I was very busy for thinking through what I was feeling about life here...Once I had set my room up, I even felt a bit homesick, given that this is my first time out of home.. But, soon, you won’t have the time again..The classes, the student clubs and committee activities, assignments and case studies keep you busy..to the point that in 3-4 weeks, you would stop complaining about catching up on only 4-5 hours of sleep a day/night! In fact, I fully agree with a batch mate’s theory that it is more time-energy efficient to sleep in instalments. These instalments could be of 2 hours each, so that one feels refreshed after every 2 hour “power nap”. Two to three such power naps, spaced through a period of 24 hours or more is actually better than sleeping for 5-6 hours at a stretch! And yes, I am not going to mention about the quick winks/nods that inevitably happen when classes are on! The batch composition is quite interesting, with the Army and Air force officers giving us gyaan and food for thought...I don’t want to make any judgements and form opinions about this place or the people around me just yet...I'm guessing I’ll have lots to say with some more time and getting to know more people and more about people... At the moment, I love every single passing day, especially because time often just flies past us with enough momentum to carry us along. Come to think of it, I am already destined to spend the 6 months of my third semester at a bank, in a Business Planning/Analysis role. The mid semester exams are now over and soon enough it will be time for the end semester examinations. I am very sure that there is still a lot for me to experience here in the next 20 odd months and what I have seen so far is only some kind of a “sneak preview”. The 20 odd months that one spends here at VGSOM, will no doubt give one enough nostalgia material for 20 years in the least! Viswas Mysore, Batch of 2009
6
Scuzzy, Volume 1, Issue 11, Jan 2008
Golf –Mania strikes VGSOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The game of golf is known to have helped many in their business and personal life. A round of game across the lush green golf course is an ideal location for networking and refreshing. So keeping an eye on their future, the golfers of VGSOM can be seen strolling up and down the TATA Steel Sports Facility in the early morning hours. This great initiative is the brain child of our librarian Mr. Ghosh, Colonel Indrabalan and Colonel Ashutosh Sirotia, who are very busy these days helping the students from golf set selection to iron swing correction. The interest and passion of our golf teachers have been of immense help for the budding CEOs who can be seen walking, eating and sleeping Golf.
Our Coaches -Mr. Ghosh, Col Indrabalan, Col Sirotia(L-R)
Golf on the Green
The Salsa Nites Well all work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy. We at VGSOM share the same philosphy. After a hectic week we try to destress on the weekends and there can’t be a better way then “The Salsa Way”. Yes guys we now have a very active salsa group handled by our very talented HR sampreet, Class Representative. He is a trained salsa dancer and came forward to start this new activity for the batch.When we asked about the feedback, our friend Sampat Pradhan replied “Its Simply awesome! I really get charged up after the session here”. Long way to go Sampreet , keep up th nice work! President, MMM Hall- from VGSOM Within a month of joining IIT, Kharagpur, the Batch of 2009 started making its presence felt within the IIT student community. The hard work and untiring efforts of VGSOM students , paid rich dividends on the evening of 21st August 2007 , when Alok, our first year student, was elected as the Hall President, MMM Hall. For many days preceding the D-day the students of VGSOM campaigned.
Queues outside the Polling Booth
Alok, President MMM Hall
7
Scuzzy, Volume 1, Issue 11, Jan 2008
Our New Professors
Dr. Rudra Prakash Pradhan is an Assistant Professor in Vinod Gupta School of Management. He teaches Micro Economics, Macro Economics and Econometrics. Dr. Pradhan is a M.A. with specialization in Mathematical Economics and Econometrics and has a Ph. D. in Economics from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. Prior to joining VGSOM, he was working with BITS, Pilani. He is a life member of Operational Research Society of India and Indian Econometric Society. His research interests are in the areas of Foreign Direct Investment and Infrastructure. He has many national and international papers to his credit.
Dr. Chandra Sekhar Mishra is an Assistant Professor in the area of finance. Dr.Mishra’s teaching and research interests include Financial Accounting, Financial Statement Analysis, Corporate Finance, Mergers & Acquisitions, Business Valuation, Banking and Economic Value Added. Dr. Mishra received his M.Com and Ph.D. from Utkal University. He was a doctoral fellow at Institute of Public Enterprise, Hyderabad. He has published several research papers in refereed journals. He has edited nine books in the broad area of finance. He is the recipient of Young Researcher in Accounting Award from Indian Accounting Association. Prior to joining VGSOM, Dr. Mishra worked with Institute of Management Technology (IMT), Ghaziabad and ICFAI Business School (IBS), Hyderabad. While at IBS Hyderabad, Dr. Mishra organized International Conference on Business and Finance in 2004 and 2005 jointly with Philadelphia University, USA.
Dr. Susmita Mukhopadhyay [M.Sc (Applied Psychology), PGDHRM, PhD (research fellow ISI, awarded Calcutta University)]is an Assistant Professor. Her Research areas Organizational health, Quality of work life, Infrastructure management, Competency mapping, Balanced Scorecard, Human capital management, Self help groups, Gender issues, Indian Psycho-philosophy. She has many academic accolades to her name.
8
Scuzzy, Volume 1, Issue 11, Jan 2008
The Enthusiastic Clubs The Marketing and the Advertising Club: MAD
Vision: The MAD committee aims for achieving a marketing acumen amongst student. The club conducts activities which empower the budding marketers through information, education, simulation exercises, relationships and resources that will enrich their professional development and careers. Exercises: Simulation exercises on market opportunity analysis, Case Based marketing strategy, Role playing, Lectures on Important aspects of marketing like Branding, Advertisements. The club also focuses on analysis of Advertisements and latest happening in the international markets through discussions and information sharing. Some of our sessions :
The Systems Club: Kerberos VGSOM IIT Kharagpur has had a legacy of having self functioning clubs. One such club is named Kerberos, the Systems Club. Over the years the club has been contributing greatly into the ever growing abilities of VGSOM IIT Kharagpur. This year also it is not difference. Since its inception Kerberos2009 has been active throughout. Some of the activities of Kerberos2009 are as follows:
•
Circulation of Alltel Cell top (Aricent) Case Study and informal discussion.
•
Session on Effective Interviews and Group Discussions by Prof. U. K. Banerjee.
•
Session on profiles for management students in IT industry by Kerberos2009 coordinators.
The Kerberos2009 coordinators are Ravi Seth and Ashish Behera. Through extended support from the team of 12 people Kerberos2009 has been performing exceptionally well in this session. Team Kerberos believes in excellence at work and in future too we will be excelling in whatever projects we undertake at VGSOM IIT Kharagpur.
9
Scuzzy, Volume 1, Issue 11, Jan 2008
Achievements in B-School Events 1. IIMB Vista - Manifestation( Paper Presentation in Finance) 1st Prize - Paurush Singh and Smita Singh, Batch of 2008 2. IIM Bangalore - Vista , October 2007 - Team Sarvy Sport (Business Plan Competition) 1st Prize , Rs 75000 - Ratnakar V, Rahul Yadav and Saurabh Agarwal – Batch of 2008 3. SPJIMR
NIMITT,
July2007
-
Paper
Presentation
2nd Prize Rs 13000 - Ratnakar V and Rahul Yadav , Batch of 2008 4. SPJIMR NIMITT, July2007 - Tech mahindra Acquisition Case Study 2nd Prize Rs 12000 - Ratnakar V and Balasubramanian V, Batch of 2008 5. NTPC electron quiz eastern zone 1st Prize - Mohammed Athar and Shubhomoy Pati, Batch of 2009 6. NTPC electron quiz eastern zone 3rd Prize- Sandeep More and Kaustubh Sule, Batch of 2009 7. FXCM FastForward Forex trading game at IIMB-Vista 4th Prize – Vishal Arora, Ravi Mishra, Sharad Dhondiyal, Batch of 2009 8. NITIE Online Challenge, Mastishk 2007 – Bits & Bytes 1st Prize, Rs.10000 – Sachin P. Mehta, Batch of 2009 9. CONCIPIO B Plan Contest IIT Kharagpur. 2nd Prize Rs 10000/ Mohammad Athar
10
on
BOP
Scuzzy, Volume 1, Issue 11, Jan 2008
Sports @ IIT Kharagpur VGSOM Strikes Gold and Silver An outstanding performance by the athletes from first year of VGSOM, brought us laurels in the Fresher’s Athletes meet. In field events, our young Turks won one gold and two silver medals. The girls made us proud by winning the 100m gold medal. Results: 1) Alok (Gold in Shotput) 2) Saurav Dhiman (Silver in Shotput) 3) Bushra Firdous (Gold in 100 mt.) 4) Alok (Silver in Javelin throw) Badminton Court – Smashed all opposition Badminton events in both categories were dominated by VGSOM students. It turned out be an all VGSOM event in the girls’ championship, with Divya Sardana winning the trophy in a closely contended match with Bushra Firdous. The results in the boys’ section were equally exciting with 2nd, 3rd and 4th positions being held by our students Sonal, Nikilesh Tayal and Sameer Rane respectively. Basketball – The Dream Team Finals of a four-sided half court basketball competition became festive time for all of us at VGSOM. The VGSOM cheerleaders who had seen their teams crushing the other 19 teams were now split on which of the two teams to cheer for. The results mattered for the teams but not for the spectators as both winners and runners-up were from VGSOM. First Position: 1. 2. 3. 4.
H R Sampreet Nitin Singla Cpt. Regi K Jeevak
Second Position: 1. 2. 3. 4.
Col. Indrabalan Krishnasagar Col. Bhatnagar Amarjeet Singh
11