E Sreedharan @ XLRI Convocation 2010

Do not compare DMRC with Kolkata Metro as a role model: E Sreedharan

From My News

Jamshedpur: India's metroman E Sreedharan, widely written for his examplary work as chief of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation(DMRC) and Konkan railway, today said the country's first metro rail in Kolkata could not be described a role model as the 17-km line took 22 years to complete.

''It took 22 years to start the 17 kilometres long metro rail in Kolkata. So, definitely it was not a pleasant experience,'' he said adding its budget also increased 14 times and hence it could not be termed a role model.

Mr Sreedharan said Delhi metro, on the other hand, stood out for its efficient completion within the project time and budget and could compete with any metro anywhere in the world. If DMRC were able to complete the 125-km long second phase before the Commonwealth Games in October 2010 then it would be a world record, he added. The second phase of Delhi metro would also include a high-speed line that would connect the city centre to Indira Gandhi International Airport.

He said DMRC had already submitted to government a detailed project report on third phase of the metro project and if cleared work on it could begin in November 2010. Once the fourth phase finished in 2020 the national capital region would have metro network of 400 kms, he added.

Speaking after receiving the Sir Jehangir Gandhi medal at the 54th convocation of Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI) of Business and Human Resources here, the 2008 Padma Bhushan awardee said Delhi Metro was regarded as one of the best available commuting facilities in the world.

Mr Sreedharan was chosen Man of the Year 2002 by Time magazine for completing Konkan railway and Delhi Metro project within stipulated time and budgetary cost.

XLRI set to see grand diamond jubilee reunion

From The Financial Express

Jamshedpur: XLRI School of Business and Human Resources is geared up for a grand reunion on the occasion of its diamond jubilee convocation on Saturday which will also see conferment of the B-School’s prestigious Sir Jehangir Ghandy medal for industrial and social peace on Dr E Sreedharan, managing director, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd.

To mark the occasion, the B-School has invited all its former chairmen, directors and deans to be part of the convocation, with the list including its former chairmen Russi Mody and Sarosh Ghandy, former directors Father (Fr) E H McGrath (today an octogenarian), Fr Romuald D’Souza and Fr P D Thomas, as also some if its former deans.

While the convocation will be declared open with a presidentialaddress by Tata Steel vice-chairman B Muthuraman, Kumar Mangalam Birla who heads the $29.2 billion Aditya Birla Group, the global conglomerate with operations spanning 25 countries, will inspire the graduating batch of 2010 with his convocation address.

Dr Sreedharan, who would receive the Sir Jehangir Ghandy medal this year, retired from the Indian Railways in 1990 after a distinguished career spanning 36 years and has been behind the success of the Delhi Metro project.

A recipient of “Padma Shri” in 2001 and "Padma Vibhushan" in 2008, he has since been spearheading efforts to provide Metro systems in other state capitals including for Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Kochi and Kolkata (where it is planned to be extended), with the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation involved in these projects as interim/prime consultant.

XLRI Placements see 20% increase

From Economic Times

AMSHEDPUR: Pharma major Novartis offered the highest placement offer of Rs 50 lakh (USD 1,10,000) at the XLRI School of Business and Human
Resources here for its prestigious HR leadership role at Basel, Switzerland.

The highest domestic package was Rs 26 lakh made by a consulting firm for its Mumbai desk whereas the average domestic package was at Rs 14.2 lakh, a 20 per cent increase over last year's figure.

The placement process attracted 75 companies giving a total of 205 offers to a batch of 120 Business Management and 60 Personnel Management and Industrial Relations (HR) students, XLRI Placement Committee Secretary Venkatesh K told reporters here last evening.

The campus recruitment programme 2010 saw 90 per cent of the batch accepting offers made by some of the most coveted organizations for their Indian and international locations followed by a strategically planned rolling process which enabled 100 per cent placements, Venkatesh K said.

XLRI, Venkatesh K said, maintained its position as a destination for premier finance roles as 28 per cent of the total offers came from the financial sector such as Goldman Sachs, Nomura Holdings, Edelweiss, Deutsche Bank, Citibank, HSBC, Standard Chartered, ICICI, Axis Bank and YES Bank.

He said marketing has drawn renewed interest from the students and was the most sought after profile with 30 per cent accepting offers.

A total of 25 per cent of the students received top notch consulting offers.

"XLRI has once again reinforced its long standing supremacy as the best B-school in Asia-Pacific for Human Resources Recruitments continues to be robust and growing with the participation of major firms in this sector."

National Social Entrepreneurship Conference - Bihar model to study growth

From The Telegraph

Bihar principal secretary of rural development department Vijoy Prakash inaugurates the conference. (Bhola Prasad)

Jamshedpur, Jan. 29: The event was the second national conference on social entrepreneurship. And the model for study was Bihar.

The three-day conference organised by XLRI was inaugurated today and chief guest was principal secretary of rural development department, Bihar, Vijoy Prakash.

The theme for this year is “solutions for inclusive development” which will see experts from social sector coming up with solutions for an improved social growth model in the country.

Prakash said the reason for 11 per cent growth rate achieved by Bihar was implementation of inclusive growth with innovative ideas.

He, however, stressed on a path-breaking idea of “broadstreaming” rather than “mainstreaming” for rural development.

“Inclusive growth means equalisation of opportunity. We often try to get underprivileged people into mainstream society but instead, if we broaden our arena and give opportunity to them according to their skills and interest, it would be better. If we aim at growth, we have to take into account their skill and utilise them,” said Prakash.

The principal secretary also explained how his department identified the differences among communities and tried to make them literate by adopting a different pedagogy.

Teaching clay modelling also helped in bringing about rural development.

He also pointed out initiatives like Mahadalit Dev Mission, state society for rehabilitation of poor (rehabilitation of beggars by using their talent) and identification of BPL families had positive results.

“Since we are talking of inclusive growth and development, we have to accommodate each and every person be it tribal, elite or Dalit,” said Prakash.

First Conference of Indian Academy of Management

From http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091229/jsp/jharkhand/story_11919152.jsp">The Telegraph

CEOs harp on religion

SBI chairman O.P. Bhatt lights the ceremonial lamp at the conference on Monday. Picture by Bhola Prasad Jamshedpur, Dec. 28: The inaugural session of the first conference of Indian Academy of Management at Tata Auditorium today saw corporate honchos sharing their knowledge of religion, mythology and Bhagvad Gita which they have used for better management. XLRI hosted the first conference of Indian Academy of Management — an autonomous body founded along the lines of the US-based Academy of Management with the idea of promoting research work and studies in management and also to serve as a platform for all B-schools to share ideas. The theme of the three-day conference that began was Indian Management: Past, Present and Future. The conference saw the likes of vice-chairman of Tata Steel B. Muthuraman, O.P. Bhatt, the chairman of State Bank of India and Venugopal Dhoot, the chairman of Videocon, as speakers. All of them explained the theme by citing examples from Bhagvad Gita, Kautilya Arthashashtra and Rig Veda. “Good management can be learnt not just in B-school but in everyday life, ancient traditions, religion, art, culture and sports. What we teach in business schools today have been found in the country’s culture that dates back to 5,000 years,” said Muthuraman. He pointed out that one could find examples of leadership, motivation and performance in Gita and examples of decision making in Rig Veda. “These religious books also speaks about vasudeva kutumbakam, which means universe is one family and that is globalisation that we talk about now,” said a speaker. Dhoot quoted Bhagvad Gita and explained how management saw a heavy presence of Indian culture. At this conference, about 150 research papers and 34 concurrent sessions on various management topics will be presented. “The motto is to provide researchers and doctoral students a platform to present their papers. This platform is for sharing and encouraging ideas,” said E.S. Srinivas, the conference chairperson.

Corporate Honchos to attend Conference at XLRI

From http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ranchi/Corporate-honchos-to-attend-meet-at-XLRI/articleshow/5382569.cms">The Times of India


JAMSHEDPUR (The Times of India, Dec 27): Perhaps for the first time, the XLRI, a premier business school of the country, has got the opportunity to host the conference of the

Indian Academy of Management (IAoM), the apex body of the management institutes pursuing the agenda of narrowing the gap between academia and practitioners in India, in the Steel city from Monday.

The three-day conference will witness the congregation of big and famous corporate honchos with several alumni of the IIMs, ISB, MDI and host XLRI chairing the boards of different divisions.

The IAoM is committed to promoting India-centric collaborative research efforts among scholars across the globe, and to try and bridge the gap between the academia and practitioners in India.

"This conference will bring together academics and practitioners from around the globe. We are happy to announce that Professor Angelo DeNisi (Immediate past president, Academy of Management, USA) and Professor Pradip Khandwalla (former director and professor, IIM Ahmedabad) have agreed to be the main speakers at the inaugural conference," informed Prof. Madhukar Shukla, a member of the organizing committee.

O P Bhatt, chairman, SBI, Venugopal Dhoot, chairman, Videocon and B Muthuraman, vice-chairman, Tata Steel, are among others who have confirmed their participation in the inaugural conference the theme of which is "Indian Management: Past, Present and Future". "Mr Bhatt, Mr Dhoot and Mr Muthuraman will be on the CEO panel that will deliberate on wide-ranging issues fundamentally related to the theme Wisdom perspectives, principles and practices in Indian businesses," informed Prof. Shukla.

The session will be moderated by Dr Prasad Kaipa, executive director, Center for Leadership, Innovation and Change (CLIC), Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad.

Dr Pradip Khandwalla, former director and professor, IIMA, and Dr S Ramnarayan, former professor IIMA and currently professor at ISB Hyderabad, are making presentations on December 29. And, on the same day, Dr Angelo DeNisi, the immediate past president of AoM and dean, School of Business, Tulane University, will deliver the keynote address "Management of Corporate Greatness".

"India is now again emerging as an economic power, and business schools are focusing on the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) nations instead of the Triadian market of the US, Europe, and Japan. Thus, it is important to further focus our research energy on Indian management and reveal about what is unique about Indian management good or bad, effective or inefficient, beautiful or ugly. This conference will be useful for researchers and practitioners who are interested in India in general and management practices related to India in particular," Prof. Shukla said.

In the light of the overwhelming response to the Academy of Management meeting held in Chicago in August last, it is expected that delegates (faculty, doctoral students and practitioners) representing several institutes from India and abroad are expected to participate in good numbers in the proposed conference.

Aggressive Growth Plan on XLRI Radar

From The Telegraph

Jamshedpur, Nov. 21: XLRI is planning to go big in the next few years.

Along with developing academic strength and infrastructure, alumni members of the 1983 batch have decided to set up an endowment fund for the growth of the institute.

These and other plans were shared at one of the sessions of XLRI Homecoming 2009, the annual alumni meet on campus that began today, organised by XLRI Alumni Association.

On the spare eight acres behind the existing campus, the B-school has decided to set up a learning centre, a hostel for 300 students, a 100-seater International Centre, about 15 guest houses and 100 faculty offices — all within five years at a budget of Rs 50 crore.

“We are giving it some time, at least five years. We are first giving preference to classrooms as we feel that is the priority. Things will be bigger and better. We aim to become an institute of global standards as we already have tie-ups with a score of international B-schools from all over the world and many more are in the pipeline. So, development is necessary,” said XLRI director Father E. Abraham, while addressing alumni members at the annual homecoming.

The alumni members have set up an endowment fund of Rs 6 crore. A sum of Rs 10 lakh has already been deposited with the fund to enhance the brand value of XLRI. Alumni members are looking at more research work, management development programmes, support for student activities, faculty strengthening and improved infrastructure with the funds.

The XLRI Endowment Fund (XEF) will be used with the consent of the XLRI board of governors but it will have a secretariat, a fund utilisation committee and a sub-fund utilisation committee to decide on the ventures. A presentation was also given on the workings of XEF, though things are yet to be finalised.

Plans are already afoot to set up new campuses in Calcutta, Hyderabad and Bhubaneswar as these places are more feasible than Jamshedpur.

Accessibility, along with visibility, is one of the guiding reasons now.

“Land acquisition is the major problem, so things need to be chalked out. Nothing is finalised because of accessibility problems. Also there is a lot of work we do here but that is not noticed outside,” said Father Abraham.

Low visibility is a problem for many. While most B-school rankings put XLRI in the top five positions, the board of governors is still not happy with the current rankings and is working out a strategy to compete with other B-schools, especially Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) in Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Calcutta.

“The competition is mainly with the three IIMs. Otherwise, we are the best private B-school. Also we are managing well as compared to the funding that IIMs receive from the central government. We would try to chalk out ways and strategise to see how we can develop,” added Father Abraham.

XLRI alumni to raise endowment fund for B-school's infrastructure

From The Financial Express

Jamshedpur: Alumni of the XLRI School of Business & Human Resources will be here soon to attend the Homecoming 2009, a re-union the B-School has been hosting for the last five years. They are raising an endowment fund to improve the B-School’s infrastructure.

The fund was initiated in 2008 by the 1983 batch. They will be contributing Rs 1 crore, which would subsequently go up to Rs 5 crore.

“The whole idea is to make the fund bigger, as XLRI really didn’t have much of an endowment as we always have lived from hand to mouth,” said XLRI director Father E Abraham, adding that it was only now that the institute has some money to build the infrastructure.

Members of all the alumni batches who have been visiting the B-School over the last few years to attend the Homecoming reunion have been expressing their own ideas in improving things at the institute.

The B-School has chalked out a two-day (November 21-22) programme that would make the alumni members aware of the different initiatives undertaken by XLRI including its expansion and diversification plans in the academic field.

“This forum is going to channelise all the different ideas as we have now set up an endowment fund; and through the fund we are going to channelise whatever ideas come from the alumni towards the growth of the institution”, said Rana Sinha, managing director of Telcon and president of the local XLRI Alumni Association.

XLRI’s alumni members have been behind the setting up of a unique “entrepreneurship trust” which has helped some of the B-School’s two-year management students in starting social entrepreneurship ventures like “Parichay”, “Swavalamban”, “Dream4Others”, “Brandtadka.com”, etc by way of giving seed money.

“The entrepreneurship trust is set to grow because every batch would be reinforcing it with fund and we would have more and more examples of success stories”, said Sinha.

Homecoming 2009 also proposes to confer lifetime achievement awards as well as “distinguished alumnus awards” to those of its alumni who have not only excelled in industry but also in academia. The B-School will also be honouring Father E H McGrath.

“Considering this is the 60th year of XLRI, Homecoming this year is of special importance”, said Bushen Raina, the national president of the XLRI Alumni Association, adding the response from over 150 alumni members so far has been “very positive”.

XLRI - Joy of Giving Week - in the news

XLRI's Initiative for Joy of Giving Week is in the news.

Check out the coverage on India Infoline and The Financial Express

XLRI to launch agri biz mgmt course with Ikisan

From The Financial Express

XLRI School of Business & Human Resources and Hyderabad-based Ikisan Ltd is launching a six-month certificate programme in agri business management in Hyderabad on Wednesday.

It's in the form of an ‘agri portal’, promoted by the Hyderabad-based Nagarjuna Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd, thus extending management education online to the agricultural sector.

The online certificate programme in agri business management, whose first session commences from the last week of August 2009, aims at equipping agricultural graduates and agri-business field assistants in undertaking marketing and sales jobs in the agri-business sector.

Speaking to FE from Hyderabad on Tuesday, XLRI dean Prof P Venugopal said the B-School was looking forward to enrolling around 100 students from all over the country for the first batch, through an academic merit-cum-interview process. The course fee has been kept at Rs 45,000.

Some of the B-School’s existing faculty along with some agri industry experts have been involved in designing the course, which would have a compulsory industry visit, the XLRI dean said.

Although IIM, Ahmedabad runs a two-year full time management course for the agriculture sector, none of the leading B-Schools today have a short duration management course for the sector.

XLRI Launches Consulting Club – C3

From MBAUniverse.com

It has launched C3 - Crescent Consulting Club with an aim to develop and increase the understanding of consulting profession. The inauguration of the club will be held on July 9 with a session by Mr. Joe Simon, CIO Viacom International (New York) on "Life as a Consultant". XLRI alumnus Simon will share his experiences as a consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton.

As part of this initiative, the club will be holding weekly meetings on important issues related to consulting industry and will also organize quizzes, case competitions, 2 x 2 matrix championships, and other events for its members. Major activities will include the Speaker Series and Company Breakouts which will mainly focus on increased collaboration with consulting firms and experience sharing by consultants from various firms. The club will also maintain a central repository of the latest research in Strategy area and will carry out regular case interview practice sessions to help students prepare for their placements. Every fortnightly, industry breakouts will be held to track the latest developments across different industries and build industry competence among the members. The club is also planning to launch its own Journal comprising of latest research articles written by academia and industry and provide opportunities to the students to work on live consulting assignments.

Mr. Joe Simon, a 1983 batch alumnus of XLRI, is the Chief Information Officer for Viacom International. Prior to joining Viacom, he spent nine years as a Principal at Booz, Allen and Hamilton, focusing on the media sector. He also worked at Reader’s Digest, a savings bank in New Zealand, and for various business conglomerates in India.

In the past, CRESCENT, under the guidance of Prof. Munish Thakur, has been involved in conducting various B-plan competitions and Strategy games, organizing Live Consulting projects and guest lecture series, and publishing a monthly magazine CREST containing the latest happenings in Consulting, Research, Strategy and Entrepreneurship. In association with Social Initiative Group for Managerial Assistance (SIGMA), CRESCENT also launched the Initiative for Social and Entrepreneurial Leadership (ISEL) last year. ISEL aims at promoting and nurturing student interest in entrepreneurship and the social sector.

Jesuit B-schools preach social entrepreneurship

From DNA

Mumbai: "We want to build managers who are able to start ventures that can alleviate poverty and deal with environment issues," said Father Abraham, director, Xavier's Labour Relations Institute (XLRI), Jamshedpur. He was speaking at the 15th World Forum of the International Association of Jesuit Business Schools (IAJBS). XLRI Jamshedpur hosted the forum which saw deans, directors and senior professors from B-schools in USA, Europe, Asia Pacific stressing on developing a network to support social entrepreneurship.

Post the forum the IAJBS has become a signatory of the UN principles for Responsible Management and will ask all member institutes to adhere to them. A sustainability development committee will be formed to ensure that Jesuit B-schools globally adhere to the principles.

"The committee will ensure that schools include sustainable development in the curriculum, and offer it as an academic programme," said Abraham. In keeping with UN's principles, schools will review programme syllabi and course structure. The focus on enhancing and managing financial wealth will be balanced with equal number of courses on enhancing social and environmental capital. "There are very few academic social science inputs in the course-work which is why students fail to understand that socio-environmental issues impact businesses," said Abraham.

In India, around 17 top ranking Jesuit B-schools will alter their admissions process along with curriculums. "Socio-environmental concerns and ethical fibre of a student, beyond just landing a lucrative job from an MBA will form a non-negotiable part of admissions," informed Abraham. Even the way these B-schools function will undergo a change. The use of solar power, rainwater harvesting, recycling paper will teach sustainability.

Schools will also look atintroducing compulsory internships with social/development sector organisations. By October, a task force formed for sustainability development will take into account all members' comments and present a final draft before the IAJBS board which will include the best sustainability projects from across the globe. "We have also proposed that every member school should set up a Chair Professorship in Sustainable Development, so that this movement can be carried forward by every B school," said Abraham.

In fact, XLRI has been the first Indian B-school committed to these principles since the last two years. "We have already started offering electives and core courses in the MBA programme for students in environmental strategy, social laws, business ethics," informed Abraham. The institute recently held the first National Social Entrepreneurship Conference which covered critical issues in education, energy, credit, healthcare, livelihood opportunities, and natural resources which could be resolved by enterprising management graduates.

Encouraged by these, students at the institute started social ventures. In the last year, three ventures took off. The first Parichay links tribal artisans and rural craftsmen with the mainstream market and increases their profit margins. The second is Swalamban which provides electricity to villages through ox-driven generators. While, the third is called Dream4Others.com, which donates money to registered charitable organisations; for every market research survey filled by visitors.

XLRI achieves 100% placement

From Business Standard

XLRI School of Business & Human Resources, Jamshedpur (XLRI Jamshedpur), has completed its final placement procedure with all its 180 students getting placed.

The highest salary offered this year was Rs 22 lakh, while the highest international offer this year was $110,000. Around 76 companies visited the campus this year and made 193 offers to a batch of 180 students. The average domestic salary package offered this year was Rs 12.12 lakh per annum.

This year companies were conservative in terms of pre-placement offers (PPOs), with 30 PPOs being offered. Around eight students ventured with their own niche business plans.

Last year, 57 companies came to campus and made 298 offers to a batch of 180 students. The average domestic offer last year was Rs 14.75 lakh and the highest domestic offer was Rs 28 lakh. Around 12 international offers were made with an average of $90,000, while the highest was $100,000.

Despite news about job cuts, recruitments in human resources continued in the consulting, FMCG and finance sector for international banks and group companies alike. Various specialised roles were offered, such as the one by global pharmaceuticals major, Novartis, offering its HR leadership role at Basel, Switzerland, exclusively to XLRI, making the highest international offer of $110,000.

XLRI’s commitment to promoting and fostering entrepreneurship received a boost this year. With the introduction of deferred placements for students starting out on their own, XLRI established a new legacy in promoting nation builders. This year saw the launch of three startups. Also, one student signed out with deferred placements.

XLRI recently raised close to Rs 14 lakh from its alumni network and other donations towards its XLRI Social Entrepreneurship Trust. The Singapore chapter has also generated close to SGD 5,000. This would go towards the seed fund reserved for student entrepreneurs.

Notwithstanding the financial crisis, XLRI maintained its stand as a premier finance destination with 30 per cent of the total offers coming from the financial sector. Offers were received in investment banking, treasury, corporate finance, commercial banking and insurance. The domestic investment banks were led by Centrum and SBI Capital. Banks such as Citibank, HSBC, Standard Chartered, ICICI, Axis Bank and Bank of Baroda offered roles in their treasury and foreign exchange desks as well as their corporate and retail banking functions.

The Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi) recruited from XLRI for the first time, while roles in trading were offered by Futures First. The insurance sector recruited in their product development and distribution functions. Firms such as Bharti AXA, HDFC Ergo, ICICI Lombard and ICICI Prudential offered product structuring roles to students. Corporate finance roles were offered by the likes of Pepsi, L&T, Tata Steel, among others.

XLRI Aims for Global Accreditation

From The Telegraph

B-school aims for global tag

OUR CORRESPONDENT

Jamshedpur, March 18: In a quest to match global standards, XLRI is inching towards an international accreditation. The B-school has applied to the Association of Management Development Institutes in South Asia for getting the South Asian Quality Assurance System (SAQS) accreditation. A four-member team from the association visited the B-school campus today to carry out an assessment. SAQS is the South Asian system of quality assessment, improvement and accreditation of higher education institutions in management and business administration. SAQS is the quality assurance scheme as a service to management education worldwide. Its fundamental objective is to raise the quality and standard of management education. A four-member peer review team, comprising A.H. Kalro, the former director of IIM, Kozhikode, and executive director of AES Post Graduate Institute of Business Management, Ahmedabad; Abdul Mannam, a professor of School of Business Administration, University of Liberal Arts, Bangladesh; C.S. Venkataratnam, the director of International Management Institute, New Delhi; and C.D. Kamath, the managing director of Tata Refractories Ltd, visited the campus from March 16-18. The team will submit their report to the association and results are expected in April. This is the first international accreditation that XLRI has applied for. With more tie-ups with international business schools across the world, international accreditation will help the B-school. A global accreditation can help B-schools notch up global placements, get potential international recruiters, add to its student exchange programmes and recruit internationally-qualified faculty. The tag will also help the B-school to apply for further international accreditation like European Quality Improvement System and the Association of Advanced Collegiate Schools of Business.

B-schools assist student-entrepreneurs

From Business Standard

Business Standard (Kolkata March 03, 2009, 0:19 IST): While venture capitalists (VCs) are reluctant to fund several entrepreneurial ideas this year, a few of the country’s B-schools are helping student entrepreneurs to go ahead with their own ventures by providing seed funds, mentorship and using the alumni network to raise funds and get in touch with useful contacts.

While many B-schools and IITs have introduced deferred-placement-policy, which enables students to take a break from placements for a maximum period of two years and even come back for it in case the venture does not kick off, students, on the other hand, have been making progress with the funds provided by respective institutes and alumni networks.

Though the final placement season is likely to continue for another month in many B-schools, several students have already put their business ideas in place.

XLRI Jamshedpur is the forerunner so far, with as many as three business plans in place.

According to Madhukar Shukla, a professor at XLRI, “XLRI recently raised close to Rs 14 lakh from its alumni network and other donations towards its XLRI Social Entrepreneurship Trust. The Singapore chapter has also generated close to SGD 5,000. This would go towards the seed fund reserved for student entrepreneurs. Right now, the students are looking to generate more funds to complete the various orders they are receiving from companies on a trial basis.”

“As many as seven students may opt out of placements this year. Each venture needs large funding. If the students are able to get it, which is a work-in-progress, they will opt out of placements. Otherwise, one person from the team will stay with the venture, while the others will perhaps take up a a job to keep the venture going... but for sure, whichever way, the ventures will continue,” Shukla said.

‘Parichay’, an initiative by XLRI students, is a venture to connect rural and tribal artisans and craftsmen to the mainstream market. According to the student body handling Parichay, a large part of India’s traditional rural and tribal art is dying because the artisans, being disconnected from the market, have not been able to contemporise their designs, and since they have no direct access to the market, they do not find their work remunerative enough to continue.

The students have roped in a few designers, who have developed product-prototypes for them, and are negotiating with NIFT, Pearle Academy and others, who have shown interest to send their students for internship.

The Parichay members have also built the ‘Learning & Design Centre’, where the rural tribal artisans are being trained to develop the product prototypes. The students are also in the initial stages of negotiation with Nabard, which has shown interest in the venture. The ‘Parichay’ team has already got close to Rs 3 lakh as seed funding from XLRI, and has also generated some funds through the prize money in various competitions.

Another initiative by the students of XLRI is ‘Swavalamban’, a venture that aims to use ‘ox-driven generator’ (a technology patented by a BIT Mesra professor of 20 years’ standing, and a known name in the renewable energy circles) to provide electricity to the villages in Jharkhand. So far, the Swavalamban team has an order from the Jharkhand Renewable Agency Development Agency (JREDA), and has also got sanction from the Jharkhand tribal minister to electrify one village as a working ‘proof of concept’. Tata Motors’ CSR department and SEEDS (an NGO) have showed interest by ordering five units each for testing in their villages, while NTPC has shown interest to acquire 200 units at a research level. Larsen & Toubro has seen the prototype, and in principle agreed to acquire some for their CSR activities.

A third project, ‘Dream4Others’, is the youngest of all ventures at XLRI. The venture aims to use online market surveys to generate funds for registered NGOs. It is being mentored by a director at A C Neilson.

Likewise, at Xavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship (XIME) Bangalore, at least two students are opting out of placements this year to pursue a project that converts petrol-run two wheelers into CNG-led vehicles. According to Nigel Job, one of the two students opting out of placements to pursue this venture, “This project ensures savings of close to Rs 6,000 every year on fuel prices and is eco-friendly too. Our project will convert two wheelers which are running on petrol to CNG.”

“The start up cost is close to Rs 15 lakh. We are talking to National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN) and a few venture capitalists for the funds,” informed Ranju George, another student who is opting out of XIME Bangalore placements this year to pursue this venture.

At S P Jain Institute of Management & Research, first-year student Praveen Gera plans to start a venture on manufacturing auto-ancillary parts made from carbon fibre, which is expected to ensure longer life with smooth and durable texture. “Around Rs 1.3 crore is the capital required for this project. There are four of us involved in this project and we intend to opt out of placements next year to pursue this project. Our institute helps students with seed fund of up to Rs 20 lakh,” Gera said.

At IIM Calcutta, at least two first-year students are opting out of summer placements to pursue their own ventures. Pranav Kumar, a first-year student of IIM Calcutta, has decided to pursue a venture on mobile value-added-services. He, with his team of six others, has started ‘Mobme’, a social networking venture on mobile. “The entrepreneurship cell at IIMC is helping us meet several venture capitalists. We are also looking at angel funding for our venture,” said Pranav Kumar.

Likewise, Pathikrit Ghosh, another first-year student of IIMC, has decided to opt out of summer placements to start a consultancy project, offering consultancy services for sectors such as energy, sales and marketing, human resource, and others. “This is a low-capital business and would need close to Rs 2 lakh to start off,” said Ghosh. Abhishek Nagaraj, another first-year student at IIM Calcutta is planning a social networking site on videos. “It will be a Wikipedia centred on video. I already have a prototype and the start-up cost is very little and manageable,” Nagaraj said.

XLRI Social Entrepreneurship Conference

The 1st National Conference on Social Entrepreneurship will be held at XLRI, Jamshedpur on the 31st of January and 1st of February.

The two-day National Conference on Social Entrepreneurship is planned to be a confluence of eminent personalities in the development sector. Various events planned as part of the conference include,

Panel Discussions:

The discussions would explore the various social sectors for entrepreneurial opportunities and would focus on 6 themes, each highlighting a different dimension of 'providing access' viz,

• Access to Credit & Financial Services
• Access to Education
• Access to Healthcare & Hygiene
• Access to Livelihood Opportunities
• Access to Market, and
• Rural Access to Societal Resources

Entrepreneurs, academicians, corporates, government representatives and members from leading NGOs are expected to be part of the discussions on building access to various resources for building a social enterprise

Interactive Sessions:

Apart from the panel discussions, the conference would include interactive breakout sessions. These sessions, with little or no presentation, a lot of facilitated dialogue, group exercises and exploration of new ideas are aimed at developing model solutions for social issues relevant in today's context.

More information can be viewed on Madhukar's blog.

And here is the Prof himself giving an interview on the conference.

Part 1:


Part 2:

XLRI talk on Social Entrepreneurship

From The Telegraph

Jamshedpur, Dec. 23 (The Telegraph): To make people aware about social entrepreneurship, XLRI has planned a national conference.

The Social Entrepreneurship Trust and Social Initiative Group for Managerial Assistance (Sigma) of XLRI will arrange the conclave on social entrepreneurship on January 31 and February 1 next year.

The theme of the conference would be “Providing Access for Sustainable Devel- opment” while its purpose is to showcase innovative social entrepreneurship ventures by individual entrepreneurs, NGOs, corporate executives and government agencies.

It will also provide a common platform for sharing of experiences, issues and concerns of the social sector.

About 150 development sector professionals would attend the conference.

It will be the first-of- its-kind for XLRI. The conference will be organised in association with Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, a global association of social entrepreneurs, and IndianNGOs.com, a portal on social and developmental of India.

“The conference is part of the diamond jubilee celebrations of the B-school. We wanted to give a distinct identity to the social concerns, so we thought of coming up with this conference.

“There are resources but they can’t reach the grassroots and that is a cause of concern,” said Madhukar Shukla, the professor of organisational behaviour and chairperson of Social Entrepreneurship Trust at XLRI.

The conference has been designed around six sessions over two days, each highlighting the problem of “accessing the resources”.

Experts would talk on access to credit and financial services, access to education, access to healthcare and hygiene, access to livelihood opportunities, access to market and rural access to societal resources.

Each session will have three speakers who will share their views and provide solutions.

The conference will also have a social entrepreneurship workshop, a performance by Blind Opera and competitions for students interested in social entrepreneurship.

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Confirmed Resource Persons/ Speakers:

Ms Aparna Banerjee
CEO, Project Sukanya
& Ashoka Fellow

Mr Anshu Gupta
Founder, GOONJ
& Ashoka Fellow

Ms Chetna Gala Sinha
Founder, Mann Deshi Mahila Sahakari Bank
& Ashoka Fellow

Mr CV Madhukar
Founder, PRS Legislative Research & Co-Founder, Akshara Foundation
& Ashoka Fellow

Mr Dilip Ranjekar
CEO, Azim Premji Foundations

Dr Joe Madiath
Founder & Executive Director, Gram Vikas
& Skoll Social Entrepreneur

Mr KC Shashidhar
Chief General Manager, NABARD, Jharkhand

Mr Keerti Bhusan Pradhan
Head of Programs - India Office, Right to Sight

Dr Pradip Sarmah
Director, Centre for Rural Development
& Ashoka Fellow

Mr Pravin Mahajan
Founder & Executive Director, Janarth

Mr Rajiv Khandelwal
Director, Aajeevika Bureau
& Ashoka Fellow

Mr S Shivkumar
Chief Executive, ITC Agri Business - E-Choupal

Mr Samit Ghosh
CEO, Ujjivan

Mr Solomon Jaiprakash
Founder & Chief Executive, Maya Organic*
* awaiting confirmation

Ms Sushmita Ghosh
President Emeritus, Ashoka: Innovators for the Public

Dr Vanita Viswanath
CEO, Udyogini

Mr Ved Arya
Managing Trustee, SRIJAN
& Ashoka Fellow

Mr Venkat Changavalli
CEO, EMRI - Emergency Management & Research Instt

Mr Verghese Jacob
Lead Partner, Byrraju Foundation

Mr Vijay Mahajan
Founder & CEO, BASIX
& Senior Ashoka Fellow

Posted By The Theme to XLRI Jamshedpur - News and Latest Updates at 12/24/2008

XLRI's Prof HK Pradhan prepares Theme Paper for UN's Doha Summit

Nov 27 (Hindustan Times): The XLRI, Jamshedpur, will have its presence felt during the United Nation's Conference on Financing for Development to review the implementation of the Monetory Consensus at Doha (Qatar). The conference is scheduled between November 29and December l. Professor of finance and economics at the institute, Dr H K Pradhan, has been preparing the main paper for the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), which will be presented at the international conference that assumes significance in view of the global recession.

Dr Pradhan, who was associated with the Commonwealth Secretariat for two years, is the only Indian involved in the theme paper of ESCAP.He has visited 20 countries across the globe on important assignments.

Speaking to the Hindustan Times, Dr Pradhan said that the theme paper lays enumerates that the world economy must adjust to a lower level of equilibrium and the asset price inflation should correct itself, but not at the cost of losing the financial institution. "Government and central banks must work towards ensuring the development of soundly managed and adequately capitalised banking system that can safely and efficiently intermediate between savers and investors.At the country level, there is a need for stronger institutional arrangements, discouraging all forms of speculations in the financial markets, excessive risk taking, requiring stable macro-economic policy and encouraging productive investments in the real economy," said Pradhan.

He also said that the paper has put forward a proposal for establishing Asian Monetary Fund (AMF) in Asia, a regional currency fund to provide emergency support during a currency for liquidity crisis in Asia, especially in the light of the financial turmoil.

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Posted By Madhukar to XLRI Jamshedpur - News and Latest Updates at 11/30/2008

XLRI shines in season of campus gloom

From The Times of India

KOLKATA: XLRI, Jamshedpur, seems to have bucked the global meltdown that has not spared the likes of the IIMs and IITs. The highest international
stipend (for two months) is the same as last years record of Rs 5 lakh and the average stipend has risen by over 55% from Rs 48,000 to Rs 85,000 for 2009.

Better still, the number of students bagging a stipend of Rs 1 lakh-plus has jumped from 14 to 45. The icing on the cake: international offers have shot up from 5 in 2008 to 22 for 2009.

The only casualty of the meltdown is the highest domestic stipend, which has slipped from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh. No more than a bruising blow, when many others have taken a knockout hit. The number of recruiters who turned up for summer placements increased by 32 from last year.

Top financial banks like Lehmann Brothers (which offered the highest stipend last year), Robo Bank and Calyon Bank stayed away but no surprise there.

Over 200 internship offers were made for a batch of 180 students with 15% of the profiles being offered internationally in North America, Europe, South-East Asia, and West Asia by over 70 recruiters.

The highest international stipend was offered by a Wall Street investment bank for its trading desk in Hong Kong while the highest domestic stipend was offered by an investment bank, again, for a position in Mumbai, said Jeevan Kumar, secretary of XLRI's placement committee. And, The Carlyle Group, now the largest private equity player in the world, once again chose XLRI as its exclusive domestic recruitment destination.

So, what's the secret? "We had invited carbon trading companies like Cantor C2E and commodity exchange companies like MCX for summer placements. And, for the first time, brand consulting companies participated too,'' said Rajiv Mishra, XLRI's placement committee chairperson. "XLRI offers a unique dual management, both in marketing and finance. So, the meltdown did not affect us as much.''

Finance sector top draw at XLRI summer placement

From the Financial Express
Updated: Nov 20, 2008 at 2356 hrs IST

Despite the gloom, the financial sector was the one to pick up the largest number of students from XLRI for summer 2009 internships here on Wednesday.

Seventy-four companies came to recruit for 2009, compared with 58 for 2008. This goes to show that the corporate sector still has a lot to offer.

Again, the highest stipend for international internship was offered by a

Wall Street investment bank for its trading desk in Hong Kong—a package in excess of Rs 5 lakh for the 8-10 weeks’ internship period.

The highest domestic stipend stood at Rs 3 lakh, which also came from an investment bank at the Mumbai desk.

The 74 companies offered 214 internships (202 for 2008) at an average stipend of Rs 85,000 (Rs 48,000 for 2008) to the batch of 180 students.

While the number of companies willing to pay stipends over Rs 1 lakh was at 45, compared with 14 for 2008, the number of first-time recruiters was also higher at 32, compared with 12.

“The spectacular growth on all counts, i.e. internships, locations, stipends, etc in a year marked with various crises signifies the strength enjoyed by XLRI as the most preferred recruitment destination for all recruiters,” said Prof Rajiv Misra, chairperson, placement committee.

From XLRI’s 115 business management students available for summer 2009 internships, the financial sector picked up 41 (35.7%) candidates, marketing sector 31 (27%), general management 25 (21.7%) and consulting firms 18 (15.7%).

The B-school’s 63-odd personnel management & industrial relations (PM&IR) students too have been placed well, with Novartis offering unique HR roles in their leadership programme based out of Basel (Switzerland).

The Al Ghanim group offered HR roles in Kuwait with HUL, Procter & Gamble offering similar roles in there global offices in Singapore and other global locations and the Aditya Birla group offering internship positions at Atlanta (US).

The private equity and investment banking space saw the participation of JP Morgan Chase, which recruited for international desks as well.

Lazard, a first-time participant, recruited exclusively from XLRI for its Mumbai operations, with the Carlyle group, now the largest private equity player in the world, once again choosing the B-school as its exclusive domestic recruitment destination.

Edelweiss Capital, Allegro Advisors and SBI Capital represented the Indian investment banking industry.