XLRI alumni set for homecoming with ethical recharge

Jamshedpur, Nov 14 (Financial Express): In a world where alomost everyone wants to earn more profit by any means, the alumni of XLRI, spread all over the country and abroad, are set to gather here for the fourth 'homecoming' this Saturday. Amid fun and nostalgia, they will recharge themselves with ethics, values and care for the society at large--things they learned here during their student days.

"It's a homecoming where they touch trees and visit fond places of their student days…" said Bushen Raina, president of the National Alumni Association of XLRI.

Like the previous three occasions, this year too around 250 former students representing six decades of the B-School will be here. They will also be representing various famous groups and companies spread across the world.

"Focus on ethics, values and the society at large that the institute inculcated in us are very important tenets to become successful as managers," said Raina, himself an XLRI student of the 1973 batch.

During the first 'homecoming' in 2004, a debate on 'Ethics in business is an oxymoron!' was organised. Wipro CEO Azim Premji and ex-CEO of Indal/Haldia Petrochemicals Tapan Mitra were among the panelists. This year, the debate will be on 'Entrepreneurs: Carpetbaggers or Nation-Builders', and the four-member panel will include E Sarathbabu (founder of Food King Catering Services Pvt Ltd), Manish Sabharwal (founder & CEO of TeamLease Services), S Sivakumar (chief executive, ITC agribusiness/e-choupal) and Anjan Dutt (a social and cultural entrepreneur-cum-director/producer). Business World deputy editor Rajeev Dubey will act as the moderator.

According to Prof Madhukar Shukla, OB & strategic management teacher at the B-School, even today every batch is sent to interiors of Jharkhand/Orissa for a month to gather experience on rural economy and to help people residing there. These trips are arranged in association with NGOs.

An XLRI team had recently designed a model course for computer-illiterate young people of Jamshedpur to give them an idea of how to operate a computer.

"Priests used to play a major role in our education here by way of setting examples by offering their services to society," recalled Radhakrishnan Nair (a 1984 batch student), chief human resource officer of Tata Steel.

The National Alumni Association and its Jamshedpur Chapter have set up the XLRI Social Entrepreneurship Trust, a registered one, enabling the alumni to contribute for good causes.

The association is set to institute the Distinguished Alumni Award from next year, criterion for which will be laid down and announced during the November 17-18 meet.

Posted by Madhukar at 12:13 PM 0 comments

XLRI set for varsity status

From The Telegraph

Jamshedpur, Nov. 13: XLRI School of Business and Human Resources is set to get deemed university status.

XLRI director Father N. Casimir Raj told The Telegraph: “UGC has agreed in principle to grant us deemed university status.”

He, however, clarified that that though a verbal assurance has come from the University Grants Commission, the business school is yet to receive a formal notification.

“UGC has verbally told us that in principle they agree to our proposal for deemed university status which was sent about a year ago. Now we will pursue the matter so that the written confirmation reaches as soon as possible. We will then apply for a no-objection certificate (NOC),” Fr Raj said.

An NOC from the state government is a must for any institute to begin autonomous operations.

At present, Birla Institute of Technology (BIT), Mesra, and Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, are the other deemed universities in the state.

Explaining the benefits of a deemed university, the director said the move would give XLRI the freedom to start various undergraduate courses on its own.

“There was a demand for undergraduate courses for quite sometime, but we were not too keen to go in with Ranchi University. Deemed university status will help us pursue our own courses,” he said.

Some of the new courses the B-school wishes to introduce are Bachelor in Computer Applications (BCA), Bachelor in Business Administration (BBA), BSc in Information Technology (BSc, IT) and a degree in agricultural engineering.

With the new status, XLRI can also award degrees to students instead of the regular post-graduate diplomas that it confers now.

It would get help from the Centre and the UGC in pursuing research projects, which are self-funded now.

The business school is also looking forward to receiving outstation students in Jamshedpur at the undergraduate level and also stop the exodus to some extent.

“It’s not possible to bring in change overnight, but if an institute of XLRI’s repute begins a course at the undergraduate level, we can expect at least some percentage of students from the state. We can also get students from outside the state to come to Jharkhand for higher education,” Fr Raj said.

BIT Sindri has also applied for deemed university status, said Fr Raj, who is the chairman of its board of governors.

Alumni Homecoming - A Curtain Raiser

Hello folks!

Thanks to all who have registered, and for the info for others who haven't....

Here is the glimpse...

Like the previous 3 years, we will be organising the 4th Annual XLRI Alumni Homecoming on the coming weekend (Nov 17-18, '07). This annual event brings some alumni from across six decades back to the alma mater, representing different geographies, and companies.

I will be sharing the schedule of the day with you later, but this is to block your dates and to invite you for the Panel Discussion which is part of the agenda.

Besides appraising the alumni and the interactions, the panel discussion is one of the main events of the Homecoming, which will be held in the evening in the Tata Auditorium (Nov 17th, 6:30pm). Every year we select a contemporary issue and invite practitioners from the field to share their thoughts and experience on the issue.

This year the topic for panel is Entrepreneurs: Carpetbaggers or Nation-Builders?

The purpose of the Panel is to profile the entrepreneurs/ entrepreneurial ventures (from various sectors) whose work also aims at initiating systemic changes in the society.

1. Mr E Sarathbabu (the young IIMA graduate who founded the Food King Catering Services Pvt Ltd. to create employment)
...from the 2006 batch of IIMA, he created a stir when he refused a high-paying job at the campus, and decided to start his own enterprise, The Foodking Catering Services. The vision of his enterprise states (http://foodkingindia.com/). He was inspired by his mother who brought him and his sibling up by working in the mid-day meal scheme and selling sold idlis on the pavements of Chennai. Inaugurated by the Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy, Foodking has grown from a small kiosk to six branches (four in Ahmedabad and one each in BITS Pilani campuses in Pilani and Goa).

2. Mr Manish Sabharwal, Founder & CEO, TeamLease Services,
...is the Chairman and co-founder of Teamlease Services, India’s largest temporary staffing firm with over 75,000 employees in 675 cities locations across India. He is also a member of the Planning Commission steering committee on labor and employment for the Eleventh five year plan (2007-12) and is a member of the CII core group on labor reforms.

3. Mr S Sivakumar, Chief Executive ITC - Agri-Business/e-Choupal
...the CEO of the Rs.3,500/- division, he is also the brain behind the largest internet-based initiative in rural India. 'e-Choupal' services today reach out to more than 3.5 million farmers growing a range of crops - soyabean, coffee, wheat, rice, pulses, shrimp - in over 38,500 villages through nearly 6500 kiosks across nine states...

4. Mr Anjan Dutt, Socio-Cultural Entrepreneur, Director/Producer of “The Bong Connection” & “Bow Barrack Forever”
...is a pioneer in Bengali music, and a multi-faceted artist who is a singer, composer, actor and director. He is the producer/director of the cross-over films like “The Bong Connection” and “Bow Barrack Forever”, besides working for Films such as “Mr & Mrs Iyer”, “City ofJoy”, Yugant”, “Antareen” etc. He is known to have rejuvenated the Bengali music by blending it with the modern and contemporary culure and social issues (e.g., his songs about the killing of Christian Missionaries in Orissa, Bandra Blues, etc.)

5. Mr Rajeev Dubey, Dy Editor, Business World will moderate the discussions

more to come

;0)

madhukar

Top companies hire XLRI grads for summer internships

MBAUniverse.com Bureau

Nov 12, 2007

Jamshedpur based XLRI has completed its summer placement process for internships in summer of 2008. The process was a success with the crème-de-la-crème of the corporate world vying for the talents, informs XLRI.

The profiles offered were varied, from Hedge Funds to Retail Banking, Strategy Consulting to Human Resources, and Branding to Operations.

With domestic stipends reaching astronomical heights of Rs. 5 Lakhs, offered by Lehman Brothers, the process resulted in the batch of 2009 being placed in roles with the leading companies in the industry, both from India and abroad. Lehman Brothers, J P Morgan Chase, Hay and Microsoft offered stipends of more than Rs 1 lakh for domestic offers. Novartis, HUL, ABG, P&G, Transworld, Asian Paints and ICICI made foreign offers.

HSBC, Ernst & Young, ABG, Edelweiss, Deloitte Consulting, IBM and Nokia were the largest recruiters this year with the highest number of accepted offers. Other premier recruiters include Carlyle, Accenture Business Consulting, KPMG, TAS, Yahoo etc.

At XLRI, 27% of the students signed up for summer placements in the Finance sector. Lehman Investment Banking, EightCapital Hedge Fund, Indea Capital, Lotus Asset Management, J P Morgan Chase, The Carlyle Group, Edelweiss, Rabo Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Citi Bank, Standard Chartered, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and SBI Capital Markets were some of the coveted companies that picked up XLRI grads.

Says XLRI, "We today boast of a faculty size of twenty in the area of Finance and Economics, which is unrivalled across B-school campuses in India. This long term vision of XLRI has produced excellent results in terms of the recruiters visiting XLRI."

According to XLRI, 21 % of the summer offers come from consulting companies including KPMG Consulting, Ernst & Young Human Capital, Hay Group, Hewitt Associates, Mercer Consulting, Accenture Business Consulting, Deloitte Consulting and IBM Business Consulting, Price Waterhouse Coopers and Tishman Speyers International Consulting.

In the domain of marketing organizations like Asian Paints, Britannia, Cadbury, Coke, Colgate Palmolive, GlaxoSmithKline, HUL, ITC, Johnson & Johnson, Marico, Nestle, P&G, Pepsi and Reckitt Benckiser offered summer jobs. In all, 37% of the students signed out with offers from FMCG / Manufacturing firms.

Says Professor Uday Damodaran, Chairperson of the Placement Committee, XLRI, "The challenge of running a placement system is one of continuously catering to the changing preferences/ needs of the students and recruiters. Reflecting the changing preferences of students all over, at XLRI too we saw- this year- a larger proportion of students interested in taking up summer assignments in the finance domain/ consultancy sector. To the credit of the student Placement Committee, they have been able to successfully address the needs of the students who participated in the summer internship programme."

XLRI Students Start Computor Training for Tribal Villagers

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071112/asp/jharkhand/story_8537938.asp

http://xlri.blogspot.com/

Monday, November 12, 2007

XLRI Students Start Computor Training for Tribal Villagers

Jamshedpur, Nov. 11 (The Telegraph): Residents of Dorkasai village might not have touched a computer. But some of them would set a dose of IT and that too from the prestigious XLRI.

This morning marked a beginning for about 50 tribals — youths and children — from the village in Potka block, as they attended the B-school’s first basic computer literacy programme.

XLRI students would teach the tribal students on the campus. The batch comprises of students in the age group of 15 to 26.

Secretary of the Social Initiative Group for Managerial Assistance at XLRI said they got the idea to organise such classes after a field trip.

“During our village exposure programme a year ago, some villagers in Dorkasai expressed their desire to learn computers. They asked our students to come there and teach,” said Victor Prasad, secretary of the students’ body.

The XLRI students returned from the village but could not leave behind the request of the villagers.

“Then we thought if we cannot go there, why can’t the villagers come here (to Jamshedpur),” added Victor.

The initiative took a big leap when XLRI tied up with Gram Vikas Kendra, an NGO under the aegis of Tata Motors, to carry on the project. Loyola Project School and XLRI’s information technology wing Socrates also joined the venture.

The basic programme has 12 modules of three hours each. Thought the tribal students would have to travel from their village to the steel city for the weekly classes, their travelling expenses would be reimbursed. Dorkasai is about, 12km from Jamshedpur.

About 50 students from nearby areas would also join the group from Potka. These students are being brought in under a Loyola project.

An advanced module would follow the present course.

Swaranjali @ XLRI - invitation to alumni

SPICMACAY

presents

Swaranjali

A celebration of Indian music and dance

Programme

November 12, 2007, 8:00 pm onwards

Celebrated flutist Pandit Ronu Majumdar

November 13, 2007, 7:00 pm onwards

Renowned Kathak exponent Dr Malabika Mitra

Eminent Sarod player Parthosarodi

Venue

TATA Auditorium, XLRI School of Business & Human Resources

Free Entry.

You are cordially invited to attend.

Summer Placements Blaze at XLRI

http://xlri.blogspot.com/2007/11/summer-placements-blaze-at-xlri.html

The Summer Placement Process at XLRI was a resounding success, with the crème-de-la-crème of the corporate world vying for the best talents of this country. The profiles offered were varied, from Hedge Funds to Retail Banking, Strategy Consulting to Human Resources, and Branding to Operations.

With domestic stipends reaching astronomical heights of Rs. 5 Lakhs (Lehman Brothers), the process resulted in the batch of 2009 being placed in exclusive roles with the best companies in the industry, both from India and abroad. Lehman Brothers, J P Morgan Chase, Hay and Microsoft offered stipends of more than a lakh (for domestic offers), while Novartis, HUL, ABG, P&G, Transworld, Asian Paints and ICICI made foreign offers. HSBC, Ernst & Young, ABG, Edelweiss, Deloitte Consulting, IBM and Nokia were the largest recruiters this year with the highest number of accepted offers. Other premier recruiters include Carlyle, Accenture Business Consulting, KPMG, TAS, Yahoo etc.

XLRI makes Inroads into Finance & Economics

XLRI’s core strength lies in its fundamentals of Faculty and Student Quality. XLRI today boasts of a faculty size of twenty in the area of Finance and Economics, which is unrivalled across B-school campuses in India. This long term vision of XLRI has produced excellent results in terms of the recruiters visiting XLRI such as Lehman Investment Banking, EightCapital Hedge Fund, Indea Capital, Lotus Asset Management, in addition to the premier traditional recruiters like J P Morgan Chase, The Carlyle Group, Edelweiss, Rabo Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Citi Bank, Standard Chartered, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and SBI Capital Markets. 27% of the students signed out with offers from the Finance sector.

The Top Consults prefer XLRI

XLRI strengthened its relationships with the Consulting Prima Donnas with 21% of the offers coming from KPMG Consulting, Ernst & Young Human Capital, Hay Group, Hewitt Associates, Mercer Consulting, Accenture Business Consulting, Deloitte Consulting and IBM Business Consulting. The consulting clique was further enriched by the esteemed additions of Price Waterhouse Coopers and Tishman Speyers International Consulting.

The Place to be for Marketing Professionals

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, HUL, ITC, Johnson & Johnson, Marico, Nestle, P&G, Pepsi and Reckitt Benckiser. 37% of the students signed out with offers from FMCG / Manufacturing firms.

The legendary leadership of XLRI in HR and Marketing is now being rivalled by its solid reputation in the Finance and Consulting Areas. The motto of ‘Excellence and Integrity’ has shone through in the quality of students and companies in the Internship process, the best of Corporate India vied among itself to offer challenging and rewarding roles to the students.

Professor Uday Damodaran, Chairperson of the Placement Committee, commenting on the successful completion of the Summer Internship Process, had this to say “The challenge of running a placement system is one of continuously catering to the changing preferences/ needs of the students and recruiters. Reflecting the changing preferences of students all over, at XLRI too we saw- this year- a larger proportion of students interested in taking up summer assignments in the finance domain/ consultancy sector. To the credit of the student Placement Committee, they have been able to successfully address the needs of the students who participated in the summer internship programme”

Summer Placements 2008 @ XLRI - Highlights

• Highest Domestic Stipend of Rs 5 Lakhs by Lehman Investment Banking
• Highest International Stipend of Rs 1.75 Lakhs by Novartis
• Around 10 overseas offers were made from Novartis, HUL, ABG, P&G, Transworld, Asian Paints and ICICI
• 2/3^rd of the batch placed in Slot 1 in less than 36 hours
• First time recruiters in the Financial sector include Lehman Investment Banking, 8 Capital Hedge Fund, Indea Capital, Lotus Asset Management etc
• 20 companies took part in the process for the First time
• 60+ companies made internship offers to the batch

Sector Wise Breakup

Sector	Accepted Offers	Percentage
Finance	48	27.0%
Consulting	37	20.8%
Marketing	66	37.1%
Systems	22	12.3%
Other	5	2.8%
Total	178	100%