Tuesday, November 28, 2006

MR. S. Venkatesh, President HR, Vedanta Group visits campus


The CEO forum lecture series at XLRI attracts and invites luminaries of the industry and continuing with the conquest MR. S. Venkatesh, President HR, Vedanta Group visited the campus to share his views.

Vedanta Group is one of the leading India players in metal and mines industries. It started operations as Sterlite Industries (India) Limited in 1986 and is the only Indian company in this industry to be primarily listed on the London stock Exchange. The company has a global presence and has under its umbrella a gamut of entrepreneurial ventures, acquired PSU’s and foreign companies.

Mr. Venkatesh spoke about the metal and mine industry in India and the potential of the untapped resources. The high entry barriers to the industry leave a lot of responsibility on key existing players.

He also spoke about the difficulties in setting up an entrepreneurial venture and the challenges Vedanta group has to face. He noticed that integration at all levels and all times is one of the most important learning for a leader. Acquiring, integrating and turning around the companies has been the way to success for the group.

He was full of praise for their ethics, organizational structure and work efficiency in an organisation.

With a dream of making Vedanta group the fifth largest producer of metal in the world and creating employment opportunities for engineers in their field of expertise it is set to make great contribution to the Indian economy

Read the story in the Telegraph

XL Students sweep CRISIL Young Thought Leader Awards 2006

Of the 10 students awarded the CRISIL YOUNG THOUGHT LEADER AWARDS 2006,
four are XL students
ciao
madhukar

WINNERS FOR THE CRISIL YOUNG THOUGHT LEADER AWARDS 2006

Congratulations to all the winners. The winners for the CRISIL Young Thought Leader 2006 awards are : (please click on the name of the winner to view the full article)


Topic

Winners

Institution

Are Indian banks at the Cross Roads?

Nitin Dhawan

XLRI, Jamshedpur

If community participation is the answer to rural infrastructure, how can we encourage communities to contribute?

Rahul Singh

XLRI, Jamshedpur

Development of global credit default swaps market: Views on pricing credit protection correctly

Kaushik Choudhury

IIM, Kolkata

Is structured finance a panacea for financial markets?

Ramesh Narayanawamy

IIM, Bangalore

Export Competitiveness of Indian SMEs

Divya Sampath

SIBM, Pune

Indian Energy Sector - Should the government or market forces determine prices ?

Jasleen Kaur

XIM, Bhubaneshwar

Quantitative Measures of Operational Risk - Relevance and applicability for India Inc.

Saurabh Misra

XLRI, Jamshedpur

How attractive is high-end financial research outsourcing as a career option for MBAs/CAs?

Dr Amritpal Singh Bhohi

IIM, Ahmedabad

What will happen to corporate performance and economic growth if interest rates increase by 300 basis points over the next two years?

Kinjal N. Damania

IES, Mumbai

Given the quantum of personal income tax, and the costs of collection involved, does collecting personal income tax make economic sense

Madan Mohan

XLRI, Jamshedpur

8 Dec : Nandita Da Cunha's "The Magic of Maya"

In case you are in Mumbai around that time,
please make it to the launch of the book by

Nandita Da Cunha's (01 BM batch XLRI ),

'The Magic of Maya'

Friday, December 8th,
at
Crossword Bookstore,
Kemps Corner at 7 pm


Anil Dharker will launch the book, followed by a dramatic presentation of excerpts by Raell Padamsee's ACE Productions

The book has received some positive reviews so far. See:
http://www.dailypioneer.com/displayit1.asp?pathit=/archives2/nov1106/books/book2.txt

and is already available at bookstores from this week onwards...

Sunday, November 26, 2006

R Ramakrishnan (82BMD), Exec President & COO, Bajaj Electricals in Germany




R. Ramakrishnan (82BMD), Executive President and COO, Bajaj Electricals was invited to speak at The Campus Symposium at Iserlorn, Germany on September 28 & 29, 2006 to a group of over 1000 German business leaders and Professionals.

Ramakrishnan spoke on "Tomorrow's India - Opportunities and Challenges". Other speakers included Mr Bill Clinton, Lord Chris Patten of Oxford (Former Governor General of Hongkong) , General James L Jones of NATO, Mr Rudi Weyler of Audi, Mr Abdul Aziz Al-Ghurair of Mashreq Bank, Mr M. Rudiger , CEO of Credit Suisse , Mr R. Groger , CEO of O2 and the German Finance minister amongst others.

Monday, November 13, 2006

Mini XL Meet at National HRD Conference (Nov 1-3, '06) New Delhi

During the recent 10th Annual National HRD Conference, held at Taj Palace, New Delhi, there were so many XLers, that an impromptu alumni meet got organised. There was an XL Corner during lunch, and some 40-50 junta (maybe more..., from batches ranging from '69 to '07 (there were 10-12 students who were sponsored by XL for the conference)...

here are some pix:






















The highlight of the Conference was the Annual Award for Professional Contribution (Senior HR Professional category) going to Aquil Busrai (72PMIR), Exec Director (HR), IBM India



and the Young HR Professional Award to Mohit Nayar (95PMIR), Director (HR), P&G India.

Posted by Madhukar Shukla

XLRI to start "Social Entrepreneurship Trust"

From The Financial Express


Financial Express
Jamshedpur, Nov 12: Premier B-School XLRI is to start a ‘Social Entrepreneurship Trust' to train young aspiring people from the poor to start any enterprise.

Addressing the media here on Sunday, XLRI director, N Casamir Raj, expressed that the objectives of the trust is to develop entrepreneurs from the marginalised sections of the society such as the poor, the tribals, etc and also to help the tribals by imparting higher education.

The trust will support social entrepreneurial ventures as well as research, teaching and consultancy in the field. The idea of starting the centre was mooted last year. However, delay in taking the decision by the Jharkhand government, which had initially given its assent to being a partner in the project, had led to its postponement till now.

According to Bushen Raina, president, XLRI Alumni Association, money would not be a problem for the trust to mobilise, as several alumni of the B-School, are serving around the globe in various capacities.

****
NOTE: The Social Entrepreneurship Trust will be inaugurated during the Annual Alumni Homecoming (Nov 18-19, 2006) by Mr Francis Moloi, High Commissioner of South Africa.

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Summer Placements 2007 @ XLRI

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Summer Placements 2007 @ XLRI

Highlights
  • Highest domestic stipend of Rs 2 lakhs, highest overseas stipend of USD 10,000
  • 67% percentage of students placed in Slot 1 over a span of 36 hours
  • New recruiters from the financial sector include JP Morgan Chase, Carlyle, Lehman Brothers, Deutsche Bank, American Express and Rabobank
  • 6 Overseas offer
  • 15 companies visited XLRI for the first time including Barings Private Equity Partners, Carlyle, Citi Financial, Deutsche Bank, Fair Isaac, Jonas Lang La Salle, Microsoft, Nokia, Rabobank and Tata HRLP.

    Press Conference
    The Summer Internship Program 2007 at XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business and Human Resources, has concluded on a highly successful note. Companies vied with each other to select the 180 first year students, both from the Business Management (BM) and Personnel Management & Industrial Relations (PM&IR) courses.

    2 students signed out with JP Morgan Chase which offered the highest domestic stipend of Rs 2 lakhs. This was followed by the Yahoo and Hay Group, which offered Rs 90,000 each.

    As many as 6 overseas offers were accepted, including offers from Novartis in Switzerland, Muscat Finance, TAS and ABG.

    The Banking, Finance and Insurance sector saw a sharp increase in number of premier recruiters such as American Express, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs Equity Research, JP Morgan Chase, Lehman Brothers, and Rabobank alongside regulars like AIG, Citibank, Edelweiss Capital, HSBC, ICICI Prudential, Standard Chartered Bank and UTI Bank. Private equity firms like Carlyle Group and Barings Private Equity Partners were also on campus for the first time. 25% of the batch opted for internships in the finance sector.

    IT Consulting major Cognizant (14) was the largest recruiter this year with the maximum number of accepted offers. Other major recruiters were Deloitte Consulting, Ernst & Young and IBM (7) and Dell, Hewitt and TAS (6).

    32 companies participated in Slot1 while 24 companies recruited students in Slot 2.

    Reflecting the growing brand equity of both XLRI’s Business Management as well as the top notch PM&IR programme, this year saw 17% of the batch opting for consulting profiles with premier recruiters like Accenture, Cognizant, Deloitte Consulting, Ernst & Young, Hay Group, Hewitt Associates, IBM, KPMG Consulting, Mercer and SAP America.

    XLRI’s proven track record as an FMCG favourite was reinforced by the active participation of top organizations – Asian Paints, Britannia, Cadbury, Coke, Colgate Palmolive, GlaxoSmithKline, Godrej, HLL, ITC, Marico, Nestle, P&G, Pepsi, Reckitt Benckiser and Seagram. 25% of the students signed out with offers from FMCG / Manufacturing firms.

    The new entrants in the IT / ITES/ Technology sector were Yahoo(1), Dell(6), Microsoft(4) and Nokia(3).This sector accounted for 19% of the batch.

    Major recruiters from business conglomerates included Aditya Birla Group, L&T, Murugappa Group, RPG and TAS with 24 students opting for them.

    According to Prof Uday Damodaran, Chairperson (Placement): "This year we have far exceeded the exacting standards that we had set for ourselves for the Summer Internship Programme. The numbers are there for all to see - the large number of companies participating, the number of new recruiters, the very high stipends, etc. But more than all that we are very happy that the major stakeholders in the process- the students and the recruiters- were extremely pleased at the outcome of the process."
  • Monday, November 6, 2006

    XLRI Students Team up with OLAM International for "Live Projects"

    PaGaL GuY.com reports :

    BRIDGES, the student society for research and consulting at XLRI, has tied up with OLAM International to finalize a live consultancy project for devising an entry strategy for the cocoa powder market in India.

    The project is a path-breaking initiative by BRIDGES where students across multiple B-schools in India will collaborate to work on a single assignment. It is an attempt to tap the talent at these “islands of excellence” and form a geographically spread team that will work together.

    Two students each from XLRI Jamshedpur, FMS Delhi and NMIMS Mumbai have been selected to work on the project which will involve identifying links in the value chain, benchmarking processes and generating options for market entry. The team will interact with customers distributors in Kolkata, Delhi Mumbai to obtain market information and develop an action plan. The final presentation, to the management in Singapore, shall include a detailed discussion on the findings and a business proposal for entry into the Indian cocoa powder market.

    Olam International is a Singapore listed global and integrated supply chain manager that sources, processes, distributes, and markets select agricultural commodities in over 40 countries across Europe, North and South America, Asia and Africa. It is the world's largest player in cashew, sheanut and Robusta coffee markets and a significant global supplier of cocoa, cotton, rice, sugar, timber and sesame.

    --
    Posted by Madhukar to XLRI Jamshedpur - News and latest Updates at 11/06/2006 01:06:00 PM

    Saturday, November 4, 2006

    Playing host to Swedish students

    Playing host to Swedish students
    - XLRI, a part of an international exchange programme

    Jamshedpur, Nov. 3: XLRI is abuzz with activities as this time the B-school is playing host to two students from Sweden as part of its international student exchange programme.

    These students were also a part of the dandiya and Diwali celebrations.

    Anna Jakobsson, an exchange student of Malardalen University, told The Telegraph: “After 14 days in India you really start to like the country and its people. Compared to Sweden, India differs in many ways, but most of it is good. It’s a big challenge to attend these courses because the language and method of teaching varies. I am looking forward to learn the Indian culture and its tradition during my three months’ stay at the B-school campus.”

    The two students, now already a part of the XLRI community, can be seen everywhere, from local markets and the cafeteria to the football field.

    They are also actively participating in projects.

    Niklas Larsson, a student from the same university, said, they underwent a rigorous selection procedure to participate in the programme.

    “Besides learning, the basic idea of such an exchange programme is to promote cross-cultural activities. Institutes like the IIMs and XLRI are looked upon with high esteem in Sweden. Particularly XLRI is known for its world class faculty in the personnel management and industrial relations (PMIR) course,” said Niklas.

    He is enjoying his stay on the campus where all the students are friendly and interested to know more about their country and university.

    Dean (academics) of XLRI, P. Venugopal informed, as a part of the exchange programme two students of the B-school, Khushboo Jha and Vivekdeep Gupta have been sent to Sweden in September this year, while four other students have been sent to Philippines.

    The Swedish students would be exposed to various outdoor activities during their stay at the B-school campus.

    Officials of the B-school informed that efforts are on to initiate similar student exchange programmes with universities in Australia.

    Officials of the B-school visited Australia last month and met top authorities of Victoria University and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology for fostering a similar student exchange programme, said a source.




    Read the Story in The Telegraph

    Wednesday, November 1, 2006

    Golden jubilee of kerala piravi on Campus

    as you all know, this is the golden jubilee of kerala piravi.. we are celebrating this in a big way on campus...in addition to the customary dinner for the whole college, we are also arranging a brunch... menu includes traditional mallu stuff like puttu, appam, idiyappam, chicken stew etc etc.... pinne dinner as usual mallu vibhavangal... the surprise element is an elephant with nettipattam... a humble endeavour to make sure everyone on campus knows which of the aXIs is the grandest host ;-) we will also have a cultural extravaganza including chavittunadagam by chinju.... finally to top it all, a mallu movie screening in the plush comforts offered by LH-1....

    will post pictures of the mallu day on yahoo :-) wish us luck....

    sasneham,
    rishi
    (BMmer batch of 07)

    Orind Industries Chairman visits XLRI

    The latest luminary to visit the XLRI campus, as part of the CEO Forum lecture series was Dr Ravin Jhunjhunwala, Chairman, Orind Industries and Shashwat Group of Companies which is one of the largest refractory manufacturers in the world. Mr. Lakshmi Mittal has a 25% stake in Orind industries as part of a strategic alliance.

    Orind industries was one of the first Indian companies to set up operations in China in 1995 and Dr. Jhunjunwala is credited with creating the first Indian MNC. Today, Orind industries also has a manufacturing facility in Pittsburgh USA.

    The focus of the lecture was on Dr.Jhunjunwala’s experience in China, right from the difficulties in setting up base there to dealing with the cultural difficulties to his personal experience as a vegetarian.

    He spoke of the reasons to enter China as early as 1995. China taxes raw materials more than finished goods and that was one of the fundamental reasons, in addition to being more cost effective. Also the vagaries of setting up a joint venture made him set up an independent unit rather than having a joint venture with a Chinese partner.

    Dr. Jhunjunwala made some very interesting observations about Chinese culture, the different ways they have of handling business and he also dispelled myths regarding their narrow mindedness. He was full of praise for their ethics, organizational structure, work efficiency, and labor policy.

    He also spoke about his experience as an Indian and how Indians are perceived by the Chinese. He concluded his talk by giving some very insightful advice to the managerial aspirants about managing the Chinese way of handling things and that one of the main attributes required for a successful operation in China is having patience.