Dear Alumni,
We are pleased to share with you the combined issue (July-September and October-December 2022 of Connexion. This issue contains brief reports on some of the activities that have been held on the campus over the past six months. You will be happy to note that the Institute celebrated its 62nd Foundation Day on 14 November 2022 at which Shri Shyam Srinivasan, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Federal Bank, and our Distinguished Alumnus, was the Chief Guest. As part of the Foundation Day, there was the Distinguished Alumnus Award Ceremony wherein Awards for the Year 2022 were presented to four of our illustrious alumni: G. M. Kapur, Srikant Sastri, Sanjay Gupta and Anindya Ghosh. The period under reference saw two well-attended lectures as part of the Institute Lecture Series: the first by Dr. Nachiket Mor, a distinguished expert on health systems, and second by Dr. S. Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs, on ‘India’s Place in the World’.
We are particularly happy to retain our third rank in the NIRF. Moreover, we have been ranked first for the last two years in the Business Today Survey of Business Schools. In the survey conducted by the Open Magazine for India’s best Business Schools, we have been ranked second along with IIM Bangalore. Last year we were ranked third, and our upward movement in ranking is surely joyous for all of us.
As you are aware IIM Calcutta is the only institution from India which is part of the prestigious Global Alliance of Management Education (CEMS). This issue carries a report on IIMC’s participation at CEMS Annual Events which was held at the American University in Cairo during 29 November -2 December 2022.
Besides, the issue mentions the achievements of some of you in your respective fields of engagement. Needless to add, your accomplishments are a matter of pride for your alma mater. Please do bring to our attention the laurels you and your friends have got so that we can bask in the shared glory of our exemplary work.
And, please do visit us as and when you happen to be in Kolkata. Just to let know that your lush green Joka campus is at its cheerful best with pleasant light wintry weather, migratory birds, and seven lakes with their water lilies.
Happy Reading and Season’s Greetings!
Professor Manish Thakur
Dean (New Initiative and External Relations)
This year, November 14, 2022, marked the 62nd Foundation Day of IIM Calcutta. It was a day for celebration, remembrance and introspection. Moreover, it was a day to communicate our firm resolve to chart a distinctive path as a preeminent management education institution.
The event began with a welcome address by the Director, Professor Uttam Kumar Sarkar, who addressed the audience and said, "It is a proud moment for IIM Calcutta, the country's first IIM, to celebrate its 62nd Foundation Day.
The Hon'ble Minister of External Affairs, Dr S Jaishankar, spoke on "India and the World" as he delivered the 33rd Institute Lecture Series of IIM Calcutta on November 2, 2022. Stressing India's impact, reputation and relations worldwide, Dr Jaishankar spoke about the challenges facing this globalized world post-Covid and the vulnerabilities of global supply chains, de-risking the economy by creating a resilient supply chain and decentralizing production areas. He also talked about the "Vaccine Diplomacy”; its impact in projecting India's cultural & economic importance worldwide and the potential of India's digitalization and manufacturing capabilities in fast-tracking growth.
Professor Uttam Kumar Sarkar, Director, IIM Calcutta, started the event with his inaugural speech. Professor Bhaskar Chakrabarti, Dean(Academic), hosted the Q&A session. Shri Shrikrishna Kulkarni, Chairperson, Board of Governors, IIM Calcutta, concluded the session by interpreting the lecture, while Professor Manish Thakur, Dean(NI&ER), moderated the vote of thanks. A webcast was arranged to ensure a large number of people view the program worldwide.
| Program | Rank in 2023 | Rank in 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| QS MIM (2-year MBA) | 50 | 53 |
| QS MBA(1-year MBAEx) | 66 | 75 |
| QS MSB (PGDBA) | 52 | 55+ |
Indian Institute of Management Calcutta has improved its rank this year on all three programs in the QS Ranking 2023. IIM Calcutta's flagship 2-year MBA program secured the position of 50 globally in QS MIM 2023 ranking, compared to 53rd last year. The 1-year MBAEx program secured the rank 66th globally and 10th in Asia compared to 75th globally and 11th in Asia last year. The PGDBA program ranked 52nd in QS MSB 2023 compared to 55+ in the previous year.
The categories considered in the rankings include Employability (40% weightage), Return on Investment (20% weightage), Entrepreneurship & Alumni Outcomes (15% weightage), Thought Leadership (15% weightage) and Class & Faculty Diversity (10% weightage). These rankings reflect the high quality of education provided by the Institute and the outcome of successful employment and career progression among the MBA, MBAEX, and PGDBA program alumni.
Commenting on the QS 2023 Rankings, Professor Manish Thakur, Dean(NI&ER), IIM Calcutta said, “The QS Rankings demonstrate that the IIM Calcutta MBA, MBAEx and PGDBA programs are powerful launching pads for our graduates to contribute to business and society in leadership positions. We congratulate our alumni for their remarkable accomplishments! In line with our vision of global eminence, our continuous endeavour is to further promote curricular relevance, international engagement, and diversity for a dynamic learning experience that positions our students as global leaders.”
IIM Calcutta ranked 3rd with 78.64% in India Rankings in 2022. This ranking evaluates the score of Higher Educational Institutions on their performance.
National Institutional Ranking Framework, Ministry of Education conducts the ranking. Professor R Rajesh Babu received the citation from Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Hon'ble Education Minister, Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Government of India, on July 15, 2022, in New Delhi.
| Rank: Management Discipline | Score (100) | Teaching, Learning & Resources (TLR) | Research and Professional Practice (RP) | Graduation Outcomes (GO) | Outreach and Inclusivity (OI) | Peer Perception | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IIM Calcutta | 3 | 78.64/100 | 86.01/100 | 54.88/100 | 98.51/100 | 72.08/100 | 94.74/100 |
Abhishek Pandeyar is an alumnus of the 52nd batch of IIM Calcutta and is a native of the scenic mountains of Himachal Pradesh. Having worked in the Marketing Team of Walt Disney and as a Strategy Consultant for IBM in the past, he currently works as a Product Manager (Digital Payments) in ICICI Bank. A professional writer, he regularly contributes articles about Mental Health, Mythology, and World Politics to many online platforms and magazines including India's leading newspaper The Hindu. His debut novel The Whispering Himalayas was published in February 2021 and is available on Amazon and Flipkart.
By Abhishek Pandeyar
There was a time when “cash was king” in India and the entire country loved to transact in hard currency. Even when plastic alternatives were introduced in the form of debit and credit cards people in India continued to make and accept payments in cash. Whether it be distrust in electronic funds transfer or plain old resistance to change, a decade ago it appeared as if India would never be able to become a digital economy.
Cut to 2022, and it’s a dream come true. This impossible journey was violently kickstarted with demonetisation, motivated by UPI and BBPS, and ultimately solidified by the COVID-19 pandemic. The fear of the people mixed with difficulty in getting cash from ATMs jolted the Indian economy towards the digital path. A decade later in 2022, 63 billion digital transactions constitute a value of around US$3 trillion (40 percent of total market transactions). In 2026, these numbers are estimated to jump to 214 billion in number and US$10 trillion in value1. Could anyone have imagined these stats in 2012?
The Revolutionary Run of UPI
UPI or the United Payments Interface that facilitates cashless transactions in an interoperable and secure manner was introduced by NPCI (National Payment Corporation of India) in 2016. It has played an integral part in the digital transformation of the Indian economy. In just six years UPI has captured 60 percent of non-cash transaction volumes and recorded an average of 200 percent annual growth for the past 5 years. In FY 2022 alone, it was responsible for a whopping number of 46 billion transactions1. UPI’s run has been nothing short of a miracle, and with triple digit growth YOY, the day is not far when it may virtually replace every other digital transaction method.
The success of UPI is owed to many factors like interoperability, zero cost payment, easy integration with any type of payment app, and immediate settlement using only the receiver’s UPI ID. Although it is expected that NPCI might start charging a nominal fee for UPI payments in the coming years, the growth rate is still expected to outpace its competitors by a long shot.
Further extensions of UPI like AutoPay and UPI Mandates have revived seemingly dead markets like mutual funds and SIPs (Systematic Investment Plan). These features allow the customer to not worry about remembering the regular payment date for SIP and other periodical payments, hence avoiding late fees. In March 2022, the number of UPI Mandates saw a 5x jump as compared to the previous 6 months to a number of 32 million. This covers all sorts of mandate transactions like bill payments, IPOs, SIPs, subscriptions etc.
Another payment solution that has helped to move a large chunk of cash customers online is FASTag. An online toll payment solution introduced by NPCI and NHAI (National Highway Authority of India) in 2014, it utilizes automatic scanning of RFID based vehicle tags to calculate toll rates and settle the funds from user’s PPI wallet or any other type of prepaid account. FASTag has not only transformed a colossal source of cash transactions, but also helped to ease the toll payment system while saving the users’ time. In 2022, every payment player from market leaders like PhonePe and Paytm to other wallet apps like Pockets and Cred offers creation, linking, and recharge services for FASTag belonging to any provider.
Gone are the days when you had to go to concrete establishments to pay your bills accumulated over the months and years of your sordid lifetime. Society tax, land tax, electricity bill, gas, mobile recharge; anything and everything that had to be done in person every month and sometimes every week can be done today with the click of a button while earning cashbacks and discounts. BBPS or the Bharat Bill Payment System, the backbone of India’s Bill payments -regardless of the frontend platform- has not only made people’s life easy but also jolted the movement of this important cash-first arena to digital platforms. The pandemic only put gasoline onto the fire that was already burning.
As we discussed the growth of the digital payment industry in India has been tremendous in the past five years especially because of the advent of payment solutions like BBPS, FASTag, and UPI, rise of a plethora of payment apps, and the push from the pandemic. However, inspite of this unprecedented expansion in digital payments, there is still massive room for growth.
A big chunk of this growth is expected to come from the non-metro cities and semi-rural settings, or as BCG calls them, Tier 3-6 cities1. The driving factor will surely be the increase in smartphone and internet penetration that will organically boost the growth of non-cash payments. With time, customers will move towards better payment options like UPI, wallets apps, and other digital transfer options like IMPS, NEFT, and RTGS.
As the digital literacy of the rural customers increases and the market size organically expands, so shall the transaction numbers and the volumes. Needless to say, this is a big opportunity for not only the public and private sector banks but also wallet apps like PhonePe, Paytm, and Pockets. After all in 2021 there were 750 million mobile users in India which are estimated to grow to 1 billion in 2026.
A hinderance to growth in the past used to be the tentativeness in sharing personal details like debit card number or pin, and the resultant lack of trust in a monetary transfer that users couldn’t personally ‘witness’. But this fear has more or less taken a backseat due to the violent push of COVID-19 pandemic that has forced users and merchants alike to make and accept digital payments.
In the coming years BCG has predicted that the digital transactions will grow from 40 percent to 65 percent of the entire payment ecosystem. A bulk of these transactions are expected to come from merchant transfers1. To exploit this opportunity NPCI has come up with ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce). A framework and set of principles aimed at facilitating B2B payments as well as P2B transactions, ONDC will do for merchant payments that UPI has done for P2P Transfers. It will create a seamless flow of funds between shoppers, technology platforms, and omni channel retailers; aggressively focusing on the e-commerce arena.
Other than this the launch of Account Aggregator Network as well as the Sovereign Digital Rupee is sure to bring a revolution to the India payments industry. While AA network will make it easy for people to get hold of loans digitally, e-Rupee will strengthen immediate settlement of funds and perhaps increase the acceptance of cryptocurrencies in India.
Coming five years are sure to be exciting for the Indian payment industry. On one hand, coming out of a pandemic the shopping sentiment of the population is at an all-time high. And on the other hand, the various innovations in the field of digital payments are sure to bolster consumer spending. The customers not only have multiple avenues to invest and spend; they also have easier and more secure ways to perform the corresponding payment. These are sure to be unprecedented growth years for the Digital payment industry. Which bank, NBFC, or app exploits this opportunity and rises above the competition is something that will keep us guessing.
On 15th August 2022, India celebrates its 76th Independence Day as 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotshav' to commemorate its freedom. On this day, we Indians celebrate our heroes and freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives for the nation to bring us freedom, peace, and joy. Indian Institute of Management Calcutta celebrated the 76th Independence Day with great patriotic enthusiasm and zeal. Our Director, Professor Uttam Kumar Sarkar, accompanied by faculty, student and staff members, unfurled the tricolour followed by the National Anthem.
Professor Uttam Kumar Sarkar, Director, IIM Calcutta, Dean (NIER), Professor Manish Thakur, Professor Rajiv Kumar, Chairperson, MBA Programme, Chairperson - SAC, Professor Randhir Kumar, Chief Administrative Officer, Shri Alok Chandra, President Student Council, Shubham Bajaj and President, IIMCEU, Soma Ghosh delivered their speeches, respectively. All emphasized upon the importance of independence in our lives, sharing motivational speeches that made us proud to be a part of this great nation. Student-run clubs hosted many events themed on Independence Day, including a musical performance by JBS Baro C, a theme dance by the Choreography club, and a drama by the Dramatics Club.
IIM Calcutta organized the sixth edition of The Professor Arijit Mukherji Memorial Lecture on 20th October. Dr Nachiket Mor, Visiting Scientist of The Banyan Academy of Leadership in Mental Health, delivered the lecture. He addressed the students on the topic of "Reimagining India's Health Systems". The event started with an address by Prof. Manish Thakur, Dean (NIER), IIM Calcutta, where he described the Late Prof. Arijit Mukherji as a prolific scholar who was widely recognized in the field of experimental economics. Born in Calcutta, he studied at St Xavier's School and St. Xaviers College and completed his PhD in the USA.
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CEMS Annual Events were held in Cairo, Egypt hosted by The American University in Cairo (AUC), Egypt during 29 November to 2 December, 2022. This was first time that the event was held in person after closure of two years due to covid-19. The entire community of the CEMS alliance, the academics, alumni, corporate partners and students came together to celebrate the graduation of CEMS students of 2020, 21 cohorts. There were several governance meetings held on the AUC campus during this period. Networking events, dinners were also held. On 2 December, the graduation ceremony was held on a grand scale besides the Giza Pyramids. IIMC was represented by the Director, Prof. Uttam Kumar Sarkar, Dean(NIER), Prof. Manish Thakur, CEMS Academic Director/MBA Chairperson, Prof. Abhishek Goel, CEMS Programme Manager, Roma Banerjee and CEMS Student Board Representative, Vaibhav Jain. Keshav Jain, Vedika Shetty, Shivam Jindal and Aniruddh Goyal of the graduating cohort attended the graduation ceremony.
The annual business conclave of the MBAEx program, Lattice, was held on August 10, 2022. The broad theme for the event this year was "India@75: Navigating Global Uncertainty and Embracing Disruption".
The event's highlight was insightful discussions with several thought leaders and industry practitioners looking at the country's economic scenario, celebrating its 75 years of Independence while also preparing to move into the future markets.
The speakers were Mr Subir Chakraborty – Managing Director & CEO, Exide Industries Ltd, Mr Dipkishore Sen – Whole Time Director & Board Member, L&T, Mr Sayandeb Banerjee – Founder CEO, The Math Company, Mr Kaushik Roy – former President, Brand Strategy and Marketing Communication, Reliance Industries Limited, and Mr Ambarish Dasgupta – Senior Partner, Intueri Consulting LLP.
The Financial Research and Trading Lab (FRTL) at IIM Calcutta organised the fifth talk under the Finance Lecture Series on July 14, 2022. The speaker was Professor Uday Rajan, David B. Hermelin Professor of Business Administration and Professor of Finance at Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan. Professor Rajan's research focuses on informational frictions such as adverse selection and moral hazard and their effect on market transactions, with recent work on the role of credit ratings in the financial markets and FinTech competition in banking. He is a former President of the Finance Theory Group and former Director of the Western Finance Association. He is currently a Director of the Financial Intermediation Research Society.
Professor Rajan conducted a 90-minute seminar on "An Empirical Examination of Layering Behavior". After the workshop, he met with the Finance and Control group faculty members.
On 16th July 2022, the "Annual Strategy and Marketing Workshop 2022" was conducted in collaboration with IIMC Alumni Association (IIMCAA) Chennai Chapter. The event included three speakers: Arnab Roy (VP and Head of Marketing Coca-Cola India), Arjun Vijay (COO, Giottus) and Sethu Chidambaram (Sr. Director, Revenue Operations, Freshworks). It also included a case competition. The event was well received and attended by students from across programmes (MBA, MBAEX, PGDBA, PGPEX-VLM) who participated in the programme."
The State Bank of India, as a testament to their long-standing relationship with Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, came forward to sponsor a MRL Elevator for the Administrative Building of IIM Calcutta. The SBI Chairman Shri Dinesh Khara held a fruitful interactive session with the Director of IIM Calcutta, Professor Uttam Kumar Sarkar and laid the foundation stone for a MRL Elevator to be installed at the Administrative Building of Joka campus. The dignitaries at the laying of foundation stone ceremony included the Deans - Professor Manish Kumar Thakur and Professor Bhaskar Chakraborti, othe senior faculty members and chief administrative officer, Shri Alok Chandra. Also present were Shri Sujay Yadav, General Manager, NW II, SBI Kolkata circle and Shri Prem Anup Sinha, Chief General Manager, Kolkata Circle of State Bank of India.
IIM Calcutta completed its summer internship placement week for the 59th batch of MBA on 21st October by securing 540 offers for 470 students. This Placement drive, which moved back to offline mode after two years, saw the expansion of Hold & Wait (29 extra offers) and Dreams (33 extra offers) policies. This enabled companies to find a better Company-Student fit and all students could hold multiple offers. The consulting sector recruited the highest (165 students), followed by the Finance sector (115 students), and the two industries accounted for 59% of the total hires. The campus welcomed the participation from top financial institutions Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Macquarie Group, Morgan Stanley and leading consulting firms like Accenture Strategy, Bain & Co., Boston Consulting Group, Kearney and McKinsey & Co. Sales & Marketing (73 students) and General Management (76 students) combined accounted for 32% of total hires, with companies like Aditya Birla Group, Coca Cola, Dabur, Hindustan Unilever Limited, ITC, Mahindra, Mondelez, Nestle, Procter & Gamble, Tata Administrative Services being amongst the top recruiter in this sector. Top software services and E-commerce brands continued their strong showing accounting for nearly 7% of hires. Top recruiters included Amazon, Apple, Hotstar, Flipkart, Google and Media.net.
Arthur D. Little (ADL) announced the winners of the 3rd edition of the Arthur D. Little Innovation Challenge 2022 where over 1800 students participated from India’s leading B-Schools, like IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, IIM Lucknow and Indian School of Business (ISB). The final, hosted on October 30 in Delhi, saw 30 national finalists of the 2022 edition present their innovative concepts to a panel of ADL India leaders. The theme of this year’s challenge was “Corporate India 2050 – Build the next challenger.”
Read More >The 7th batch of the PGDBA program successfully concluded internship placements during 26-27 September 2022. The unique course structure takes advantage of Industry Connect and provides a 6-months corporate internship, giving the students enough time to demonstrate their industry readiness. The batch comprising sixty students received a record-breaking 107 offers from 20 different organizations, including 8 first time visiting recruiters. The internship placement process spanned between two days with the participating recruiters split into four clusters based on industry type (Consulting, BFSI, Healthcare and Product and Services). The students were permitted to hold offers as per the Hold-and-Wait policy, enabling both the students and the companies to find a better fit.
Read More >PGPEX-VLM boasts an alumni base of 15 years who are always eager to help the batch with their experiences. Every year seniors share their experiences through the alumni connect series. In a session conducted on July 2, 2022, Ms Tanvi Hait (alumnus of 8th batch), Senior Manager, Flipkart, explained to the cohort about Supply chain design in E-Com companies and the type of roles involved. She also shared insights into career options that one might have in the E-com sector – Planning, Operations, Warehouse, and Operation Excellence. She briefed about Inventory Management, Automation, Data Science, and Logistics related roles, how they are entangled, and how this glue together to achieve a Capex-free & Opex-oriented delivery. She encouraged the batch to know one's passion and work towards it by taking learning from the three institutes involved in the VLM program.
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The B. C. Roy Memorial Library, IIM Calcutta, organized a three-day national workshop on "Data Carpentry for Library Services" during 29-31 July 2022. The workshop's objectives were to develop skills in LIS professionals to face the challenges associated with the data science applications in the Library & Information Science domain. It also aimed to introduce new generation tools for data wrangling, data reconciliation and named entity extraction using open source software and train the participants in real-life applications of the Open Source data wrangling tools and techniques.
The Leadership talk series for the 16th batch featured eminent leaders from the industry who narrated their professional journey, shared insights on the latest trends, discussed the challenges looming on the horizon & guided the students on the way ahead. Mr Anish De, Global Head- Power & Utilities, KPMG, addressed the PGPEX-VLM Batch-16 about the various aspects of the Indian Energy landscape like Energy transformation, centralized grids, an increase in efficiency of electricity consumption, and emerging renewable energy sources on July 21, 2022. He stressed on the Four Ds, Decarbonisation, Decentralisation, Digitalisation and Democratisation, as the driving forces of the energy transition. And to achieve the target of net zero, we will require incorporating four climate actions, i.e. Reduce, Substitute, Compensate and Re-use. He also touched upon pathways to achieve a Low Carbon footprint, energy-intensive growth, and the use of various substitutes like low carbon electricity and green hydrogen eventually. In the end, he concluded with how to integrate energy and digital economies.
The winning social enterprises of the TATA Social Enterprise Challenge 2021-22 are our latest heroes who have imprinted their tales in red letters in the history of TSEC.
Walking away with the prize money of Rs. 5 Lakhs, Niyo Farmtech was our first hero, enhancing farmers' livelihoods across the country with its range of simple, innovative, and low-cost agri-equipment that reduces cost and efforts while propelling greater agricultural output.
Soumita Basu won the 2nd position for her adaptive clothing for people with disabilities and physical challenges. Her startup, Zyenika Adaptive Clothing, won hearts, the first runner-up title, and prize money of Rs. 3 Lakhs.
PGPEX VLM Batch 16 students attended a session with Mr Arvind Pathak, MD & CEO, Birla Corporation Ltd., initiated by Prof. Saptarshi Purkayastha during one of his Strategic Analysis sessions.
Mr Pathak addressed the PGPEX-VLM Batch-16 about the regional buying aspects of the Cement Industry that differ nationwide and how logistics played an essential role in the industry's overall success on July 07, 2022. He iterated on how to build an environment and structured approach by using technology & investing in extensive R&D to enhance the existing resources and combat environmental pollution.
IIM Calcutta Innovation Park, in collaboration with the North Eastern Council (NEC), has launched a first-of-its-kind North East Entrepreneurship Development Programme(NEEDP) encompassing start-ups from all 8 states of North East India. 270 promising start-ups from the region will be identified and supported to scale new heights through well-laid incubation and pre-incubation programs. There is an assured total funding of Rs 7.5 Cr for the 270 selected start-ups. The program was launched at NEC Secretariat, Nongrim Hills in Shillong, in the presence of Shri K. Moses Chalai, IAS, Secretary, NEC, and Smt. R. Lalrodingi, Advisor, BIT, NEC. The first phase of the initiative, the NE Entrepreneurship Challenge (Hunt) was also formally launched during the inauguration ceremony. The Hunt is a combination of multiple initiatives aimed at identifying the top 270 start-up ideas from the region. It would culminate with a Reward and Recognition Summit, wherein the 270 selected start-ups will be awarded cash prizes, certificates and enrolment into the incubation and pre-Incubation programs.
Three North East Indian states wherein IIMCIP has been vested the responsibility to build the entrepreneurship landscape – Assam, Meghalaya, and Arunachal Pradesh – have their banners flying high in the States’ start-up Ranking 2021. While Assam and Arunachal Pradesh have been dubbed as Leaders in Category A (a population of over 1 Crore) and Category B (a population under 1 Crore) respectively, Meghalaya has been recognized as the Best Performer in Category B. The North East Indian start-up ecosystem has been developing at a phenomenal pace over the last 4 years, with IIMCIP holding the baton to build the entrepreneurship landscape in the region from scratch.
Read More >Where Concepts meet Applications - IIM Calcutta's "STIMULUS SERIES"; innovatively nurtures thoughts step by step. It, interestingly, cultivates 360 Degree Thinking.
Mr Vibhu Goel, Indian Administrative Service; Joint Secretary, IT & E Dept., West Bengal; CEO & SPD SRLM, Project Director KEIIP, Kolkata; CFO, WBHDCL conducted an insightful session on July 10, 2022 for PGPEX-VLM on the Financial Perspective of Asian Development Bank Projects and Kolkata Municipal Corporation Projects. He described how external financing arrangements are better than internal ones for India. He also gave a glimpse of the project work undertaken by the Kolkata Environmental Improvement Investment Program (KEIIP). Additionally, He emphasized continuous review and in-depth involvement at the ground level for the time-bound completion of projects.
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On 19th August, 20222, Manali Khandelwal became the winner of the paper presentation in the article writing competition - “Impact Investing Ecosystem in India”. The competition was organized by the Impact Investors Council (IIC) at Unstop (formerly Dare2Compete). |   |
Pushpadeep Kumar and Pallavi Dooda of PGPEX VLM have demonstrated IIM Calcutta's mettle by securing the Runner-up position in “Vivechan - The Case Study Challenge”, a National level case competition organized by C.C.S National Institute of Agricultural Marketing (NIAM), Jaipur on the eve of Agrovon 2k22 on 8th September,2022. The challenge was floated by one of India's largest private sector phosphatic players who are majorly involved in spreading awareness about balanced fertilization through consistent engagement with the farmer community and farmer training programs. With GOI's recently announced “One Nation One Fertilizer policy” on board, allowing only 1/3rd of space on packaging for Industrial use, the company wants to retain its brand identity and increase its market share by lead generation. Team Aura broadly identified several opportunities for increasing market share, demand generation, increasing brand visibility, and reaching end customers via Digital and offline modes. The team also suggested Optimizing the Supply-Chain and avoiding unnecessary wastage which paves way for the adoption of Sustainable Agriculture practices in India leading to an overall increase in Production Efficiency and profitability. |
Former Chief Economic Advisor and IIM Calcutta alumnus Krishnamurthy Subramanian has been appointed as India’s Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). According to the cabinet's appointments committee, Subramanian’s term is for three years, or until further orders, starting from November 1, 2022.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has approved the appointment of IIM Calcutta alumnus, Ashish Kumar Chauhan as managing director and chief executive officer of National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) for a period of five years. Chauhan is currently CEO of rival BSE and his term there ends in November.
Bangalore-based Kirana-tech start-up, Kirana Club has appointed IIM Calcutta alumnus, Srikant Sastri to the company’s board as advisor. The new appointment is in line with Kirana Club’s strategic plan to propel growth and accelerate its efforts to build community based platform for Kiranas.
Xiaomi India, smartphone and smart TV brand, announced the elevation of IIM Calcutta alumnus, Muralikrishnan B as President on Monday. After serving as Chief Operating Officer since 2018, in his new role as President of Xiaomi India, Muralikrishnan B will be responsible for day to day operations, services, public affairs and strategic projects. He will continue to work towards strengthening the company's commitment towards the Make in India and Digital India.
MarketsMojo, a multi-algorithm-based stock advisory and research platform has appointed IIM Calcutta alumnus Abhisek Puglia as their Chief Business Officer. He will be instrumental in defining and executing strategies for MarketsMojo and Infinity Asset Advisory business development activities while ensuring they fit the company’s overall broader vision and ambition.
IIM Calcutta alumnus, Ashish Bajaj joins Equentis Wealth Advisory as Chief Technology Officer with two plus decades of experience in building and leading technology teams. Ashish is passionate about minimalistic design thinking and has built multiple technology platforms for Financial Services and Fintech.
SuperBottoms, an Indian sustainable baby care brand, as part of its’ strategic growth plans announced the onboarding of IIM Calcutta alumnus, Vinod Khedekar as its Chief Operating Officer (COO).
Censa has elevated IIM Calcutta alumnus, Avinash Kasinathan as its CEO. In this role, Avinash will lead the SaaS and other technology service business lines derived from Censa's unified comprehensive food tech platform.
Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd recently announced the joining of IIM Calcutta alumnus, Milind Nagnur as President & Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to spearhead the Bank’s technological transformation.
IIM Calcutta alumnus, Rajiv Rawat has joined Garware Hi-Tech Films Limited (GHFL) as Vice President of Sales, Marketing, and Network management of automotive product vertical. Under the new role Rawat will be responsible for sales, marketing, network management, and digital transformation of GHFL automotive products in domestic and international markets.
The Indian EdTech portal, upGrad has recently appointed IIM Calcutta alumnus, Rakesh Raju as director of brand marketing. He joins after working with CavinKare for 6 years.
Manjari Sharma, an alumnus of IIM Calcutta is the Founder of Farm Didi, a foodtech startup that aims to empower one million rural women. Just a year old, it has enabled 1,080+ women entrepreneurs through an initiative impacting 40+ villages in rural Maharashtra.