XLRI's Global Consultancy Thrust

Jamshedpur, Dec. 29 (The Telegraph):After a successful run in the home turf as consultants for corporates, the B-school is pitching in for assignments abroad.

XLRI, a premier institute, is making an attempt to make optimum use of their visiting faculty members in Singapore and Dubai.

“Though it is tough, we will target small and medium enterprises in Singapore and the Gulf region,” says Father Casimir Raj, director at XLRI.

The institute is being proactive to sell “brand XLRI” to international corporate houses that are not very familiar with it.

Recently the director of the institute made presentations to companies in Singapore showcasing their experience in consultancy.

Facing competition against global consultants is an uphill task admits Father, but the institute will definitely be in the race, he adds.

Currently, companies approach the B-school for consultancy in organisational re-structure, either overall or in specific areas like human resources, finance and supply chain.

A team of faculty members with expertise in the area work on the project. And the fee charged is divided in the ratio of 6:4 between the faculty team and institute. Currently, the B-school earns about Rs 3 crore annually by providing consultancy.

The plan to rope in foreign companies has an additional advantage, besides profit, say professors. “Once we handle such a project in a multinational company, we will have hands on experience of dealing in a multi-cultural environment, and can add these inputs to our students,” says professor A.K. Pani, chairperson of information systems area and centre for e-business at XLRI.

Focus on Needs of Society - XLRI Alumni for Revamping Syllabus

Jamshedpur, Dec. 27 (The Telegraph): Corporate honchos today emphasised on the need to develop a “socially responsible course” in B-schools.

Over 70 senior executives expressed this opinion while attending a panel discussion in XLRI on “Industry, global business trends and implications for B-school” organised by the alumni cell.

“There is a need to develop a comprehensive course structure keeping in mind the needs of today’s society. B-schools need to move from producing managers to producing social entrepreneurs,” said Rekha Menon, the executive director with Accenture, and an alumnus of XLRI.

Other alumni panelists included Bijou Kurien, CEO of Reliance Retail; Anita Madhok, Dean, Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies; C Selvan, Global Head of Innovations, British Petroleum; and Anup Kuruvilla, Director (Global Loan Products) of Salomon Smith Barney.

The session with the alumni was organised as a part of XLRI's initiative to review the syllabus and structure of its programs.

“We are in the process of looking into the curriculum (at XLRI). In fact, we are looking for a course structure that is in tandem with societal needs,” said Sharad Sarin, professor of marketing and general management at XLRI and the moderator of the panel discussion.

XLRI to Teach Overseas

The Telegraph, Jamshedpur, Dec. 9: XLRI is once again ready to cross international borders.

From next year, the B-school would extend its renowned satellite-based management programme beyond Indian shores.

Targeted at company executives and corporates, the course currently available in 30 Indian cities, would cater to international students for the first time.

“We have decided to begin with the satellite-based interactive distance learning programme by next year. Work is on to chalk out the details of the course based on industry demands,” said P. Venugopal, dean of academics at XLRI.

The course which would initially be launched across the Middle East would later be extended to Singapore and other areas.

Right now XLRI is using the network and services set up by Hughes Escorts Communications Ltd (HECL) under the brand name Direcway. A similar set up is likely to come up for the international programme as well.

This interactive programme is run on the satellite-based interactive distance learning technological platform and enables students from different locations to have a direct interaction with a central instructor.

The course also entails live broadcast video and two way audio and data interactivity.

The programme would initially begin with XLRI’s two flagship courses — business management and personal management and industrial relations — and would be extended to other faculties in the future.

“We are working on it and if feasible, we will extend this programme for specialised courses like logistics and supply chain management also,” added Venugopal.

Banks yet to learn risk handling

he Indian banking sector is yet to mature in terms of its risk management policies and other RBI compliances. This statement reflected the collective mood of the house at the National Banking Symposium in XLRI today, which dwelt at length on the various risk management strategies for banks.

Organised by Finax, the finance association at XLRI, in association with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), the session provided an insight to management students about different aspects of the banking sector, which, along with other financial institutions, attracts a large number of graduates during placements.

“We need to understand the banking sector as it is one of the fastest growing sectors. So we felt the need to organise such a symposium,” said Gaurabh Vallabh, an XLRI faculty.

Delegates from IDBI Bank, UTI Bank, ICICI Bank, Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda, Tata Steel and accredited chartered accountants from Jamshedpur also attended the symposium. “There is a great demand for risk management professionals now because of business competitiveness and compliance needs,” said Mohan Bhatia, senior principal consultant, i-flex solutions.

This was echoed by B.M. Mittal, chief general manager, Punjab National Bank, who said: “Indian banks need to put together an enormous data to implement Basel II by 2009. Expertise may be hired but data collection is a huge exercise.”

As an incentive, two cash prizes for students were announced for the best session analysis.

XLRI Hosts Panel Discussion as a part of IT Conference

“Business Innovation through IT: Myth or Reality?” This was the topic of the Panel Discussion held as a part of the ongoing National IT Conference at XLRI. Stalwarts from the industry – Mr. Shivakant Mokashi, CIO, TATA Steel; Mr. Debapriya Dasgupta, Director & Chief Architect, Cognizant; Mr. Kumbhkar, Business Consultant, TATA Technologies; Eminent Academicians – Mr. Sharad Sarin and Mr. Jeetu Singh debated the capability of IT as a source of sustained competitive advantage rather than just being a support tool.

Mr. Mokashi discussed about the history of IT and how large computations can be given simple solutions with its help. With the help of Sub-titles below the Chitrahaar songs, IT helped in increasing the literacy. Mr. Dasgupta stressed on Innovation Capacity which defines the percentage of money invested in IT which is used finally for innovation. One needs to serve the client in depth and make them understand how valuable is it to understand the customer and that requires one to be in the thought process of the client for innovation with IT. Mr. Kumbhakar discussed about IT as a conglomerate of ERP, word processing and web services. He also mentioned about the behavioural, economical and technical differentiation of IT business and also the use of IT as a tool. He also mentioned about the limitations of IT.

Prof. Sarin appreciated the use of IT in Marketing and its support in the fundamentals of Better Served-Better Choice-Better Informed customer. He gave example of WalMart, Asian Paints, HLL and American Airlines. But he criticised IT for not being user friendly. According to him, IT has not been fully used for Innovation. Prof. Jeetu Singh was the host for the discussion and made some interesting comments throughout. The panel was then open for questions from the audience who enthusiastically raised issues from different arenas of business world. Various arguments and counter-arguments were raised which resulted in a lively and fruitful event. Students from various B-Schools who are participating in the event felt enlightened after this discussion as NITS being one of the foremost IT conference across top Indian B-Schools.

16TH Annual JRD Tata Oration On Business Ethics

On the occasion of the 16th JRD Tata Oration on Ethics in Business, XLRI hosted Mr Subroto Bagchi, COO, Mindtree Consulting, along with Mr. Muthuraman, MD, Tata Steel. Mr. Bagchi spoke about integrity and defined it in extremely simple terms as ‘the opposite of dishonesty’. He felt that integrity is a very abstract concept and has an indirect correlation with the desire to succeed in life at all costs. Therefore, it is the intelligent urban mind which crosses the line of integrity rather than the primitive, rural and less affluent person who lives in a state of innocence.
In India, he believes, traditionally, it is the middle class which has been the protector of the genetic equivalent of the idea called integrity and it is they who have tried to pass this idea from one generation to another because they had to ‘uphold the values’. However, now it is the same middle class which lives in a scarcity mindset. From school seats to hospital beds to jobs in government offices, there is a scarcity which forces the person to devise ways to succeed at all costs. Being intelligent, he convinces himself that what he is doing is right and thus, he soon becomes an expert at it. It slowly becomes a game for him, he gets addicted and it creates a high for him each time he gets the satisfaction of winning by ‘buying out’ someone.
Mr Bagchi’s speech was filled with interesting examples from his personal interactions with people. He failed to understand as to why well educated people, gave in to the disease of bribery and dishonesty and at the same time did not find anything wrong with it. He belonged to a family, wherein integrity was of foremost importance. The values and ideals imbibed in him by his father and the extreme honesty witnessed by him in his childhood have remained with him till date, as a result of which he has dismissed very capable and highly qualified employees from his company on the grounds of integrity.
According to the data collected by Transparency International, petty acts of bribery in India amounts to Rs. 21,068 crores which, if saved, consecutively for three years, can fund the Golden Quadrilateral Project which is of prime importance to India.
In Mindtree Consulting, they give a copy of the book ‘All about Integrity’ to new recruits in order to imbibe in them the culture of the organization and to ensure that integrity becomes a part of their functioning.
Mr Bagchi left us with some very insightful thoughts. He told us not to lose our morality, even if life mistreats us and we feel victimized. He also reminded us not to expect a rainbow at the end of the journey, just because we have led a life of values. There might be no cheering crowds, no festooned high ground and no decorations. However, in the end, all that matters is how we look at ourselves in our own eyes.

XLRI Organizes National Banking Symposium in association with ICAI

XLRI School of Business and Human Resources in association with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India is set to stage the ‘National Banking Symposium’ (NBS) on “Risk Management Strategies for Banks” on 5th of December, 2006.

It will be the first time that XLRI hosts the National Banking Symposium. It is also the first time that XLRI and ICAI have come together for such an event. The event would serve as a forum for interaction between financial intermediaries and academicians and would also help to throw light on the critical issues faced by the Indian Banking regime in the present scenario. In addition, the symposium would also serve to understand the new dimensions of risk management in the Indian Banking sector space.

The event will see participation from various dignitaries from diverse financial domains spanning regulatory bodies, leading banks and consulting firms, who will enlighten the audience with their views on the Banking Industry. Some of the Speakers at the event are:

• Mr B.M. Mittal, CGM, Punjab National Bank
• Mr Kalyan Debnath, Executive VP, Peerless Investment Group
• Mr Mohan Bhatia, Sr. Principal Consultant, I Flex Solutions
• Mr B. Sekkizhar, FCA, Independent Consultant, Kenexa Technologies


The National Banking Symposium is being organized with the aim of propelling discussion on the themes of current relevance to the Banking Sector. In the light of the recent RBI regulations regarding BASEL II norms, the various risk characteristics of Indian banks become even more important. The specific areas which have been identified for discussion are Market Risk, Credit Risk, Operational Risk and Risk Management and BASEL II.

The event will see an audience comprising of Finance Professionals and Industry experts from across the country, faculty and students of XLRI and representatives from industries in Jamshedpur and Kolkatta.

XLRI wins the CRISIL Young Thought Awards 2006

XLRI has won the prestigious CRISIL young thought leaders awards, 2006. These awards are for the best dissertations by B-School students, and as the quality of dissertations is reflective of both the students’ ability and the Institutional infrastructure to guide them, it is another strong indicator of the leadership position that XLRI has established for itself.
This year there were 10 topics of various domains, topical issues in finance on the banking sector, personal tax, operational risk and on how to tackle issues hindering overall development like rural infrastructure. XLRI won 4 of the total 10 awards. The winners from XL were Nitin Dhawan, Rahul Singh, Saurabh Mishra and Madan Mohan. Other prominent winners included IIMA and IIMB with one award each. XLRI also won the CRISIL young thought leader trophy, an award for the ‘overall best b-school’.
Commenting on the competition, one of the winners, Madan Mohan had to say that the CYTL competition was unique as “clear cut topics were given and the paper was expected to be analytical and research based.” In fact, the success of XLRI students in many of these competitions can be, in part, attributed to the institution as well. Another winner, Nitin Dhawan said, “Its a great honor for me to be selected for CYTL given the fact that the event holds so much recognition both in the industry as well as academia. This has been made possible by the consistent guidance and feedback received from the faculty members of the institute.”
XLRI has had several other successes as well. It won the prestigious TATA Board room award, which involved a simulation of a multi billion dollar automotive company tackling the European markets. This contest proposed to settle the age old question of which b-school produced the best managers!!
What is noteworthy is that unlike most other institutes; the first years are competing on an equal footing and winning. The XL team won the overall third prize for excellence in IIM A-Confluence, the only 1st year team to win the excellence award in IIM A.
The young guns of XL have set the stage for their continued dominance in the years to come

XLRI Organizes National IT Seminar ( NITS) 2006

XLRI is hosting its annual IT seminar, NITS from Dec 2nd-3rd. The biggest such event across all b-schools , it seeks to bridge business and technology by bringing business and the business leaders of tomorrow on one platform.
The first event in NITS was Xhume, the online quiz which was held between 27th Nov-2nd Dec. It witnessed participation of over 1500 enthusiasts .Apart from the top Indian b-schools, we also saw participation form top international schools like Cornell University, USA, INSTEAD, Paris and Norway University. This is the only b-school quiz which is open to the general public, and several participants from Oracle, UBS and other corporates as well as b-school aspirants slogged it out for the prizes.
The main events got underway with the inauguration of the seminar by Mr. Subroto Bagchi, the COO and Co-founder, Mindtree Consulting. He spoke on the importance of convergence and how simultaneity, a state of being where business needs to be more agile and robust in their response to the emerging challenges and how IT is the enabler to overcome these challenges.
IBM Xpress, the paper presentation contest was held during the afternoon, and the winners were XLRI Jamshedpur and SCMHRD. Forthcoming events include Blitzkrieg which is a 24 hour debate contest, XQuizitive the Business quiz, and a gaming contest.
A guest lecture by Mr. Sreejit Roy, Senior Consultant IBM global services on Corporate Success Stories: A consultant’s perspective. This talk will focus on the careers in consulting, and will be followed by Infosys Xplicate
The panel discussion on Business innovation through IT will feature stalwarts like Mr. Shivkant Mokashi, CIO Tata Steel and Mr. Debapriya Dasgupta, Director and Chief Architect Cognizant.
World over the excitement of the convergence of business & technologies is palpable among firms. It is more so due to rapid advancement in all forms of technology, be it ICE, storage or computing. Convergence combines the power of technology and the might of businesses. Leveraging newer technologies to talk to your customer, deliver product, improve operational process, enhance information dissemination along the value chain holds the key to survival of businesses in today’s environment. But there are many who do not see the merit in this convergence. The enormity of the implications of this convergence has failed to shake them out of their reverie. We in our quest to bridge business & technology have chosen this as the theme of our annual National IT Seminar (NITS) 2006. Let the pioneers of business & technology come together, probe deep into this convergence and once and for all establish its virtues.