Thursday, August 30, 2007

NDTV Profit telecast on XLRI (Sept 1 & 2)

NDTV Profit is running a series covering 4 B-Schools - FMS, IIMA, ISB and XLRI - featuring the budding managers' views on India at 60
An hour-long feature covering XLRI will be telecasted on
Saturday Sept 1st: 6:30pm
&
Suday Sept 2nd: 3:00pm (repeat telecast)
do tune in
ciao
madhukar

Sunday, August 19, 2007

NV Krishna (93BMD) is VP & Chief Sales & Mktg Offi...

[http://www.bpotimes.com/efytimes/fullnewsbpo.asp?edid=20892]
Exl Service Holdings, Inc. has recruited Krishna Nacha (NV Krishna, 93BMD) as Vice President and Chief Sales and Marketing Officer effective 30 August 2007. Based out of EXL's New York office, Krishna will report to Vikram Talwar, vice chairman and CEO....

Prior to joining EXL, Krishna was working with iGate Global Solutions since 2004 and was a member of the executive leadership team. Prior to that, Krishna worked with Infosys for 4+ years in roles including group sales manager - insurance and healthcare and head, sales for Canada.

Rohit Kapoor, president and chief operating officer, ExlService, said, "Krishna will be a key asset for EXL as we execute on our strategic vision of becoming a trusted partner for our clients in transforming and outsourcing business processes. We are impressed with Krishna's strategic and systematic approach to client engagement and business development."

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Posted By Madhukar to XLRI Alumni: Making News at 8/19/2007 12:42:00 AM __

Saturday, August 18, 2007

XLRI signs MoU with AB Freeman School, Tulane University

Today a memorandum of understanding was signed between AB Freeman School of Business, Tulane University and XLRI, Jamshedpur to initiate an exchange program between the two schools. Representing Tulane University were the Dr Angelo DeNisi, Dean, and Dr. John Trapani, Vice-Dean and head of International Programs, who made the journey down to Jamshedpur with a view to work out all the required arrangements and modalities. Also present was Dr. Arup Varma, an alumnus of XLRI and Professor at Loyola University, Chicago, who facilitated the process.

The memorandum includes an exchange not only of students, but also of faculty. Faculty of both schools would go to the other campus and teach various courses. Also in the pipeline is an arrangement whereby AB Freeman faculty will conduct courses as per XLRI’s Management Development Program for working executives. They would also come together to conduct joint Management Development Programs at XLRI’s centers at Dubai and Singapore. XLRI will also contribute to and gain experience from the Faculty Development Program at the AB Freeman School. As part of the student exchange program, students from XLRI would spend a semester at the AB Freeman School of Business and vice versa. Students of XLRI’s General Management Program are expected to visit Tulane this year as part of the international exposure component in their program, for which the expenses will be borne by the institute. Keeping in mind AB Freeman faculty’s expertise in the field of finance, the two institutes have also planned to conduct joint Master’s programs in finance and strategy.

Tulane University has been imparting education in business for almost a century, and the school of business was one of the first 15 business schools to be recognized in the US. Rechristened the AB Freeman School of Business in 1984, it offers a wide variety of programs from the undergraduate to the doctoral level. With a strong focus on finance and entrepreneurship, its specialized programs like the Faculty Development Program are also acclaimed and in high demand. As part of a vibrant exchange program, the AB Freeman School has ties with universities in Latin America and Asia, and receives almost 100 international students annually.

From http://xlri.blogspot.com

XLRI launches PGPMI program in collaboration with ICICI Prudential

On 18th August 2007, XLRI will add another feather in its cap with the launch of its Post Graduate Program in Management and Insurance (PGPMI). This unique and innovative one year management course is conducted by joining hands with ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company, India’s No.1 private life insurer for students aspiring to make it big in the Insurance Industry.

The insurance industry in India is witnessing unprecedented growth and the trend is likely to continue for many years to come. Taking this into consideration the course is aimed at tapping the huge opportunities available in the insurance sector and providing a platform for budding sales professionals to learn and grow in this sector. All the students passing out of this program will be offered an assured employment in the sales function of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company as Executive Trainees, receiving MBA equivalent compensation levels.

The program would offer courses covering both general management concepts as well as intensive training in the Insurance and Finance domain. The module in general management would broadly cover the following areas:

  • Marketing
  • Statistics and Economics
  • Organizational Behaviour and Personality Development
  • Business Communication
  • Business Strategy
  • Legal Aspects in Business
  • Information Technology

The program, especially the module on Insurance and Finance, would leverage ICICI Prudential’s extensive domain expertise and draw heavily from their experience. It would follow a trimester based system with the various courses under the two modules spread over the three trimesters. This would be followed by a two month internship with ICICI Prudential which would give the students the opportunity to apply the skills they have learnt in the classroom.

Following a philosophy of putting merit first, the program fee has been kept to a level which would make it accessible to a far larger cross-section of prospective students.


From http://xlri.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Sharat Dhall (93BMD) joins Expedia as India Head

[http://agencyfaqs.com/perl/digital/news/index.html?sid=18268]


Sharath Dhall (93BMD) has been appointed online travel portal Expedia.com as its head of India operations.

...Prior to joining Times Internet Ltd (TIL) as its Director (e-Commerce) about a year-and-a-half ago, Dhall was working for HLL (now, HUL) as business head of its rural venture, Project Shakti. He has 14 years of experience and has also worked with Asian Paints.

Expedia created buzz in October 2006 when it said it was looking for a person to head its imminent operations in India. The company now has an office in Gurgaon, but has not announced any other plans. Expedia offers the ‘Expedia Best Price Guarantee’ which guarantees customers the best rates for all types of travel -- it offers vacation packages, flights, hotels, car rentals, cruises and in-destination activities. Since Expedia is very strong globally on hotel bookings, the company is expected to follow the same route when it officially launches in India.

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Posted By Madhukar to XLRI Alumni: Making News at 8/15/2007 10:03:00 PM __._,_.___

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

The ABC of CDOs and the sub-prime crisis

Co-authored by Rochak Agarwal, who is a 2nd year BMD student at XLRI

Vinod Kothari & Rochak Agarwal: The ABC of CDOs and the sub-prime crisis
Vinod Kothari & Rochak Agarwal / New Delhi August 13, 2007

Circa 2005, the US housing market was booming. As conveyed by the June 2005 Time magazine’s cover title “Home $weet Home,” the housing market was minting money for everyone. Amid this, every individual in the US was living the American dream to own a house. Housing prices were consistently rising and appreciation was the highest over the past 30 years. This, coupled with historically low interest rates, prompted most people to buy “investment properties”.

In the US mortgage market, by borrower quality, a mortgage is prime, sub-prime, or Alt-A. Prime borrowers are those who have good credit scores, a strong debt-to-income ratio, provide required documentation, tax history, residence records and so on. The mortgage is a first-lien mortgage. A sub-prime mortgage is to a borrower who does not qualify as per prime norms, or it is a second-lien mortgage. An Alt-A is to a borrower who is not necessarily poor quality, but does not qualify for prime lending due to documentation problems.

Read the Entire Article Here

Eva (Mody) Nambiar 77PMIR - RIP

Ms.Eva Nambiar, PMIR 1977, wife of Gopi Nambiar(Seagrams, ex-Pepsi) passed away on the 13th of August 2007, after a struggle with cancer since the last few years. She was with Personnel Search Services in Delhi.

Mr. P. C. Mehra of the Delhi Alumni chapter writes "I had an opportunity to meet her during one of the Alumni Meets and she came across a warm human being, full of energy and enthusiasm. On her passing away we have lost an involved alumnus.

May her soul RIP."

Monday, August 13, 2007

XLer as Rock Star, Author & a Minister

Prof Shukla, found this blog post on Robert Lyngdoh (85BMD), written by a journalist… worth sharing.
http://thecalumnist.blogspot.com/2007/08/rock-star-minister-and-his-mission.html

….This post comes to you from a cybercafe in Shillong, Meghalaya. After a few days spent working on my own writing at home, I began eventually to go out and meet people.

This morning I met arguably the coolest politician in the country, and the one I admire most. His name is RG Lyngdoh. He's known around here as Bob. Bob, a distant senior from my school, used to be songwriter and percussionist for Shillong's most famous band, the Great Society. He then became founder member of a blues band called Mojo - and it was a damn good band, too. Somewhere along the line he decided to get himself an MBA and off he went to XLRI. I don't know how he got into politics but suddenly he was Home Minister. He's the guy who ended the militancy in this place. He's also the only minister I know who has a tattoo.

The dude has written a book, fiction. It's called 'Who the cap fits'. If you find it, read it. There are few more readable accounts of militancy in the Northeast - it's racy. It is also well informed. Few people have more of an insight into the matter than Bob.

He's now working on a festival called the Roots Festival to bring the peoples of the Northeast together. He hopes to be able to project the more positive facets of the region to the outside world. Which is why I'm writing this post - to remind you guys and gals that this place may have its faults, but it has some great qualities, too.

Read the entire article at http://thecalumnist.blogspot.com/2007/08/rock-star-minister-and-his-mission.html

XL Utsav - The Family Festival

Life in a b-school is not only about exams and late night submissions, especially if that b-school happens to be XLRI. This is one campus where nobody is a stranger. This was exemplified by XL Utsav, a two-day extravaganza in which the students, the staff, and the faculty and their families came together with one intention – to have fun.

Read the article & see the pictures at http://lifeatxl.blogspot.com/2007/08/xl-utsav-family-festival-aug-11-12.html

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Fangs

Dear Friends,

Dracula (Dramatics & Cultural Association @ Xl) is in the process of restarting its mouthpiece “FANGS”. Fangs used to be a regular feature till some years ago when it died an unnoticed death. We at Dracula are planning to resurrect it.

As we see it, Fangs will be an unofficial forum/medium for the students/alumni to get their creative/opinion pieces published. Through this forum, we plan to give an opportunity to the students/alumni to come up with commentaries on life in XL. We invite entries from interested individuals in the form of poems, prose pieces, essays, creative pieces, satires, cartoons, anecdotes of mass interest etc. With a view to broad base this publication and also add value we are planning to invite entries from faculty members. We are also looking to take it to other B-schools at a later stage.

So, please get tapping on your keyboards and bring out those hidden thoughts and opinions and allow us to take it to the readers. Please send in your entries latest by the 25th of August ‘2007 before 11.59 PM to shadman.ahmad[@]astra[.]xlri[.]ac[.]in

Regards,

Shadman Ahmad

Member, DRACULA

PS: 1. Suggestions to improve Fangs and make it more attractive are most welcome.

2. We promise to publish the entries in their original form as far as possible, but we reserve the right to put our poetic license to use.

3. Anonymity guaranteed for those choosing to remain so.

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Branding Sariya – the TATA TISCON Story

Mr. N.K Saran (Chief, Long Product Sales Division, Marketing & Sales South, TATA Steel) visited XLRI for delivering a lecture on ‘Branding Commodities – The TATA TISCON Story’ to the GMP 07-08 batch .

Mr. Saran who is an XL alumnus has wide experience in the areas of quality, strategy, marketing & sales. Earlier, he has also worked as Chief Aspire (Business Excellence) for the quality initiatives undertaken in TATA Steel.

The GMP batch had an enriching session with Mr. Saran, who explained the concept of branding and strategy and why was it so important in today’s internationally competitive environment. The discussion started with branding concepts with examples of some of the famous brands that we see around us today, the latest one being Harry Potter.

GMPians listened with rapt attention as Mr Saran went on to the real story of how TATA Steel went about marketing their TMT bar by the introduction of a branded product (TATA TISCON) in an otherwise unbranded, somewhat inefficient and corrupt TMT market, thus introducing transparency and customer satisfaction while being able to build a name for itself in the process.

The session ended with a very enthusiastic series of question & answers by the GMPians, who did not want to let go of the opportunity to understand how TATA Steel was able to use branding as a tool to bring efficiency into the markets. GMPians are looking forward to more such events to enhance their practical knowledge on various marketing principles vis-à-vis the current developments in India and abroad.

GMPians in the Village

While a group of GMPians were managing rock climbing and assorted hurdles in the adventure trip, one other group was packed off for three days and two nights into the villages of Jharkhand. Not that they objected. After all most of them had come from different parts of the country and saw this as a good opportunity to get a first hand feel of Jharkhand.

The GMPians visited few villages outside the limits of Jamshedpur. The coordination and planning was done by NGO’s like Tagore Society of Rural Development, SEEDS, SPAR, MASS. The issues studied by the GMPians were water and sanitation, health facilities, livelihood pattern, literacy related issues, self-help groups, gender issues, farming and animal husbandry, environmental concerns, credit mechanism, consumption pattern and housing patterns.

The study illustrated the welcome progress which started to take place in the last few years in terms of empowering people and making them participate in the development process. Nevertheless, the lack of access to proper healthcare services, secondary and college education was striking. In the villages inhabited by the Sabar tribe, even primary education was a luxury which hardly few could afford.

GMPians returned from trip content with the study done but perhaps with a bigger discontent about the state of affairs of rural India and a resolve to do something more about this than being aware about it. Quite a few GMPians were already associated with NGOs and social organizations before joining XLRI and have fair experience in these activities. So they have more activities lined up on this front. As they say "Miles to Go.....".

From GMP Blog

Friday, August 10, 2007

New XL Blog

Just started... do check it out

http://lifeatxl.blogspot.com/

A new blog by Prof Shukla to show what life is like at the wonderful campus we called "home" for 2 of the best years of our lives - XLRI, Jamshedpur.

He Says :
"There are already two XL blogs:
http://xlri.blogspot.com/
(which brings about the news of "happenings" at XL)
&
http://xlalumni.blogspot.com/
(which tries to keep pace with the movements and achievements of the XL alumni)
but these blogs do not capture the lives and transformations that happen in XL...
...and, therefore, this blog....."

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

XL Utsav Invitation 11&12 August

XL Utsav is coming up on campus

Monday, August 6, 2007

XL Chennai Meeting

Hi everyone,

We (list below) are meeting on Aug. 9 (Thu), at 7 pm at Madras Race
Club.

Dominic Thomas
PNS
Suresh Reddy
Shantaram
Karthik
Venkataraman

We hope that some others on this group would also like to join in - do let us know.

Regards,
Shantaram

Thursday, August 2, 2007

Mr Madhukar Kamath (72 BMD) Is AAAI President

Mr Madhukar Kamath Is AAAI President

Mr Madhukar Kamath, Managing Director & CEO of the Mudra Group, has been unanimously elected as the new President of Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) for the year 2007-2008. The AAAI is the apex body of advertising agencies in the country and comprises 84 members who account for approximately 80 pct of all the advertising business in the country.

Source: 30-07-07 The Hindubusiness Line

Edited to add :

[http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2007/07/31/stories/2007073150940500.htm]
The Hindu (July 31): Mr Madhukar Kamath (76BMD), Managing Director & CEO of the Mudra Group, has been unanimously elected as the new President of Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) for the year 2007-2008.

The AAAI is the apex body of advertising agencies in the country and comprises 84 members who account for approximately 80 per cent of all the advertising business in the country.

Commenting on his appointment as the President of AAAI, Mr Kamath said, “The Indian advertising industry is undergoing tremendous change. I believe marketing communications play a valuable role in the economy. The task at hand is to improve the image of the industry and to promote the interests of the advertising agencies so that they continue to make an essential and ever-increasing contribution to the nation.”

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Posted By Madhukar to XLRI Alumni: Making News at 8/15/2007 09:57:00 PM