Parichay: XLRI Students as Entrepreneurs

Sept 23, (Business Standard): Students at XLRI Jamshedpur have formed a venture to link tribal artisans and rural craftsmen with the mainstream market, to increase margins.

Six XLRI students have set up a ‘design and learning centre’ for development of contemporary products using ancient art and craft. The centre will act as a learning centre for the rural and tribal craftsmen. The craftsmen will be encouraged to produce superior quality products. Two professionals designers have been hired for the purpose.

The incubation fund of Rs 3 lakh has been provided by the the XLRI Alumni Association, Jamshedpur chapter, through XLRI Social Entrepreneurship Trust. The venture has now been converted into a legal partnership firm.

XLRI Jamshedpur supported a group of six first-year students to start Parichay.co.in, a portal to link tribal artisans with the mainstream market and provide them a platform to reach out to connoisseurs of art across the world. “We at XLRI thought of supporting them with the initial funds required to put the project in place,” reasoned Madhukar Shukla, XLRI faculty.

“We are planning to take Parichay beyond Jamshedpur. The plan is to set up such design and learning centres in multiple locations to tap the potential everywhere. The approximate requirement for the expansion is about Rs 90 lakh,” another team member said.

The Parichay team is designing design prototypes for the product line. The team is also planning exhibitions of the product range at various platforms like Ishanya Mall, a specialised mall in Pune for home and office décor, and at Dastkar, a society for crafts and craftsmen that aims to improve the economic status of craftspeople.

XLRI Dean publishes 4th Book

Jamshedpur, Sept. 22: To have a better understanding of the Indian market, B-school students need more books written by Indian authors. Keeping this in mind, Pingali Venugopal, the dean (academics) of XLRI, finished his fourth book Sales and Distribution: An Indian Perspective.

The book will be released by Sage Publication on September 24.

In the book, Venugopal dealt with marketing strategies like customer centric approach in the Indian market. India has become a lucrative market for many multinational companies but there are some unique characteristics of the market, which throws up variety of challenges. The book offers guidance how to cope with these challenges....

“Although there are many books for management students available in the market, a greater percentage of them are by foreign authors. The marketing scenario varies from country to country. Unlike European and other foreign countries, the market in India is different and thus needs a separate study. The rising need of Indian authors motivated me to start writing on my subject,” said Venugopal.

Venugopal is a postgraduate from IIM, Ahmedabad, and is a professor of marketing at XLRI since 1994. He is the visiting lecturer at IIM Ahmedabad, Calcutta and Lucknow and in American University of Armenia.

The other three books by Venugopal are Marketing Channel Management: A Customer Centric Approach, Managing Your Sales Force: A Motivational Approach and State of the Indian Farmer: A Millenium Study.
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International Experts on XLRI Board

Jamshedpur, Sept. 7: In keeping with its global ambitions, XLRI has decided to include experts from international institutions in its board of governors.

In the initial phase of the move, a first among B-schools in India, XLRI has received two confirmations: Francis Estrada, president, Asian Institute of Management, Manila, and Abol Jalilvand, dean and professor of Finance, School of Business Administration, Loyola University, Chicago, have agreed to be a part of the 21-member board of governors.

“The mantra for success of any institution is to think beyond India. All the universities I have got in touch with have responded positively. There could have been no better time than this because this is the time when the foreign market wants to tap the potential in India because of the economic boom,” said XLRI director Father E. Abraham about the move.

Estrada and Jalilvand would be inducted into the board after a meeting on November 15.