IIM Calcutta welcomes 56th batch of MBA programme

IIM Calcutta welcomed 56th batch of students to its flagship two-year full time MBA Programme. Mr. Ganesh Krishnan, Chairman, Portea Medical and an alumnus of IIM Calcutta graced the occasion as Chief Guest. The programme commenced with the Director of IIM Calcutta’s welcome note to the students and an introduction of the Chief Guest, Mr. Ganesh Krishnan. Her speech was followed by Mr. Ganesh Krishnan’s address where he spoke about his career achievements, what it feels like to be an alumnus of IIM Calcutta and also shared words of wisdom with the PGP freshers' batch.

He started his speech by saying, “Past performance is not indicative of future results”. He mentioned that we are living in the best of times where the ecosystem around us is facilitating development like never before and the dots have magically aligned to conspire to help this generation achieve new feats, solve problems, create value, leveraging the evolving digital facilities. He mentioned that complex problem solving is not required in India. In fact, simple solutions to everyday complexities is the innovation that India needs. He encouraged students to work hard in order to distinguish themselves and stand out. He also shared some fond memories from his time at IIM Calcutta.

Mr. Ganesh Krishnan’s speech was followed by a Q&A round where students sought valuable advice from him. Prof. Bodhibrata Nag, Dean Academic, concluded the Programme with a Vote of Thanks.

68% (328) of the batch are male students and 32% (152) comprise female students. The students with engineering graduates comprising 421 students (88%), followed by 24 commerce students (5%), 15 science students (3%), 5 arts students (1%) and 15 students (3%) from other backgrounds. The percentage of students with more than 4 years of experience is 1%, for students with 2-4 years of experience, it is 16%, for students with 2 years of experience, it is 50% and the percentage of freshers who have joined the course is 33%.

New batch of Doctoral Programme

IIM Calcutta witnessed the induction of a promising set of students to its prestigious Doctoral Programme. The 16 students belong to diverse academic and professional backgrounds and were inducted into the following academic groups for their research – Economics, Finance and Control, Human Resource Management, Management Information Systems, Marketing, Operations Management, Organizational Behaviour, Public Policy and Management, Strategic Management.

The programme commenced with the new PhD students introducing themselves and explaining their intention behind pursuing a PhD. The youngest student to be inducted into the Doctoral Programme this year is 17 year old Samhitha Kasibhatta who has joined the Finance and Control Group.

Prof. Sanjeet Singh, Chairperson, Doctoral Programme & Research addressed the welcome note to add vigor and motivation to the new batch of students. In his speech, Prof. Sanjeet Singh chose to shed light on how the Doctoral Programme has achieved an equilibrium in gender ratio. He said that IIM Calcutta’s purpose was to provide research apprenticeship to scholars who want to systematically interpret the historical chain of knowledge. He drew an observation from his experience that often research candidates are in a conundrum of what they are trying to achieve. He urged students to spend time with their supervisors to understand the answers they are seeking and their objective of pursuing a PhD. Furthermore he said, “Your research journey will pass through a long and tedious route regardless of whether to choose to remain in academia or not. Sometimes you may feel isolated and distant but you will realize that it is necessary to walk alone in order to get your work done.”

Prof. Sanjeet Singh’s speech was followed by Prof. Prashant Mishra, Dean - New Initiatives and External Relations and Prof. Bodhibrata Nag, Dean Academic, who spoke on the importance of seeking knowledge and nurturing oneself in the right environment before venturing out into the real world. They spoke about the legacy of the Doctoral Programme and the success stories of students who have been research fellows at the institute.

The Director of IIM Calcutta, Prof. Anju Seth interacted with the students to understand their drive behind pursuing PhD. She shared valuable advice pertaining to her own life experiences. Prof. Seth inculcated motivation among the students saying, “Experimentation helps in discovering the unknown. It is a good idea to think before you start reading as reading before thinking deeply makes you lose focus of what you were looking for and narrows your outlook.” She ended the speech with a hearty welcome to the new students.

The male to female ratio for the current batch is 11:9 as compared to 13:5 from the previous one. The ratio of freshers to individuals with work experience for the current batch is 7:13 as compared to 5:13 for last year. The ratio of engineers to non-engineers is 7:13 as compared to 5:13 in the previous year.

The 13th batch of MBAEX

IIM Calcutta recently welcomed 13th batch of PGPEX recently rechristened as MBAEx . Attuning to the global nomenclature of business management degree, the institute has started awarding MBA degree instead of diploma for this full time 1-year programme.

The current Batch of MBAEx programme has 63 candidates (average age of 31 years) from diverse background (15 industries, innumerable functional areas and 51 organizations with an average work experience of 8.75 years. 17% of the batch has prior international work experience with an average international work experience of 1 year). The incoming 2019-20 batch has a median GMAT score of 690. Apart from diversity in work experience, current batch has greater gender diversity compared to previous batch. Last year, the female candidates’ strength was 9% of the batch strength which has increased to 11% in this year batch.

“Since the modest beginning in year 2006, MBAEx (Earlier PGPEX) programme of IIM Calcutta has come a long way to a stage where the world has started taking note of the programme. Every year the programme has taken great strides in terms of global rankings as compared to any other institute in the world. We are delighted to welcome the new batch and look forward to providing them a great learning experience at the institute,” said Amit Dhiman, Chairperson – MBAEx, IIM Calcutta.

MBAEx programme has started participating from year 2017 onwards in the annual FT MBA Global ranking with initial ranking of 95th. It has entered into the list of top 50 MBA programme in the world according to the FT Global MBA 2019 ranking with an improved ranking of 49th from 78th in FT Global MBA 2018 ranking. This was the biggest jump worldwide.

The last batch got excellent placements. Highlights were average salary of 27. 18 lacs, median of 23 lacs and highest of 124. 90 lacs.

The batch has 63 candidates (average age of 31 years) from diverse backgrounds – 15 industries, innumerable functional areas and 51 organizations with an average work experience of 8.75 years. 17% of the batch has prior international work experience with an average international work experience of 1 year. These students are from various sectors as: IT/ITES - 26, Manufacturing - 11, Energy/Oil/Gas - 7, Financial Services - 6, Consulting - 4, 2 each in Infrastructure & Analytics and 1 each in FMCG, Healthcare, Shipping, Aerospace & Defence. The number of students with 11–14 years of work experience is 8 (13%), 14-17 years of experience is 2 (3%), 8-11 years of experience is 21 (33%), and 5-8 years of experience is 32(51%). Apart from diversity in work experience, the current batch has greater gender diversity compared to previous batch. Last year, the female candidates’ strength was 9%, which has increased to 11% in this year’s batch.

The 13th batch of PGPEX-VLM

The course, jointly offered by IIM-Calcutta, IIT-Kanpur and IIT-Madras and supported by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), was launched to meet the requirement of futuristic leaders in the blooming manufacturing sector in the country. It aims to fulfil industry expectations of a future trailblazer by providing the students a holistic experience to the right academic curriculum married with optimal industry exposure. The students go through a multitude of courses in technology and management during the one-year residential programme. The course has an impressive placement record.

The event was attended by Professor Deepu Philip, Coordinator, PGPEX-VLM, IIT Kanpur, Professor G Srinivasan, Coordinator, PGPEX-VLM, IIT Madras, Manabu Iida, JICA Deputy Chief Advisor and Yoshiki Ehara, Representative of JICA, in the presence of the Professor Debashis Saha, Chairman, PGPEX-VLM, IIM Calcutta, Professor Bodhibrata Nag, Dean (Academic) and Acting Director, IIM Calcutta, Professor Prashant Mishra, Dean (New Initiative and External Relations), IIM Calcutta.

Masayuki Taga, Consul General of Japan in Kolkata was the Chief Guest and Professor Manindra Agarwal, Deputy Director, IIT Kanpur was the Guest of Honour at the event.

“The VLM programme is much like an extended Indian joint family where primary members include IIMC, IITK, IITM, JICA, CII and DIPP (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade). As we all know, it started as a dream in 2007 – a niche programme that would mould and guide future generations of managers for the Indian manufacturing sector. Over the past 13 years, the program has crafted an array of managers who have marked their presence in industry, upholding the broad principles of the VLM community,” said Professor Debashis Saha while addressing students.

The 5th batch of PGDBA

Indian Institute of Management Calcutta has inducted 62 students in the 5th batch to its prestigious Post Graduate Diploma in Business Analytics Programme offered jointly with Indian Statistical Institute and Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. The Freshers' programme commenced with the Chairperson PGDBA, Prof. Sahadeb Sarkar's address to the students where he shared with the participants about the salient features of the programme and how they can make best use of the opportunity to learn and develop skills required to be excellent analytics professionals. He also mentioned that this tailor-made course aims to strengthen the statistical and analytics skill of the students alongside their management knowledge.

His address was followed by the Director, Prof. Anju Seth who in her speech acknowledged the students' aspirations and their understanding of the pulse of an industry which had prompted them to apply for this course. She encouraged the students to maximize the value of their interaction and help each other succeed.

Prof. Bodhibrata Nag, Dean (Academic) and Prof. Prashant Mishra, Dean (New Initiatives and External Relations) spoke about how this programme is an innovative initiative of three internationally reputed institutions of higher education which has delivered high impact learning for the participants. They mentioned that incredibly talented faculty members’ at all three institutes will guide the students throughout their journey in the programme.

Prof. Pinakpani Pal, Acting Programme coordinator from PGDBA Programme at ISI discussed how this journey will be an unforgettable one for the students and that the diversity of the three institutes will provide them with the best of knowledge, skill and personal experience. He also cited examples of the tremendously positive responses that he had received from earlier batches.

Prof. Prabina Rajib, Programme coordinator from PGDBA Programme, IIT Kharagpur spoke about the plethora of opportunities that the students will receive while they are pursuing the programme. Be it a nudge towards the startup ecosystem or an insight into the corporate world's facets, the students' aspirations will be well taken care of.

The programme ended with a Vote of Thanks by Prof. Sahadeb Sarkar.

19 students from IT background, 2 from Advertising and Marketing, 6 from Finance, 11 from Analytics, 12 from manufacturing, 2 from Oil, 4 from Gas and freshers represent 6. The number of engineers are 58 which 1.75% higher than previous year. The intake saw an increase of 8.77% (57 in 2018 to 62 in 2019). 3 students are with more than 4 years of work experience, 5 with 3-4 years of experience, 20 with 2-3 years of experience, 18 with 1-2 years of experience and 10 with 1-2 years of experience. The batch has 6 freshers.

MBAEx 12th batch gets highest placement offer of Rs 1.25 crore

The MBAEx batch gets placement offer of Rs 1.25 crore this year, a 40% rise from last year. The average salary has also gone up to Rs 26.98 lakh, a 10.3% increase from last year. The outgoing cohort of 60 students witnessed a whopping 104% increase in average salary relative to their pre-MBA compensation, shared the institute over email. Some of the prominent recruiters include Amazon, Accenture, EXL, Ford, Oyo, Swiggy, Sapient, and Zensar.

The MBAEx class of 2019 has become the first cohort to achieve 100% placement for the academic year 2018-2019 among all the leading one-year MBA programs across the country. “MBAEx process is very challenging, and it is in this program that job-person matching process is experienced in its truest sense,” said Amit Dhiman, Chairperson – MBAEx, IIM Calcutta.

IIMCIP Incubatee Achievements

IIMCIP incubatee Aegipan Animal Biocare collaborated with CInI (Collective for Integrated Livelihood Initiatives) - an Associate organisation of TATA TRUSTS, working on the tribal livelihood of Central India for the ambitious programme "LakhpatiKisan : Smart Villages". The program aims to secure an additional income of Rs 1 lakh per annum for tribal households. Currently the program approximately has 20,000 goat cultivators across seven blocks of Jharkhand. Another incubatee Anoobhuti Learning Solutions has started a 3 year program for improving science education through experiential science labs in 75 schools across Maharashtra in partnership with "Yes Foundation" . The rollout started in 20 schools of Thane Municipal Corporation. These classroom science labs will help teachers to teach science to 4,000+ students in a more engaging and effective way. The incubatee HelpUsGreen has pioneered “flower cycling technology” and has recycled over 11,060 metric tonnes floral-waste till date, renewing them into useful, eco-friendlyproducts. DBS is now nurturing the business to help scale their positive impact on people and the planet. Recently, they signed a MoU with municipality Corporation Tirupati and Tirupati Devasthanam for sourcing waste flowers from the temple.