News Release
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On 21st November, 2008, 100 students of the General Management Programme (GMP) of XLRI will fly to four foreign B-Schools as a part of their International Immersion module. The participating institutes for this year’s module are Graduate School of Business, RMIT: Melbourne - Australia, IESEG: Lille - France, Loyala College: Chicago –USA and Freeman School of Business, University of Tulane: New Orleans - USA.
The International Immersion module is a three weeks international cross cultural project which exposes the participants to international perspective of business, so that they can effectively function in an environment different from their “home culture”. It is designed to prepare the students to take on challenges anywhere in the globalized world.
As a part of the programme, the students will be placed for a two week project with a company in addition to a one week session at the university. The classroom sessions would cover topics such as Export Policies and Global and Regional Trends in business. At RMIT, Melbourne, the students would be learning about “Austrade” and will also work alongside experts at RMIT’s Dealings Room. Students travelling to US will interact with local entrepreneurs in New Orleans and also participate in the “India Day” seminar to be held in Chicago in December. Students bound for IESEG, France will be introduced to French economy and business with special impetus to the retail and fashion industry.
Even though the GMP students have an average experience of more than 7 years with significant international exposure, the students believe that this visit would provide be an enriching experience in the wake of the current financial meltdown. According to Prof. P Venugopal, Dean Academic at XLRI, “The International Immersion module will provide a great cross-cultural exposure along with insights into the management principles of the foreign companies more specific to the way the companies are coping with the current financial crisis.”
11.20.2008
XL Dream Run pics
Everyone ran on Sunday, the 16th day of November, 2008. This was the first long distance run for me. It was never a marathon per se for the distance was just 4 km. There were almost 300 runners along with faculty and XLRI staffs. And it was fun. Here are the pictures collated by Prof. Madhukar Shukla, the inspiration and the guiding force behind the event.
XL Dream Run pics
XL Dream Run pics
11.02.2008
Celebrating Diwali - XL Style
Diwali was coming after 3 years for me...the previous two years I was as far from Diwali as possible. I was in the US and people don't celebrate Diwali there (at least the part of the world where I haunted).
So I was doubly excited for the Diwali celebrations this year. Here in XLRI, the profs had organized a get-together of the students in the huge lawn outside the GMP hostel. Apart from that, they had also invited us to their residences. It was really good to see the profs and the students (BM, PM&IR, GMP, DGMP, FPM) together. It was followed by bursting crackers which continued for over two hours.
Finally, at 11:30pm, there was an Antakshari hosted where many teams participated and every team had a prof with them.
Overall, it was a cracking Diwali and a cherished experience.
10.01.2008
Admission to XLRI GMP 2009-10
CEO Forum: Mr. Vivek Mohan, President, Alcatel Lucent
Ont 26th Oct, we had invited Mr. Vivek Mohan, the President of Alcatel Lucent India to address the students of XLRI on "3G in India".
Highlights of the speech
The highlight of Mr. Vivek Mohan’s speech was how the introduction of 3G is going to revolutionize Indian telecom space. 3G would bring about a convergence of voice and data on to the mobile phone. This is what popularly referred to as ICE (Information, Communication and Entertainment). He suggested that Indian telecom market is growing at a fanatic level and the time has come when the power shifts from the Western economies to the emerging economies like India and China. As far as introduction of 3G is concerned, it is important for the telecos to learn from countries like Korea but implementation in India has to be unique taking into consideration Indian culture, taste and habits. In India, since the revenue generated from data is less than 10% compared to close to 50% in Korea, it is possible that the introduction of 3G might take sometime to mature. However, once it matures it is possible to bring the cost of downloading a video clip to less than Re 1 a minute. Mr. Mohan added that 3G in India is going to fulfill the unmet needs for voice and broadband in urban India and also bring down the costs of call in the rural areas. On 3G application in rural India, he referred to areas like “Telemedicine” where there is a of untapped business opportunity. This is one field entrepreneurs could eye after the rollout of 3G. On competition laid down by Wimax is concerned, he opined that Wimax will generally cater to the rural areas and hence there is no direct competition. In the urban areas, there will be also a lot of unexplored opportunities in Value Added Services like Location Based Services after the introduction of 3G.
Mr. Vivek, himself an alumnus of Harvard Business School, also dwelled on the importance of a MBA program and what students should do to gain the maximum benefit out of the same. He thought that networking and people’s skills were two most important skills every single student should have. When asked about entrepreneurship, he summed up by stating that “..always follow your heart..”.
About the Speaker
Vivek Mohan, President Alcatel-Lucent India took over the reins of the company in January 2008. Vivek has over 24 years of experience in developing and successfully managing businesses across a wide range of sectors and markets. As President of Alcatel-Lucent’s India operations, Prior to his current position Vivek was heading the Services Organisation at Alcatel-Lucent post the merger in December 2006. Before the merger, Vivek was President & CEO of Lucent Technologies India, he joined this position in May 2006.
Vivek began his career with Lucent Technologies in 2001 as Global Marketing and Sales Director of Business Restructuring. In 2002, Vivek moved to Lucent’s Supply Chain Team and was the Director of Business Restructuring for the Optical Networks Group (ONG), leading teams spread across the US, UK, Netherlands, Germany and China, engaged in manufacturing management, cost management, R&D and bids support. He was thereafter appointed as the Executive Director – Asia Pacific Supply Chain operations in Shanghai.
Way back in 1984, he founded Alok Industries and within four years built it into an $8 million business.
He has Bachelors in Computer Science from California State University and professionally qualified with a Masters degree in Business Administration from Harvard Business School.
Press Coverage:
Financial Express
Highlights of the speech
The highlight of Mr. Vivek Mohan’s speech was how the introduction of 3G is going to revolutionize Indian telecom space. 3G would bring about a convergence of voice and data on to the mobile phone. This is what popularly referred to as ICE (Information, Communication and Entertainment). He suggested that Indian telecom market is growing at a fanatic level and the time has come when the power shifts from the Western economies to the emerging economies like India and China. As far as introduction of 3G is concerned, it is important for the telecos to learn from countries like Korea but implementation in India has to be unique taking into consideration Indian culture, taste and habits. In India, since the revenue generated from data is less than 10% compared to close to 50% in Korea, it is possible that the introduction of 3G might take sometime to mature. However, once it matures it is possible to bring the cost of downloading a video clip to less than Re 1 a minute. Mr. Mohan added that 3G in India is going to fulfill the unmet needs for voice and broadband in urban India and also bring down the costs of call in the rural areas. On 3G application in rural India, he referred to areas like “Telemedicine” where there is a of untapped business opportunity. This is one field entrepreneurs could eye after the rollout of 3G. On competition laid down by Wimax is concerned, he opined that Wimax will generally cater to the rural areas and hence there is no direct competition. In the urban areas, there will be also a lot of unexplored opportunities in Value Added Services like Location Based Services after the introduction of 3G.
Mr. Vivek, himself an alumnus of Harvard Business School, also dwelled on the importance of a MBA program and what students should do to gain the maximum benefit out of the same. He thought that networking and people’s skills were two most important skills every single student should have. When asked about entrepreneurship, he summed up by stating that “..always follow your heart..”.
About the Speaker
Vivek Mohan, President Alcatel-Lucent India took over the reins of the company in January 2008. Vivek has over 24 years of experience in developing and successfully managing businesses across a wide range of sectors and markets. As President of Alcatel-Lucent’s India operations, Prior to his current position Vivek was heading the Services Organisation at Alcatel-Lucent post the merger in December 2006. Before the merger, Vivek was President & CEO of Lucent Technologies India, he joined this position in May 2006.
Vivek began his career with Lucent Technologies in 2001 as Global Marketing and Sales Director of Business Restructuring. In 2002, Vivek moved to Lucent’s Supply Chain Team and was the Director of Business Restructuring for the Optical Networks Group (ONG), leading teams spread across the US, UK, Netherlands, Germany and China, engaged in manufacturing management, cost management, R&D and bids support. He was thereafter appointed as the Executive Director – Asia Pacific Supply Chain operations in Shanghai.
Way back in 1984, he founded Alok Industries and within four years built it into an $8 million business.
He has Bachelors in Computer Science from California State University and professionally qualified with a Masters degree in Business Administration from Harvard Business School.
Press Coverage:
Financial Express
8.23.2008
Exam Frenzy!!
Rarely have things been as hectic as in the past two weeks for me - I guess the same could be said of my entire entire batch. Deadlines looming for every subject. We barely finished with our mid-terms and we have already come to the end-terms. GMP has really forced all of us to work on our priorities correctly.There is a plethora of stuff to be done and unless you are focused and sure of what you want you may miss out on many good learning opportunities. To put it in economic terms :- "The Marginal Utility of sleep has become abundantly clear to all of us". A sincere advice to all future GMPians - Sleep as much as you can before you get here .
The professors have been most co-operative but they too have a syllabus to complete. We have been clearly told that academic standards would be very high so the onus is on us to prove ourselves. Also, a lot of emphasis is put on group work and assignments which seems to be working very well!!
I am reminded of following lines from the Bryan Adams song "Summer Of '69'" -
'....Ain't no use in complainin'
When you got a job to do....'
On a happier note we would be 25% MBA in about 2 weeks from now - now that is something :):)
Its time to go - have to hit my books !!!
The professors have been most co-operative but they too have a syllabus to complete. We have been clearly told that academic standards would be very high so the onus is on us to prove ourselves. Also, a lot of emphasis is put on group work and assignments which seems to be working very well!!
I am reminded of following lines from the Bryan Adams song "Summer Of '69'" -
'....Ain't no use in complainin'
When you got a job to do....'
On a happier note we would be 25% MBA in about 2 weeks from now - now that is something :):)
Its time to go - have to hit my books !!!
8.18.2008
Celebrating Freedom at XLRI.
In a small but very well managed function, we celerated the 61st Independence Day @ XLRI.
There were short but inspiring speeches by Father James and the Gen Sec. 
And these were followed by three patroitic songs by XL's popular band "Bodhi Tree".
There were short but inspiring speeches by Father James and the Gen Sec. 
And these were followed by three patroitic songs by XL's popular band "Bodhi Tree".
8.13.2008
CEO Forum - Mr. C.D. Kamath, MD, Tata Refractories Limited
The calender read 08-08-2008. This was a date deemed to be auspicious for our neighbours on the other side of the wall. When the whole world was staring at China with abated breath for the opening ceremony of the Olympics Games, XLRI had more than one reason to do the same. And we meant business...
It was on this very day Prof. Sharad Sharin had invited Mr. C.D. Kamath, the MD of Tata Refractories Limited (TRL) to share his experiences of "doing business with China". Mr. Kamath took the opportunity to enthrall the audience with his experiences in delaing with the Chinese. It was interesting to note that TRL is the first TATA Group organization to set a green-field plant in China from scratch and that too in less than a year. The talk revolved on the topic that China and India were almost at par in the early 1950s, however, it have sprinted well ahead of us in the last five decades. They opened up their economy years before the Indians did. But the very fact that 'Economics drive Politics in China and not the other way round' drove the nail on the head. Mr. Kamath touched a variety of subjects like land and labour reforms in China, about how they are so much receptive of FDIs and so on.
The audience was very appreciative of the talk and I am sure we will get many more opportunities to interact with eminent personalities like Mr. Kamath.
-------------------------------------------------
Short Profile of Mr. Kamath: He obtained the Degree of B.Tech. (Metallurgy) from IIT Madras in 1966. Subsequently, he joined Tata Steel as
Graduate Trainee and thereafter moved through various disciplines such as Steel Melting Shop Operations, Refractory
Maintenance and Production Operations, Iron Making and Sinter Operations and Technical Services. He functioned as
the Profit Centre Head for the Rings and Agrico Division of Tata Steel. He initiated the Total Quality Management activities
in Tata Steel. Overall, he worked for Tata Steel for a period of 31 years.
He was the Chairman of Indian Refractory Makers Association (IRMA) for the period 2000-02 and organized IREFCON 2002.
He has also been the recipient of the National Metallurgist Award from Government of India.
8.09.2008
XLRI GMP Softskills Development Series - Resume Writing
"Is your resume good?", when this question was posed to a group of GMPians almost everyone nodded. But the response to the question "Is your resume good enough?" received a much muted response.
When asked "How often do you update your resume? ". The answers were to the tune of "...every six months.." or "..as and when I acquire a new skill.." or even "..whenever my assignment is over..". Such answers are not suprising from a bunch of professionals who have served industries for for over five years. Since matter and anti-matter go together, since constructive and destructive forces go hand in hand, we decided to rip some resumes apart. The observations were startling.
The problem was not with the resumes but the way they have been worded. The conclusion was that there is a very thin line between what a candidate has and what the industry expects from him. And GMPians decided to be on the right side of it. Since there is never a wrong time to do the right thing, we decided to conduct a "resume writing" workshop. And we decided to get expert help in resolving our skills. So, we approached Prof. Jittu Singh and he gladly agreed.
In an hour long interactive talk, we learnt the nuances of a good resume. There were a lot of ideas flowing back and forth and at the end it was a fruitful excercise. As the workshop was coming to a close, I recalled a thought of Alvin Toffler, the great futurist and author of books like The Third Wave, Powershift, Future Shock, etc.He had said "The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn."
8.05.2008
Leaders Speak - Mr. Anshu Gupta, CEO, Goonj, a Delhi based NGO
This was the first time I was listening to a CEO, other than the CEO of the organization I had worked for. Even the latter was a very rare event. But this time, it was different, not only the theme but the mission as well. He was there not to talk about toplines and bottomlines but life-lines.
Today, I got an opportunity to attend to a talk by Mr. Anshu Gupta, founder of Goonj, a Delhi based NGO. This was the first of the series of the CEO talks lined up for the session and I must confess, it was a memorable beginning. When toplines and bottomlines are the only two things that take up most of the time of the CEOs, it was really refreshing to learn that there are people with a vision who are determined to make a difference to the people who are deprived. We care about donations only after a calamity or a disaster. And I have seen that myself. After floods, famines and tsunamis we always find generous souls donating for the those affected. But, according to Mr. Gupta, the root of the problems lie there. We think of the people who have under previledged or downtrodren only in the wake of a crisis. The other problem is that we all give what we don't require and not what the people needs. Hence, there is always a gap between the problem and the solution. Goonj is trying to bridge this divide.
With Anshu Gupta's talk, we also inaugurated the:
The next CEO lecture is on 8th August. The speaker is Mr. C. D. Kamath, the MD of Tata Refractories Limited. He would be speaking on "Doing Business in China".
More Coverages: The Telegraph , Businessworld ,Sify News/PTI
After a hiatus...
You guys must be desparate to know why there has been such a long silence ever since the last post. Well...the answer is that the GMPians were busy with the books. With almost a month and a half month since we have joined XLRI, it was time that the revered professors test our knowledge. This doesn't mean that we don't get surprise quizzes and assignments. But a mid term is a mid term !! It's like a test match in cricket. No matter how many T20s and one-dayers are played, test matches (read mid and end terms) will keep her charm. These are such occasions when the students are given the opportunity to get as much materials (text books, notes, reference books, printouts from Wikipedia and so on) to the examination hall as possible only to realize to his/her utter dismay that not many things in the question paper are comprehensible and that the treasures he had brought to the examination hall are of no use (We have several open book exams).
"Arre exam to chalta rehta hai...,"remarked a professor the other day. He is absolutely right that we must broaden our outlook, get as much knowledge as possible from the books and outside.
Not all the mid term papers are over. Many are to come in near future...but we will continue to focus on other activities as well.
Contributed By : Prijit Debnath
"Arre exam to chalta rehta hai...,"remarked a professor the other day. He is absolutely right that we must broaden our outlook, get as much knowledge as possible from the books and outside.
Not all the mid term papers are over. Many are to come in near future...but we will continue to focus on other activities as well.
Contributed By : Prijit Debnath
7.16.2008
PM discusses Nuclear Deal with President Bush, GMPians visit Uranium mines...
When the Indian premier Dr. Manmohan Singh visited Japan to meet George Bush and other G-8 leaders to chalk out a plan for the Indo-US Nuclear Deal, what did the GMPians do ? They visited UCIL (Uranium Corporation of India Limited). If anyone thought this to be a coincidence, then they are wrong. A visit to UCIL was planned long before the honorable Prime Minister decided to join the G-8 summit at Japan.
As a part of industry-institute interaction, students of the one year General Management Program at XLRI had a planned visit to the Uranium mines of UCIL at Narwapahar, some 28 km from Jamshedpur on 11 July 2008. The session started with a brief introduction about UCIL, how the organization is at the forefront of Indian Nuclear program and how the safety of the miners is given a top priority. It was followed by a half an hour video on how Narwapahar mines are at the forefront of technology. It is one of the most modern trackless mine's in the country with a decline (7 degrees) to underground and ramp accesses to the slopes. The use of large diesel powered underground equipment results in high productivity, eliminating fatigue of workmen and provides good working environment. Respirators, ear-muffs, safety goggles are used by workers as protection against harmful exposures. Rubber aprons, gloves, helmets and gumboots are used by persons handling toxic materials and final product. Noise levels of different machinery are reduced by many engineering control measures. The presence of students who had significant work experience (greater than 5 years) at Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited made the discussion livelier. It was however sad to note that India is not blessed with sufficient Uranium and that the percentage of Uranium in the ore is only 0.065% approximately compared to close to 16% in mines of France and Canada.
This video session was followed by a visit to the Uranium mines. The visitors were given adequate protective gears which included knee-high rubber shoes, helmets and battery operated torches. They were led by an instructor who was very keen to answer the numerous questions raised by the enthusiastic crowd. After descending down with the help of a cage, the first destination was at 295 m below the surface of the earth. The students were fascinated to see the tunnels and the illumination and the safety features present in the mines. There were heavy vehicles carrying ores and debris from one part of the mine to another. The instructor explained how the ore is transported for refinement from one point to another.
The next point was at 350 m below the surface. At this point, there were unmanned conveyor belts collecting the ore and transporting it to the crushing unit. After three stages of crushing, the ore undergoes two stages of wet grinding. The slurry thus obtained in then leached for dissolution of Uranium. The leached slurry is filtered to obtain liquid Uranium. The liquid is then precipitated from the concentrated liquor to form Magnesium Di-Uranate or “Yellow Cake”. This is the final product of Narwapahar mines. The students were awestruck by the fact that most of the operations were automated and that all these run smoothly many meters below the surface of the earth.
The questions still followed. They ranged from Supply Chain Management, process control, maintaining high morale among the miners, Corporate Social Responsibility, safety of miners and the people who live in the nearby villages from radioactivity and so on. The students left the UCIL campus with a feeling that India would become a self reliant Nuclear power some day.
Contributed By: Prijit
As a part of industry-institute interaction, students of the one year General Management Program at XLRI had a planned visit to the Uranium mines of UCIL at Narwapahar, some 28 km from Jamshedpur on 11 July 2008. The session started with a brief introduction about UCIL, how the organization is at the forefront of Indian Nuclear program and how the safety of the miners is given a top priority. It was followed by a half an hour video on how Narwapahar mines are at the forefront of technology. It is one of the most modern trackless mine's in the country with a decline (7 degrees) to underground and ramp accesses to the slopes. The use of large diesel powered underground equipment results in high productivity, eliminating fatigue of workmen and provides good working environment. Respirators, ear-muffs, safety goggles are used by workers as protection against harmful exposures. Rubber aprons, gloves, helmets and gumboots are used by persons handling toxic materials and final product. Noise levels of different machinery are reduced by many engineering control measures. The presence of students who had significant work experience (greater than 5 years) at Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited made the discussion livelier. It was however sad to note that India is not blessed with sufficient Uranium and that the percentage of Uranium in the ore is only 0.065% approximately compared to close to 16% in mines of France and Canada.
This video session was followed by a visit to the Uranium mines. The visitors were given adequate protective gears which included knee-high rubber shoes, helmets and battery operated torches. They were led by an instructor who was very keen to answer the numerous questions raised by the enthusiastic crowd. After descending down with the help of a cage, the first destination was at 295 m below the surface of the earth. The students were fascinated to see the tunnels and the illumination and the safety features present in the mines. There were heavy vehicles carrying ores and debris from one part of the mine to another. The instructor explained how the ore is transported for refinement from one point to another.
The next point was at 350 m below the surface. At this point, there were unmanned conveyor belts collecting the ore and transporting it to the crushing unit. After three stages of crushing, the ore undergoes two stages of wet grinding. The slurry thus obtained in then leached for dissolution of Uranium. The leached slurry is filtered to obtain liquid Uranium. The liquid is then precipitated from the concentrated liquor to form Magnesium Di-Uranate or “Yellow Cake”. This is the final product of Narwapahar mines. The students were awestruck by the fact that most of the operations were automated and that all these run smoothly many meters below the surface of the earth.
The questions still followed. They ranged from Supply Chain Management, process control, maintaining high morale among the miners, Corporate Social Responsibility, safety of miners and the people who live in the nearby villages from radioactivity and so on. The students left the UCIL campus with a feeling that India would become a self reliant Nuclear power some day.
Contributed By: Prijit
7.11.2008
XLRI GMPians meet social entrepreneur
Social entrepreneurship is not the first thing that comes to mind when we talk about MBA grads, more so when they are pursuing a 1-year MBA. But the General Management Program at XLRI once again lived up to its promise of holistic learning and gave the students an opportunity to interact with Mr. Pradeep Ghosh.
An Ashoka Fellowship holder, Mr. Ghosh, is a social innovator, who is involved with a unique "social credit system" initiative for the villages of Maharashtra.
Last week, the students of the GMP Program at XLRI, got an opportunity to interact with Mr. Ghosh. In an hour long discussion, Mr. Ghosh explained how a social credit system can act as a social security system in villages in India. In any developed nation, social security system is based on the income of people. Mr. Ghosh's idea is unique on the context that his social security system (piloted by the Governments of MP and Maharashtra) is based not on people's income but on people's expenditure.
Mr. Ghosh, during the discussion, kept the audience enthralled with the nuances of the social credit system and how it has been functioning smoothly in the villages of MP.
Among the other topics discussed, was that of a 'Museum School'. This unique initiative involves the use of “museums” to teach the slum kids.
-------------------
About Mr. Pradeep Ghosh:
Pradeep is an Ashoka Fellow, and the founder of Bhopal-based OASiS
http://www.ashoka.org/node/2581
His main work has been in the area of Micro-Insurance, and has developed a consumption-based model for micro-insurance, which is being piloted by Govts of MP and Maharashtra
An IT professional who switched to social entrepreneurship, he is essentially a social innovator, and there are many other initiatives, e.g.,
"Museum School" for slum kids, "social credit system" etc., which he has initiated. Some articles on his work can be accessed here:
http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/sep/17spend.htm
http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/sep/14insure.htm
http://www.business-standard.com/common/news_article.php?leftnm=3&autono=317915
Contributed By: Prijit
An Ashoka Fellowship holder, Mr. Ghosh, is a social innovator, who is involved with a unique "social credit system" initiative for the villages of Maharashtra.
Last week, the students of the GMP Program at XLRI, got an opportunity to interact with Mr. Ghosh. In an hour long discussion, Mr. Ghosh explained how a social credit system can act as a social security system in villages in India. In any developed nation, social security system is based on the income of people. Mr. Ghosh's idea is unique on the context that his social security system (piloted by the Governments of MP and Maharashtra) is based not on people's income but on people's expenditure.
Mr. Ghosh, during the discussion, kept the audience enthralled with the nuances of the social credit system and how it has been functioning smoothly in the villages of MP.
Among the other topics discussed, was that of a 'Museum School'. This unique initiative involves the use of “museums” to teach the slum kids.
-------------------
About Mr. Pradeep Ghosh:
Pradeep is an Ashoka Fellow, and the founder of Bhopal-based OASiS
http://www.ashoka.org/node/2581
His main work has been in the area of Micro-Insurance, and has developed a consumption-based model for micro-insurance, which is being piloted by Govts of MP and Maharashtra
An IT professional who switched to social entrepreneurship, he is essentially a social innovator, and there are many other initiatives, e.g.,
"Museum School" for slum kids, "social credit system" etc., which he has initiated. Some articles on his work can be accessed here:
http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/sep/17spend.htm
http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/sep/14insure.htm
http://www.business-standard.com/common/news_article.php?leftnm=3&autono=317915
Contributed By: Prijit
6.28.2008
GMPians rubbing shoulders with Defence Professionals
We are just 2 weeks into the course and all were already looking up for the welcome break. This in itself speaks volumes about how quickly a one year course can get onto your nerves. However I guess all of us are seasoned players and have seen worst days in our lives and have fought our own battles before coming to this place. This is what makes this group so special. We had a cocktail party with the graduates of Executive Management Programme for defense officer. It was nice to see all the gentlemen and the ladies dressed in their best attires especially not under any compulsion (phun intended!!). The evening started with clanking of the glasses and popping of the cork, with each one indulging into their choicest kind of drinks available on the house. It was nice to see the liveliness in the batch and the group dynamism already working at its best. Everyone busy networking and making friend. All had found their own clicks, some were busy rubbing shoulders with the strong and elite class of professional from the Indian Defense Forces while others chose to interact with faculty members and get more insights into the vision of XLRI and then their were some who chose to just drink !!! The icing on the cake came when someone broke the news that one particular lecture for tomorrow has been cancelled. For obvious reasons the drinks counter experienced a sudden rush post that moment. The evening ended on a high note with everyone looking relaxed and happy.
Contributed By : Varun
6.23.2008
The beginning...
Light symbolizes wisdom, dispelling the darkness of ignorance. As the lamp was lit in the prayer service for the beginning of the academic year 2008 at XLRI, Jamshedpur; I could sense that Light permeating through each and every Student present in the TATA auditorium, and giving each individual the inner strength and motivation to achieve his/her goals.
As the words and the music of the bhajans seeped into us, every one of us was disposed to listen to the words of wisdom:
As the choir sang:
Sharanam Sharanam (4) Preethi Swarupane sharanam,
Divya Jothiye Sharanam; Karuna murthiye Sharanam,
Jeeva Dathane Sharanam; Divya Tejane Sharanam
Shanti Datane Sharanam
Which translates to:
You are our refuge, you who are love personified,
you who are divine light;You who are mercy itself,
You who are life; You who are holy light,
You who are peace itself,
You are our refuge
A particular reading taken from the Rig Veda was very profound and held the audience spellbound by the sheer amount of learning, humility and God's wonderful creativity, that one can comprehend from each of the stanzas:
There then was neither Aught nor Nought,
No air nor sky beyond.
What Covered all? Where rested all?
In watery gulf profound?
Nor death was there nor deathlessness,
Nor change of Night and day.
That one breathed calmly, self sustained:
Nor else beyond it lay.
Within it first arose desire,
The primal germ of mind,
Which nothing with existence links,
As sages searching find.
Who Knows, whoe'er hath told, from whence
This vast creation arose?
Whence sprang this world, and whether framed
By hand divine or no, its lord in heaven alone can tell!
As I was pulled deep into the complex quagmires of intellectual thoughts, I just sat there absorbing each and every word that was uttered, and trying to put things in context, It was not that difficult to comprehend after all. After a few minutes of silent reflection, the choir began to sing one of Tagore's Gems: A Hymn called 'Silent Steps': It Goes Like this:
Have You not heard his silent steps (2)
He comes, comes, ever comes!
Many a song have I sung, in many a mood of mind,
But all their notes have always proclaimed,
"He comes, comes, ever comes"!
In the fragrant days of Sunny april, through the forest path,
He comes , comes ever comes !
Have You not heard his silent steps (2)
He comes, comes, ever comes!
The gist of the prayers delivered by the choir made one thing crystal clear: Each GMP student is here so that he may obtain true wisdom that leads to happiness, that he may have good health to earnestly pursue his goals, that he may trust in the guidance of the teachers, that his words come out from the depth of truth, that he may tirelessly strive and stretch his arms towards excellence, that his mind may be led forward into ever widening Knowledge and Integrity.
With such a divine and stimulating start to our educational career, I'm sure each XLRI GMP'ian 2008-09 is destined to reach for the stars and beyond....
May the God of all Knowledge and Love Who brought us all here walk with all of us during our stay at XLRI.
As the words and the music of the bhajans seeped into us, every one of us was disposed to listen to the words of wisdom:
As the choir sang:
Sharanam Sharanam (4) Preethi Swarupane sharanam,
Divya Jothiye Sharanam; Karuna murthiye Sharanam,
Jeeva Dathane Sharanam; Divya Tejane Sharanam
Shanti Datane Sharanam
Which translates to:
You are our refuge, you who are love personified,
you who are divine light;You who are mercy itself,
You who are life; You who are holy light,
You who are peace itself,
You are our refuge
A particular reading taken from the Rig Veda was very profound and held the audience spellbound by the sheer amount of learning, humility and God's wonderful creativity, that one can comprehend from each of the stanzas:
There then was neither Aught nor Nought,
No air nor sky beyond.
What Covered all? Where rested all?
In watery gulf profound?
Nor death was there nor deathlessness,
Nor change of Night and day.
That one breathed calmly, self sustained:
Nor else beyond it lay.
Within it first arose desire,
The primal germ of mind,
Which nothing with existence links,
As sages searching find.
Who Knows, whoe'er hath told, from whence
This vast creation arose?
Whence sprang this world, and whether framed
By hand divine or no, its lord in heaven alone can tell!
As I was pulled deep into the complex quagmires of intellectual thoughts, I just sat there absorbing each and every word that was uttered, and trying to put things in context, It was not that difficult to comprehend after all. After a few minutes of silent reflection, the choir began to sing one of Tagore's Gems: A Hymn called 'Silent Steps': It Goes Like this:
Have You not heard his silent steps (2)
He comes, comes, ever comes!
Many a song have I sung, in many a mood of mind,
But all their notes have always proclaimed,
"He comes, comes, ever comes"!
In the fragrant days of Sunny april, through the forest path,
He comes , comes ever comes !
Have You not heard his silent steps (2)
He comes, comes, ever comes!
The gist of the prayers delivered by the choir made one thing crystal clear: Each GMP student is here so that he may obtain true wisdom that leads to happiness, that he may have good health to earnestly pursue his goals, that he may trust in the guidance of the teachers, that his words come out from the depth of truth, that he may tirelessly strive and stretch his arms towards excellence, that his mind may be led forward into ever widening Knowledge and Integrity.
With such a divine and stimulating start to our educational career, I'm sure each XLRI GMP'ian 2008-09 is destined to reach for the stars and beyond....
May the God of all Knowledge and Love Who brought us all here walk with all of us during our stay at XLRI.
Contributed By: Sairam
6.18.2008
GMP 2008-09 : Batch Profile
Now that we are almost into the middle of the first week of the session, I thought it would be a good idea to share with you all the profile of our batch.
XLRI has always attracted bright students and this year has been no different. The strength of the batch was raised to 100 taking into consideration the demand of the industry. It is a no brainer that the in Management programs, any institute gives a lot of attention to batch diversity. This is all the more important for an one year program where P2P (peer-to-peer) learning is as important as learnings in the class. XLRI's GMP 2008-09 batch has not disappointed in this aspect. Since the minimum experience is 5 years and there are a lot of candidates with 9-10 years of work experience, there is a lot of experience and learning brought to the table. This year the selectivity for the GMP programme about 2.5% which places this program as among the most selective in the world - the average GMAT score is close to 700 which again makes the program very competetive - international work experience of the batch at 2.5 years and last but not the least, the average work experience of the batch is about 7.5 years !!!!
I cannot but emphasize on the importance of P2P learning here at XLRI. This is very much prevalent here inasmuch that the first 'case' given to the batch was from a real-life experience of a gentleman on duty in a cargo ship. What's more, the exercise was given on the second day of the session!!
Let us now come to the batch profile. As is so prevalent in most of the B-Schools in India, the IT guys rule the roost. Yours Truly also happens to be one of them. But the monotony ends there. There are students from sectors like Banking , Shipping, Textiles, Fashion, Education, Power , Energy, Aeronautics, Telecom, Finance, Retail and so on. There is also a good mix of people coming from the PSUs. It is also heartening to note that we also have an ex-Army man and an ex-lecturer in zoology amongst us.
I hope we will learn from each other both inside and outside the class.
NB: This is an unofficial post. The official batch profile will be released by the institute shortly.
XLRI has always attracted bright students and this year has been no different. The strength of the batch was raised to 100 taking into consideration the demand of the industry. It is a no brainer that the in Management programs, any institute gives a lot of attention to batch diversity. This is all the more important for an one year program where P2P (peer-to-peer) learning is as important as learnings in the class. XLRI's GMP 2008-09 batch has not disappointed in this aspect. Since the minimum experience is 5 years and there are a lot of candidates with 9-10 years of work experience, there is a lot of experience and learning brought to the table. This year the selectivity for the GMP programme about 2.5% which places this program as among the most selective in the world - the average GMAT score is close to 700 which again makes the program very competetive - international work experience of the batch at 2.5 years and last but not the least, the average work experience of the batch is about 7.5 years !!!!
I cannot but emphasize on the importance of P2P learning here at XLRI. This is very much prevalent here inasmuch that the first 'case' given to the batch was from a real-life experience of a gentleman on duty in a cargo ship. What's more, the exercise was given on the second day of the session!!
Let us now come to the batch profile. As is so prevalent in most of the B-Schools in India, the IT guys rule the roost. Yours Truly also happens to be one of them. But the monotony ends there. There are students from sectors like Banking , Shipping, Textiles, Fashion, Education, Power , Energy, Aeronautics, Telecom, Finance, Retail and so on. There is also a good mix of people coming from the PSUs. It is also heartening to note that we also have an ex-Army man and an ex-lecturer in zoology amongst us.
I hope we will learn from each other both inside and outside the class.
NB: This is an unofficial post. The official batch profile will be released by the institute shortly.
6.17.2008
Of XL and Finetune!!!!
I am having an amazing experience here and am sure that the same feeling will be shared with all my GMP batchmates - the first few days in XL have been eye-opening for most of us - The professors here are some of the most passionate and excellent teachers I have ever come across. It really is most important to not compromise on the quality of one's education - its worth waiting a while than going for some other option - I always believed in this and now I can see the wisdom of my own words!!!!!
On Another unrelated note , I listen to online radio stations over the internet a lot - however discovered that pandora has been blocked in India due to licensing issues - stumbled upon finetune.com and it seems to be an even better site for playing online music. You can create a playlist of upto 45 songs in a playlist and save it for future listening!!!! Amazing to say the least....... My XL days are taken care of - with the best education, a great peer learning experience and great music to go alongwith it !!!
-Abhishek
On Another unrelated note , I listen to online radio stations over the internet a lot - however discovered that pandora has been blocked in India due to licensing issues - stumbled upon finetune.com and it seems to be an even better site for playing online music. You can create a playlist of upto 45 songs in a playlist and save it for future listening!!!! Amazing to say the least....... My XL days are taken care of - with the best education, a great peer learning experience and great music to go alongwith it !!!
-Abhishek
4.09.2008
XLRI GMP Placements 2008
XLRI General Management Program (GMP), one year full time management program, has concluded a successful season of placements for its 2008 batch. The batch has been offered plum roles - like AVP-Finance, Director, Associate Director, AGM Operations,
Chief Manager, Managing Consultant, Strategic Account Manager, Client Solutions Manager, etc. - clearly highlighting the potential of the participants to don middle and senior management roles. Also placements helped 30% of the batch change sectors where students had prior work experience. One participant opted out of the process to start his own entrepreneurial venture.
The process attracted 54 companies, as opposed to 23 last year, and made 101 offers to 53 participating students. The average salary of individual offers stood at INR 17.8 Lakhs (an increase of close to 20% from previous year), while the highest domestic offer was INR 33.8 Lakhs and the average of international offers was USD 130,000 (an increase of 30%). Sponsored candidates have also got elevated roles and middle/senior management responsibilities from their parent companies.
The batch witnessed a good mix of participating companies from diverse sectors such as Banking, Energy, IT, Consulting, Manufacturing, Steel, Real Estate and Telecom. Arcelor Mittal, Reliance ADAG, Jindal Steel, DLF, Tata Communications, Cairns Energy, L&T were some of the major recruiters of the batch. Few of the consulting companies that participated are Mckinsey, Accenture, IBM S&C, ICRA Management Consulting (IMACs), TCS Global Consulting, KSA Technopak. Axis bank, SBI Capital, ICRA, UBS were some of the BFSI companies that turned up for recruitment. IT/ITES majors like HP, Cognizant, Satyam, Wipro, Inautix, Hexaware, and Genpact participated.
"With just two years of organized placement support from the Institute, the one year General Management Programme of XLRI has firmly established itself as a source of quality talent for recruiters. There were a number of recruiters who personally expressed their extreme satisfaction with the quality of the participants. These positive comments reinforce our belief that we are doing things right as far as our one year programme goes." quoted Prof. Uday Damodaran, Chairperson of the Placements at XLRI.
The placement season was held during 2nd week of February at Mumbai followed by rolling placements in March at Jamshedpur. The process was aimed at offering flexibility to the students and recruiters to find the right fit, as the participants were potential middle and senior management candidates with experience ranging from 5.5 to 15 years, with the average pegged at 7.5 years. Students also visited Australia as part of the international immersion introduced in the curriculum from this year. From the next batch, the immersion module is expected to include various options for students, with the tie-ups that XLRI has with major universities across the globe. XLRI has plans to increase the student intake from the next batch, due to high response from industry.
Chief Manager, Managing Consultant, Strategic Account Manager, Client Solutions Manager, etc. - clearly highlighting the potential of the participants to don middle and senior management roles. Also placements helped 30% of the batch change sectors where students had prior work experience. One participant opted out of the process to start his own entrepreneurial venture.
The process attracted 54 companies, as opposed to 23 last year, and made 101 offers to 53 participating students. The average salary of individual offers stood at INR 17.8 Lakhs (an increase of close to 20% from previous year), while the highest domestic offer was INR 33.8 Lakhs and the average of international offers was USD 130,000 (an increase of 30%). Sponsored candidates have also got elevated roles and middle/senior management responsibilities from their parent companies.
The batch witnessed a good mix of participating companies from diverse sectors such as Banking, Energy, IT, Consulting, Manufacturing, Steel, Real Estate and Telecom. Arcelor Mittal, Reliance ADAG, Jindal Steel, DLF, Tata Communications, Cairns Energy, L&T were some of the major recruiters of the batch. Few of the consulting companies that participated are Mckinsey, Accenture, IBM S&C, ICRA Management Consulting (IMACs), TCS Global Consulting, KSA Technopak. Axis bank, SBI Capital, ICRA, UBS were some of the BFSI companies that turned up for recruitment. IT/ITES majors like HP, Cognizant, Satyam, Wipro, Inautix, Hexaware, and Genpact participated.
"With just two years of organized placement support from the Institute, the one year General Management Programme of XLRI has firmly established itself as a source of quality talent for recruiters. There were a number of recruiters who personally expressed their extreme satisfaction with the quality of the participants. These positive comments reinforce our belief that we are doing things right as far as our one year programme goes." quoted Prof. Uday Damodaran, Chairperson of the Placements at XLRI.
The placement season was held during 2nd week of February at Mumbai followed by rolling placements in March at Jamshedpur. The process was aimed at offering flexibility to the students and recruiters to find the right fit, as the participants were potential middle and senior management candidates with experience ranging from 5.5 to 15 years, with the average pegged at 7.5 years. Students also visited Australia as part of the international immersion introduced in the curriculum from this year. From the next batch, the immersion module is expected to include various options for students, with the tie-ups that XLRI has with major universities across the globe. XLRI has plans to increase the student intake from the next batch, due to high response from industry.
3.30.2008
Journey @ XLRI-GMP.
Welcome to XLRI-GMP collaborative blog. This blog links to other bloggers from the class of 08-09 as well to the alumni. Provides a snapshot of the GMP "X"perience.
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