Virtual World of IMT Ghaziabad Alumni

Moved out permanently!

2008-09-01T21:45:00.001+05:30

We've moved lock stock and barrel to our new location, which is www.imtalumni.com. Please check out here.

Nothing Special about this post

2008-06-20T17:39:00.001+05:30

Exactly, except the fact that when I cursorily flipping the pages of Brand Equity ( 11 June 2008), I noticed a slightly familiar face, and quite a familiar name.Just in case you find it difficult to place ( which is quite understandable), the guy in the centre is Rajeev John of Dabur, who is also a batchmate (Class of 1998).

Resetting, rejigging, yeah

2008-06-19T12:15:00.001+05:30

While I have been guilty of not posting here quite often, there are some plans encouraged by the traffic that this site has picked up of late. Watch out.

Convocation for the Class of 2008

2008-03-05T18:43:00.006+05:30

The convocation for the class of 2008 is all set to happen on the 18th of March, 2008. The chief guest this year will be Mr. N. R Narayana Murthy, Chairman of the Board and Chief Mentor of Infosys Technologies Limited. Here is the link for his profile as on the institute web site.

The events page on Facebook is here.

Hoping to see many alumni on 18th to share the joy of The Class of 2008.

New Alumni Office Bearers

2007-11-16T15:28:00.000+05:30

New alumni office bearers starting October 2007 as follows:

President: Debashis Das ( Debashis.Das [at]imtalumni.com)

VP ( North): Animesh Puri (animeshpuri[at]yahoo.com)
VP (West): Manoj Kaushik (Manoj.Kaushik[at]imtalumni.com)
VP(South): Rajesh Kumar (Rajesh.Kumar[at] imtalumni.com)
VP (East): Anurag Mathur (anuragmathur[at]rediffmail.com)

Get ready for a new round of action!

IMT Song?!!!!

2007-05-24T21:49:00.000+05:30

~~Someone~~ Atul Bagaria just forwarded me a song purportedly sung by guys in the current second year. Very well produced song with music and beats, and you must listen below(Sorry guys from corporate network, this may not show in your view at all- ask me by mail for an mp3 version)

powered by ODEO

If you would rather download this and listen offline, click here. And after listening this if you feel nostalgic, do not blame me please!

Trouble with J4I Yahoogroup

2007-05-11T13:24:00.000+05:30

Jobs4Imtians mailing list crossed the landmark of 900 members recently ( ~920). With this landmark, we also noticed that the six year old list is facing issues with the email, with emails lost(or never delivered) and instances of delays by days. We have initiated some correction steps including reporting to Yahoo and also considering migrating to Googlegroups if needed. If we migrate, the transfer will be seamless, which means members will not have to do anything from their side. Then their is also the issue of members having ids on Rediffmail, who are unable to receive Yahoogroups emails. So hang on.
Meanwhile congrats to Animesh Puri ( 2001) for volunteer managing J4I list with so much of passion all this while. And thanks to all contributors, esp. Bharat Rishabha Diwaker, for the ceaseless volley of leads. Keep them coming. We are all proud of you.

IMT network on facebook is up

2007-04-13T15:20:00.000+05:30

Thanks to Atul Bagaria of 07 batch, IMT network stands created on Facebook which is among world's most popular social networking sites.If you are an alumni, you need an id on alumni mail to join this. If you are a student, you need to use your edu domain id to join this. Go ahead and enroll. Since a full fledged community page is not currently up, the best way to locate is to search for Atul Bagaria or yours truly, look for communities we are member of and there you find IMT. So, go ahead and sign up. Facebook is a rage in the West and I am sure you would find amazing networking opportunities. If you find it difficult to locate the network, please leave your @imtalumni.com or @imt.edu email ids in below and we will send you an invite.

Atul, thanks a ton.

Convocation 2007: As read

2007-03-26T19:26:00.000+05:30

I noticed an excellent report(with visuals) on the convocation ceremony of 2007 batch on the institute website. Check out here. Congrats to the new grads. Congrats to Abhijeet Dutta Ray for winning the Distinguished Alumni award 2007.

And of course, the event was well covered by the media. Here are some links:

-Financial Times

-ET

-Indian Express

-IBN

-The Hindu

L N Mittal to address Convocation 2007

2007-03-15T15:53:00.000+05:30

So another batch is all set to graduate. The buzz and excitement coming in from the institute is about the convocation lecture on 24th March which will be addressed by Steel Tycoon Lakshmi Mittal. Students will not be blamed for watching every gesture of Mr. Mittal, since the recent Mittal Steel merger with Arcelor is fresh in everyone's mind. The timing could not be any better, since core sector is at the heart of manufacturing and manufacturing is what India is seeking to accelerate. Speak on Mr. Mittal, not just the outgoing students, but alumni are listening too.

Pic Courtesy: www.webduniya123.com

IMTian in the news- Rajeev Karwal

2007-03-12T23:25:00.000+05:30

I came across this news item on the launch of Milagrow, which promises to bring top quality management capital access to SMBs. And when the person saying that is Rajeev Karwal, one better take this seriously.Like all things about 'the Chief'(he leads our alumni association too), this one sounds unconventional too. While all want to cater to billion dollar corporations, Rajeev feels it is time to reach out to SMBs in the range 20-100 crore. The concept of Value Ombudsman is again not something very commonplace and must be taken note of as an innovation in practice.And to complete the recipe, there is Prof Jagdeesh Sheth as the mentor. So here's wishing Rajeev another series of successes with Milagrow.May this be yet another pathbreaker Rajeev Karwal idea.

(Some of us Chennai based alumni with Rajeev on this 29th Nov 2005 picture. L-R: MR Ramakrishnan, Sujith Nambudiri, Swaroop George, Rajeev Karwal, Ritul Sarin, Dehashis Das, yours truly & Manish Jain )

Last Friday, Rajeev wrote on his blog that he feels ten years younger and also details out the starting principles of Milagrow. Do catch up on that post.Meanwhile our congrats to Rajeev.

Featured Alumni - Abhijeet Ray, Executive VP, Lowe Bangkok

2007-02-18T08:31:00.000+05:30

Abhijeet belongs to the 1982-84 batch, who since leaving the institute has worked across 11 companies, 7 markets and hundreds of Brands. His career has centered mainly around Advertising and Marketing Communications. Currently he serves as Executive Vice President of Lowe Bangkok – overseeing Strategic Planning across SE Asian markets. He is also currently pursuing his Doctorate in Business Administration from Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok.

Q. What are your memories of IMT? What was IMT like in your time?

I happen to have very fond and vivid memories of IMT – a place which has a special place in my heart. It was the place where I experienced a transition which was more than academic in nature. I grew up not just in wisdom, but also as a person. It may not be wrong to say that it was a passage of rites for many of us, as we transitioned from being boys to men.

The PGDBM degree was a means to shift from a sheltered, academic and naïve mindset to a goal-driven, vocation-trained, professional and practical outlook. The summer training at Nestle was a real eye-opener to the real world. The managers I worked with at Nestle – went on to become legends in their lifetime (Ajay Banga, Pradeep Pant etc). Back at the ‘insti’ the set of lecturers and professors unleashed upon us were as keen to leave a mark on us, as we did – on them!

But above all, I made great friendships – which have stood the test of time and geography and many of those relationships are still strong. Among the ones I am in touch with are Naini (Naininder Singh) - easily the most dashing sardar in the world), Deepak Babel (the wannabe poet philosopher who also enjoyed topping the class), Guddu (Rakesh Suri ) – the sleepy head with the best knowledge of Finance, and the first among us to make a million!), Booj (Sharat Goel) – the debonair home grown businessman), Karwal (Rajeev Karwal) – the righteous guy, who arguably is the most distinguished IMT alumni today), and Krishh (Krishna) – who saw the world through a lens of cynicism and more importantly – the guy who got the gal in the end and fled to pardes. The gal in question – Anila, a charming batch mate, who patiently tolerated a class over-populated with males!) Bless them all!

What was IMT like in my time? Well, the year was 1982. We were the third batch, and let put it this way – IMT was not quite amongst the top 10 institutes of the nation! But hell, that was not going to stop us from not trying to study and have fun. We all plunged into our coursework and made the most of our placements and whatever opportunities came our way. Our Director - Prof CB Gupta was hugely responsible to connect us with the business world. Despite all the limitations, I re-collect that we all landed naukris ranging from the good, bad and ugly. The important thing is that we all found jobs.

On a more lighter note, the ‘Choongi’ paranthas were far better than the lousy meal at the hostel, there was no girls hostel (well, we just had two ladies in our batch!), the toilets stank, the mosquitoes were bloody murderous, no decent movie halls for miles, the library was under-equipped…but it was home! We learnt to adapt…afterall we had to spend two years of our lives there!

Q. Please tell us about your journey after IMT

Many would describe my wondrous long journey covering many diverse lands and cultures as one of a ‘rolling stone’. I would rather describe it as living a life inside ‘Discovery Channel’! It all started with a stint in Mumbai when I joined Diners Club International. After 2 years of marketing debit cards and business centers, I managed to take a 6 month sabbatical to go on a AIESEC training programme in Canada. When I returned, I joined the largest Ad-Agency - JWT as a Media Planner and worked in both Delhi and Mumbai. I had the opportunity to work on several exciting brands both legendry and new - Hero Honda, Maggie Noodles and Sauces, Clinic Clear, Sunsilk, Horlicks, Boost and Halls. Next, I moved with another AIESEC traineeship to Hong Kong, working with Exxon in their Advertising Department. I landed a full-time job there eventually and basically never went back to India!

Joining Leo Burnett, I worked as a Media Manager on big international brands such as Cathay Pacific, Regent Hotels, Standard Chartered and the mother of all brands – Marlboro. It was also my first and only taste of working on a P&G brand – Rejoice.

Hong Kong in the early 90s was perhaps the best place to be from a career point of view (well, except perhaps New York). Soon I got head hunted by Bates Worldwide and I had the amazing opportunity to work as a Media Director on several fantastic brands such as Heineken and Mandarin Oriental. Thanks to a lot of hard work (18 hour days and a lot of good bosses) I crowned my achievements at Bates by landing the mother of all media jobs in Hong Kong - Global Media Director on HSBC and then later in Kuala Lumpur on Malaysia Airlines.

My mid-90s the media departments were moving out of the Creative Agencies and setting up their own shops. I decided it was time for a change and decided to join the Television industry, heading up a new start-up venture: ASTRO – a satellite DTH network in Malaysia, as part of the founder-member team and Head of Advertising Sales. After my contract finished, I joined a Communications Consultancy Cell called ‘The Hub’ – part of BBDO group for a short stint in Hong Kong.

By the end of 90s, I had spent a decade outside India, and longed to get back and try and plug back in. So with my wife of 8 years Joyeeta and a 6 year old daughter – Ashmita I headed back to my home town – Delhi and re-joined Advertising trade and worked with McCann Erickson, focusing on Nestle and Reckitt Benkizer (then Reckitt and Coleman).

But the lure of South East Asia was too strong, and I headed back to the shores of the tropical paradise – Thailand, this time I switched vocations and switched over to Strategic Planning, joining Ogilvy and Mather. Here I got to work on Unilever brands like Dove and Comfort, apart from yet another encounter with Nestle on MILO. From Bangkok, I moved to Ogivly Jakarta for about couple of years.

Finally, this long journey finally found me back in Bangkok with Lowe Worlwide (formerly known as Lintas)since early 2006. I work as Executive Vice President for the group, overseeing most of the Strategic Planning for S.E Asia, based out of Bangkok. The latest turn of events in this journey: In 2007, I have enrolled for a Doctorate of Business Administration at Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) here in Bangkok. I hope to complete it over the course of next 3 years, studying over weekends (the program is designed for working executives).

Q. When did you last visit the campus ?
I believe I last visited the campus in 2005. I was fortunate enough to be able to address the students too, sharing some of my experiences.

Q. Any teacher in particular you remember? Why?

The Director Dr. C.B. Gupta of course. He taught a few Finance subjects. He had such a terrific personality. Also because he let me off with just a warning, when I was reported to him for arranging some mild form of ‘welcome’ rituals for our juniors – the incoming ‘freshers’!

I also remember our Organization Behaviour Lecturer – Subodh. Partly because he could relate to our dreams and desires, and partly because he was such a chilled out, ‘bindaas’ guy! He secretly encouraged me to launch the underground magazine ‘Breeze’ which carried nothing but malicious gossip and light entertainment to take our minds off from the heavy academic coursework! I still remember the cover of the inaugural issue of ‘Breeze’ – which captured an under-dressed Naini doing his thing with metal rods in the corridors in the dread of night. Sounds mysterious? Well, lets keep it that way!

Q. Any message for your batchmates?

“Guys… I have been waiting to host you here in Bangkok for such a long time. Ek trip arrange karo and head up to the Land of smiles..I promise that you will return to India with a permanent smile on your face! Just ask Sharat… he was the only lone ranger who paid me a visit”

Also- “Please support IMT in every which you possibly can, as part of your success is due to our alma mater”

Q. And your message to our alumni worldwide is….

“Ladies and Gentlemen… wherever you are: lets work to arrange a major conference – where our international alumni get together for some serious discourses during the day, and hard-partying during the night. Something on the lines of the India Toda Conclave, but more fun. What say? I suggest that we hold the first one in the city of Bangkok”

Q. Please tell us about your family

It would be a pleasure. My wife Joyeeta is a freelance writer and author. She is equally at home – writing ads for ad agencies as well as writing books for kids (she has published two books for kids through Rupa Publicaitons in India). She was also a regular newspaper columnist for Jakarta Post.
We have two daughter – Ashmita (made in Hong Kong, born in India) who is 12 and Aneeka (made and born in Bangkok).

Q. Looking back, what are your thoughts?

I think as Management professionals, we need to take a break from running firms and businesses and give something back to society, and ideally to education. I know most of us barely have time to breathe, and are busy chasing our personal dreams, and many of us oldies – are also busy raising kids and trying to secure a future for them.

My wish is that the Alumni can somehow act as a conduit for us to give something back to IMT – whether it be in terms of good case-studies, arranging good speakers for conferences, writing articles in the institute’s journals, hiring graduating students even installing scholarships. If we don’t do it, who will ? IMT is already doing well, thanks to its own efforts and the tireless efforts of its staff and students. However, as Alumni, we owe it to the institute to give something back. Lets do it guys!

Thank you very much!

Tata Crucible Quiz Laurels

2007-02-16T21:04:00.000+05:30

Though not strictly an alumni item, but being a quiz enthusiast myself I still feel tempted to post about what I saw in the Hindu Business Line of 15th Feb 07. Tata Crucible Quiz is one definitely one of the prestigious events in the quizzing calendar of the country.

Congrats Vikram & Arjun and all the best for the national finals!

Prasoon Joshi - A double life...

2007-02-11T15:07:00.000+05:30

I recently read an excellent autobiography by Alyque Padamsee titled - A Double Life: My Exciting Years in Theatre and Advertising. I have always been curious as to how Alyque managed to lead Lintas and also be a top notch theatre artist at the same time. Amazing to see how people can manage two very successful careers in parallel and be great at both. Such people are more rare than the endangered birds.Prasoon Joshi is one such professional who have not sacrificed passion for profession( Well, I know people are waiting to jump at me for making assumptions here :)) and excelled at both. Here's a random selection of songs penned by Prasoon is ready to listen at MusicIndiaOnline by clicking here. Of course, it gives us that extra pride since Prasoon is an IMTian.

I noticed a well researched post on Prasoon by Amit Shekhar this morning and recommend you to take a look here. And meanwhile, from us, a big thanks to Amit.

And then there's a nice wiki on Prasoon.

Image Courtesy: Agencyfaqs.com

IMTian in the media-Debashis Das

2007-02-10T07:24:00.000+05:30

Came across this news item in FE which has a quote from Debashis Das(PGDBM 96), Category Manager, Henkel, who is seen talking on some competitive scenario.

(Debashis also is a extremely active member of the alumni organization and leads the action in the South)

Who says we are just in the neighbourhood?!

2007-02-08T21:03:00.000+05:30

Few days back I was analyzing the readership pattern of this site, using a tool that quietly works behind the scenes logging our visit to this site. Since the geographical spread appeared interesting, I just thought I will share it with all readers. We get readers from all over the world, Australia to even South America(yep) and of course, lot of them spread across India. We have an unknown IMTian in Thailand who visits us every day without fail! Needless to say, the distribution is a revelation. Well, you could challenge me by saying that the visitors need not all be IMTians, but then a) I have reasons to believe it is largely so and b) even if they are not, well, they get to know about IMTians. Atleast, I am not complaining. What say guys?

Cool, and this is what kept us busy all this while….

2007-02-05T22:45:00.000+05:30

We recently tied up with Google to start what will hopefully be our own branded email service. It has the same Gmail experience, and good storage space, and just like most things Google, great fun. But this is not the only cool part. The real cool part is that, it has our own branded login and home pages(see views) and that all users are automatically added to each other’s lists. Well, we are just piloting this at this point by invitation, but if you would be keen to have your own FN.LN@imtalumni.com, do join the queue at by leaving a comment here. Make sure you include your Full Name, Batch, and two lines on why you think you would like to have this(heck, just joking but go ahead anyway). Caution, cannot guarantee everyone will get this, since at this point, we have just a handful of ids.

Meanwhile, if you would like to see the login page as it exists, here it is.

Housing Society in NCR

2007-01-13T22:44:00.000+05:30

With real estate prices zooming skyhigh(and the interest rates too:)), we all have been confronted by the choice of being a retail buyer from a commercial builder or to do nothing. Okay,here's something that might interest you.IMT Alumni Housing Society project moved a step forward with mails to alumni calling for expression of interest from members who would be interested(Hey, it is an initial expression of interest, not a copper coated committment. This will be followed by the rest of the stuff).

Now, why should you look at this, when there is always the builder to approach directly and buy apartments off the shelf. So here's your answer. When you take land as a society, you take it directly from the local development authority, who have full visibility into the future development plans and hence you get commercial benefit, unlike the builder next door, who plays on short term demand supply.Think about it, it is not any great rocket science.

In case you have not yet seen the mail, or for some reason it does not reach you, do contact the following:

(yeah, you got it right, the above details are in image format so that Dr. Kapil's id is not harvested by the spam robots)

IMTian in the media

2007-01-12T22:41:00.000+05:30

Thomas Cook has appointed Amitabh Tewary as GM-Financial Services Limited.Here's the link to the press release. If my memory serves me right, Amitabh is from Batch of 1997.

Venue of a million mutinies

2007-01-10T22:40:00.000+05:30

Of all the things that add to the institute nostalgia, the good old amphi evokes the sharpest sentiments, for variety of reasons, each one personal to ourselves:)

Someone at Alcom was gracious enough to send me this picture at my request. Wait, I can already feel you saying we want an amphi party picture!

And as they say in IMTese, let the Bhasad^TMbegin....

MENTORSHIP PROGRAM BY IMT ALUMNI GOING GREAT GUNS

2007-01-08T22:39:00.000+05:30

When the ‘Mentor an IMTian’ programme was announced six months back by the alumni organization, many, yours truly included were a bit skeptical on the whole thing. But like any other corporate initiatives with its own set of imponderables but the team wants to go on, well, here’s another success story. And the good news is that the alumni have a key role in driving this. 248 of the students of 1^st year have signed on 65 mentors amongst us. I decided to ask some folks on their take on the whole thing.

Ridhesh Sharma of the 1^st year has this to say when I asked him on what he feels on this programme . “It has also helped me in understanding first hand from an industry professional the applications of my major (marketing) in some of the sectors. But, the most important value-addition which I see happening is getting to observe a successful professional, and noticing his approach towards his life. At the same time, I am getting to network”. Well said Ridhesh.

For Ridhesh's mentor Dev Amritesh (1999), mentoring comes from an internal motivation. On why he has decided to take the challenge to be a mentor which could add to pressure on his time from his job as Chief of Marketing at Domino’s. “Of the various things that I did during my academic development years, (School, Engineering education and MBA), the most profound impact on me was during the MBA course at IMT. While the classroom discussions were good most of the times and stimulating at times, the real value addition happened due to interaction with my peers, seniors and juniors who I found had experiences that I did not have. It was in IMT that I found the answer to this question. A lot of that had to do with the interactions that I had with various people, including Alumni, Guest Alumni faculty and so on.” Dev, your sentiments are well received and appreciated.Dev follows a structured programme with well chalked out milestones . Says he, “attempt is to help them understand themselves better, doing this early in the day will help them to gain greater competence in areas that they identify. Other than this we will focus on sharing of some knowledge and practices specifically from sectors in which I have some experience and so on.”

Deepa Krishnan of 1^st year (mentor: Aasheet Makhija, 1993 ) feels that the programme is good and “this exercise is proving to be useful in terms of the exposure to different industries that may help us in making career decisions. In our discussion with the mentor in the first meeting, we planned to look into different industries as a source of career alternative (for which we had to make presentations on industry analysis) and meet some experts across industries whose valuable inputs could be helpful to us”.

Deepa's mentor Asheet Makhija, who works for IBM feels there is a lot of visible vibrancy in the Alumni initiatives which the Alcom & faculty are taking.He says," I think the mentees benefit from my experiential learnings. The main objective is to ensure that they make a very informed decision of subject choice & organisation thereafter". Asheet also feels that there should be a mechanism to capture and share relavant stuff which can beneficial to rest of the batch.The most important point that Asheet emphasises is that the learnings are mutual, and yes, he too gains out of the whole excercise.Valuable point, Asheet.

Incidentally, why the programme was was lapped up was the enthusiasm shown by the alumni. Currently, this is offered to alumni based in NCR region but downstream this would be available to rest of the world with mentor-mentee interactions largely facilitated by technology. (If you too want to be part of the programme as a mentor, do get in touch with folks at the alumni relations)

MY LITTLE DEVIL’S IDEA ON MARKCONF 2007

2006-12-27T22:38:00.000+05:30

Marketing Conference 2007 seems like a great idea. Great idea because it is entirely an alumni event, which means we make or break it. It is being hosted by the institute and tentative dates look like Sept 28-29. The entire event design is clear. Speakers at the panel discussions have to be IMT grad, which means we are looking for the best speakers across segments. Appeared to be a little tricky initially but the initial speaker list which I have seen is a revelation, though I am not giving it out at this stage except saying that preparations are going on track. Meanwhile want to let you know that the organizers are already freezing on the lead and segment sponsors and on the speakers. Any suggestions on these, do rush them to alumni relationship office. Watch this space for more.

I have a devil’s idea here. Let’s conduct a surprise quiz for the faculty at the end of Day 2 :). Any volunteers for this?!

DEDICATED BUSINESS DISCUSSION FORUM FOR IT

2006-12-26T22:35:00.000+05:30

No, I have no intention to write about the visual below. This one is about a dedicated discussion group created by Manish Bindra of 2006. A sector specific initiative, this group cuts across batches and sees sharing of resources, ideas and information pertaining to IT sector. If this interests you, do visit here to become a member. There are 70 guys on board already.

Nice visual though!

NILANJAN KEEPS HIS WORD- PLACEMENTS UPDATE

2006-12-26T22:33:00.000+05:30

As I mentioned in the previous post, I had requested Prof Nilanjan Chattopadhyay to send a few lines on Placements 2007. He is the Chairman, placements at the insti. A detailed report on placements was waiting for me as I came back to Chennai. Some bytes I thought would be of interest.

1. They had placements completion party at the end of Day One.
2. Across the segment recruiter interest seen. Banks, Consulting, Manufacturing, CPG/FMCG, IT, ITES, Telecom, Media, you name it, all were there.
3. 253 students received 336 offers from 71 companies.
4. Average salary (well, I hate this bit but somehow this one generates lot of readers interest as well!) was INR 10.48 lakhs.
5. Highest domestic salary offered INR 17 lakhs.
6. Kotal Mahindra picked made 31 offers.

Recruiters include Henkel, Infy, Cognizant, Satyam, ICICI Prudential, United Bank of Switzerland, Dabur, Marico, HLL, HSBC, JP Morgan Chase, Radio Mirchi, Bharti, Avalon, Deloitte, Dell, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Genpact….. …. (This is not an exhaustive list but I feel lazy keying in all these names. Yes, cut paste can make you tired too!). Congrats to you all from the alumni. We hope to see you guys here soon.

ANNUAL ALUMNI MEET

2006-10-12T21:29:00.000+05:30

So, it is October and time for the annual meet. As is the practice, alumni meets are planned in major cities on Oct 14, 2006. Hope all have seen mails on this but just in case you have not, here is the schedule:

Time: 7 PM onwards

Venues:

NCR region: IMT Campus
Mumbai:Hyatt Regency, Sahar Airport, Andheri East
Chennai: Hotel Quality Inn Sabari, No. 29, Thirumalai Pillai Road, T. Nagar
Bangalore: The Capitol, Raj Bhavan Road
Calcutta: The Tollygunge Club

Well, apart from catching up with friends, do expect to hear Dr. Jagdeesh Seth on Institute- Alumni, A two way process .

See you all. And don't forget to carry lots of business cards.

TWO NOTABLE NEWS ITEMS

2006-09-13T21:28:00.000+05:30

Friends, there are two pertinent news items today with we recommend you to read.

1. Business Standard Cover Page item titled More B-Schools Ramp Up Facilities.It refers to All India Management Association survey which mentions 'The Super League Schools 2006' and IMT is there, of course. Click here to read the article.

2. The second piece is Dr Sahay interviewed by BS in a piece titled `Global alliances high on our agenda`.

Of course, we recommend that you grab today's copy of BS itelf.

Dr Sahay on IMT

2006-08-30T21:27:00.000+05:30

Well I know this is a bit of a deviation from the regular alumni focus of this space, but then I feel this is worth it.

Dr Sahay stands tall among the academicians.

(Click on the clipping to get a bigger view)

Featured Alumni: Sunil Kataria

2006-05-12T21:26:00.000+05:30

If your search is for a Business wizard who can turn around your company or a Marketing genius who can successfully drive your organization’s venture into untested territory, then Sunil Kataria, IMTian of the batch of 1990, would give a run for your money.

All through his career, Sunil has time and again proved his leadership to build new products and markets. Sunil, who currently is Vice President Marketing at Blowplast, the Marketing arm of VIP Industries, is building strategies to stay ahead of the global giant Samsonite. With the stratagem to segregate the mass and premium brands, Sunil is setting up separate retails outlets for V.I.P’s retail venture in premium brands (Carlton, Delsey) and is also beefing up the export business. With a new logo and new range of offering the luggage major recently introduced a range of luggage’s targeting the Indian women.

Prior to his stint with the luggage industry, Sunil was Director – Marketing with Modi Enterprise. He was instrumental in setting up the Modi Online Lottery (Sunshine India Lottery) and created a differentiation in the lottery domain by creating a strong brand with a unique set of values that consumers can identify with.

Previously, Sunil was General Manager, Marketing, Marico Industries Ltd and was working with the Healthcare division.

Featured Alumni: Akhil Dayal

2006-05-05T21:25:00.000+05:30

With over two decades of experience, Akhil Dayal, IMTian of the batch of 1986, is Director at Deloitte Consulting LLP. With a legacy of strong leadership roles and strong focus and deep expertise in consulting, Akhil have been working with Deloitte Consulting since 1994. Akhil's career with Deloitte Consulting began as a Senior Consultant and he specializes in Public Sector Industry and more specifically with Information Technology engagement with Health & Human Services.

Akhil joined Tata Infotech (then Tata Burroughs) in 1986 after IMT. During his three and a half years stint with Tatas, Akhil worked in the areas such as software development and support for public sector businesses. Except for a 1.5 month stint at Central Customs & Excise, New Delhi and a 3 month stint in Mexico City, Akhil was in US developing and executing technology transformations.

In 1990 Akhil joined Syntel Inc and was based out of their Headquarters in Troy working with their Unisys Division. In addition to the overall profitability of the division, Akhil's responsibility included Sales & Marketing and hiring of developers.

Akhil is married for the last 18 years and have 2 kids Rishab & Ashna.

Featured Alumni: Anil Sarin

2006-04-28T21:24:00.000+05:30

If you believe Investment is an Art, then Anil Sarin is an artist who brushes the canvas with a Bottom-Up Approach. Anil Sarin, IMTian of the batch of 1994, is a Equity Whizkid among India's Young Fund Managers.

From the lush green IMT's campus, Anil joined SBI Mutual Fund in 1994. Late 2005 he quit SBI Mutual Fund and joined Birla Mutual Fund. For Anil, career in Birla Mutual Fund started as an Analyst and later rose to a Fund Manager / Asst Vice President (Birla IT Fund). In September, 2003 Anil quit Birla Mutual Fund and had a five month stint at Kotak Securities Portfolio Management Business as Vice President - Portfolio Manager.

In April 2004 Anil joined Prudential ICICI AMC as Senior Fund Manager / Vice President - Equities. Anil adopts a Bottom-Up approach for stock picking and chooses companies that have With a total Assets Under Management (AUM) of over Rs. 2600 Crore the funds currently managed by Anil are:

1. Pru ICICI Power Fund (AUM Rs. 1094.21 Cr as on 31-Mar-06)
2. Pru ICICI Dynamic Plan (AUM Rs. 903.89 Cr as on 31-Mar-06)
3. Pru ICICI Emerging Star
4. Pru ICICI Fusion Fund

Comparing the performance of Anil with other Fund Managers, Anil has been able to deliver a whooping return of 113% over the last one year. http://www.cmlinks.com/jmmorgan/mutual/mf_fundperf.asp

Anil is married to Anita Garg (IMTian Batch of 1995)

Featured Alumni: Deepak Mangla

2006-04-21T21:21:00.000+05:30

Deepak Mangla, IMTian of the batch of 1989, is one who is recognized time and again for his in-depth understanding of business issues, hands-on approach, people orientation and commercial focus.

An MBA in Finance & Marketing, today Deepak has 16 years of diverse industry experience. He has held key management positions within Finance, Business Strategy and Corporate Planning and Operations across Hospitality, Tourism, Tobacco and the Information Technology Industry.

A hands-on achiever throughout his career, Deepak has rich leadership experience in reputed organizations, managing operations assignments and business roles — encompassing corporate planning and business strategy.

During his stint with Spectramind e Services Ltd as Service Delivery Leader - Operations, Deepak pioneered the implementation of Kaizen across the company. Deepak later joined EXL Service as Head of Migration and has to his credit numerous process migrations and project implementations across voice - inbound, outbound, customer service, telemarketing, collections and back office processes. In his later role at EXL as VP Operations Specialized Tech Support & Customer Care, Deepak was responsible for managing all aspects of voice and web based, tech support and customer service processes from clients in USA and Europe involving solution development, migration and operations service delivery. Deepak also has played a key role in servicing and enhancing new client relationships and contracts.

In June 2003, Deepak joined Accenture Services, Bangalore as Business Lead - Customer Contact Services. His service orientation and business acumen resulted in setting up business operations, functional construct and the service delivery model which was the center for innovation and incubation of new pilots. Deepak was also instrumental in creating the Global Transformation Integrated Offerings Model and structured the business and financial plan and handled up to 2400 people across two locations.

After two years of services with Accenture, Deepak in August, 2005 joined Nipuna Services Ltd. as Chief Operating Officer (COO) and is driving the operations of the organization. Under the Leadership of Deepak, Nipuna has reported FY06 revenues of USD 20mn against the guidance of USD 18mn and also achieved a cash break even as per expectations.

Featured Alumni: Sanjay Kalra

2006-04-03T21:20:00.000+05:30

Sanjay Kalra, defines himself as an Informatinon Technology marketing professional. Well, if one feels that its not the pertinent characterization for Sanjay then one needs to read to the bed of this article to comment further.

IMTian of the batch of 1989, with a Marketing & Information Systems specialization, Sanjay's career as a marketing professional in IT was not by chance or by destiny. Since his first exposure to computers in 1986, Kalra believed in his strength of business development in new technology areas and chose IT as his career.

Sanjay started his career with Softek (India's first product software company) as a Marketing Executive and successfully developed end-user corporate and government business, OEM & VAR business in the Northern Indian Market. Sanjay's later stint with NIIT's R&D center as Group Manager built a commercial business for innovative solutions resulting from NIIT's research in fields like cognitive sciences, multimedia interfaces and artificial intelligence.

Sanjay later joined Newgen Software, a global leader in Business Process Management (BPM), Enterprise Content Managment (ECM), Workflow and Document Imaging Solutions. In 1994, Sanjay succesfully built a business in North India for Newgen's imaging based products and solutions. Early successes included helping make Newgen the undisputed leader in the fledgling market for Voter ID card software. Other roles at Newgen included spearheading Newgen's sales operations in the Middle East and South East Asia and heading Sales, Marketing and Product Management functions as Vice President Marketing at Newgen in India till 1997.

Since 1998 Kalra headed Newgen's business development operations in USA. With over 15 years of experience in sales and marketing of software products and services, Sanjay today is Vice President Business Developement and successfully developed software developement outsourcing and software product licensing relationships with many Fortune Global 500 Companies.

Kalra a member of the AIIM (Association of Information and Image Management companies) International, contributes to Chapters in San Francisco and Washington DC. An avid Japanophile and a member of the Japan Society of Northern California, his interests include Japanese business, technology and contemporary culture. Other interest include cycling and blogging.

Sanjay's Blogs:

1. Sanjay Kalra
2. Business Process Management
3. The Business Of Technology
4. What is Rock?
5. Bushido & Other Musings of a Japanophile

Featured Alumni: Abhijit Saxena

2006-03-28T22:18:00.000+05:30

Abhijit, IMTian of 1993 batch, is believed as the right hand man of Media baron Subhash Chandra. Abhijit started his career with State Trading Corporation of India & later moved to Times of India for his first stint in media. In March, 1996 Abhijit joined Zee and in the last 10 years he has managed portfolio ranging from market research to advertising sales to subscription sales to programming and to managing channels.

Over the years Abhijit had a steady climb up the corporate ladder. In 2003 Abhijit became President International Business (APAC) and also Business Head of Zee English, Zee MGM, Trendz, Smile TV and MX Channel.

Abhijit with his vigour and effect launched business operations in the U.S.A., Middle East, Australia & New Zealand, besides the launch of channels like Smile TV, Action, Classic & Premier. He was also instrumental in the launch of a separate channel for Singapore.

His efforts in spearheading several endeavours to a successful outcome into new dimension earned him the biggest of all. On 11th Aug, 2004 Abhijit Saxena was appointed at the helm of the flagship channel Zee TV as Business Head.

Recently during September, 2005 Zee shuffled it top management with Puneet Goenka replacing Abhijit Saxena as Business Head. Former Business Head, Abhijit is now looking after distribution as President Zee Group.

Abhijit was among the esteemed panel of judges under the category of Programming & Performance for the 2004 Asian TV Awards.

In the recently held Global Convention On The Business Of Entertainment, FRAMES 2006, organized by FICCI, Abhijit was among the panel members to speak on "Explore emerging delivery platforms such as DTH, digital cable, IP TV, etc and the options these will offer consumers."

Featured Alumni : Nandan Srinath

2006-03-27T22:12:00.000+05:30

From the Batch of 1991 of IMT, Nandan has 15 years of Marketing experience across various cross-sections of the industry. With a lot of buzz in the radio sector post the FM Phase 2 licensing and a Management reshuffle for the expansion and growth plans of Radio Mirchi, Nandan has been recently promoted to COO, Radio Mirchi. The new role has been effective from 1st February, 2006. Earlier Nandan was Regional Director North (Station Head - Delhi).

Prior to Nandan's career with Radio Mirchi, he has worked with Coke and GPI in FMCG; Mudra and Corvo Draft Worldwide in database marketing & CRM business; and indya.com in dotcoms.

Featured Alumni: Krish Dhanam

2006-03-24T22:15:00.000+05:30

Krish Dhanam an IMTian of the batch of 1984, today is Director of International Operations at Zig Training Systems. Krish, as he is popularily known left India in the year 1986. Krish who always believed in his ability and dreams, intially took up a sales job in U.S.

In his early years in U.S Krish had an opportunity to attend a meeting of Zig Ziglar. A meeting with Zig Ziglar dramatically changed the career of Krish. Krish was hired as a sales representative for Ziglar Training Systems.

Today Krish inspires and informs his millions of audience across the globe. Krish has travelled to over 40 countries to spread his message of hope, preparedness and change in a passionate style. His client list includes the who's who of America.

Testimonials validating his superior presentation style, technique and humor have been received from the likes of Christian Dior, Lennar Homes, State Farm Insurance, Nortel, EDS and Weyerhauser. In the year 2005 the walls of Kapil Mohan had the opportunity to listen to the message of Krish.