Inside IMT Nagpur

An MBA for Aishwarya Gupta was a career move. It was more than a mere stepping stone into a profession. Her stint at IMT Nagpur transformed her life. During her B-School education, she learnt a lot more than mere academics. “It also taught how to respond to any new phase/situation in life. How to use opportunities, manage everyday work and people. Most important of all I learnt to make critical decisions during pressure situations. A career is made to earn money but, with my MBA I have learned a lesson for life,” Gupta says.

Today, Aishwarya Gupta works as a Marketing Associate with Grail Research. Her young shoulders carry huge responsibilities. “At IMT, we were getting ready to face the corporate world every second. Not just through classroom lectures but also during interactions with peers and seniors. The Nagpur campus had become our home and we realized how much we missed it only after we left for our homes,” this graduate remembers, nostalgically.

On the IMT campus, she learnt to live with different people, belonging to different cultures, temperaments and backgrounds. This experience prepared her for the situation at work. “We come across different people who are good and not so good to you. We work with them and try to reach to a solution acceptable to all,” Gupta realized. The key to getting along, she found is compromise. A few other important lessons were to get things done and handle pressure. These lessons will always stay with her.

A career in Market Research and Consulting needs persistence and deep diving into the subject. “There are no short cuts in this field,” Gupta cautions aspiring Market Research professionals. “You need to be insightful in your research. Just presenting the facts will not be enough.” Besides, being a good observer and a good listener are definite added advantages. Besides this, there are those rare occasions that demand for teams to stay on the job for as long as 48 hours. A Market Research professional needs to be prepared for such times.

Today, Gupta has a team of five people reporting to her and is an expert at multi tasking. “I reach office before 10am in the morning,” she says. Her work day involves looking at accumulated mails, delegating work to her group; discuss approaches with every member before they begin working. “I provide the necessary inputs and keep checking in with them at small intervals, answer their queries, quality check all the deliverables and send them before leaving for the day.” Her typical work day ends at 7 pm.

In his year-and-a-half at IMT Nagpur, Professor Sayan Banerjee claims to have been labeled as a thinker sort by the students of IMT Nagpur.

“I’m considered as the intellectual sorts, which, I guess that is a mild way of saying I’m boring. I do watch cartoons and comedy shows, but my friends and colleagues think I’m the serious-type. I guess my funny-bone just doesn’t show in my demeanor.”

Although a chat with Professor Banerjee shows him in a completely different light. Call him ‘young’ and pat comes the riposte,”Going by the marketing textbook definition, I’m no longer young. The cut-off is 35, and I’m 36.’

Professor Banerjee is a teacher because he simply couldn’t picturise himself as an IAS Officer, or a Bank Probationary Officer, or an Engineer making his money abroad. In the 90’s – post liberalization and the dream budget of Chidambaram in ’97 – due to a series of events, Professor Banerjee, who had qualified NET for  Lecturer-ship  conducted by UGC, was offered a job as an academic associate at IIM, Ahmedabad in the year 2000.He enjoyed it too much to let go. This was the phase when it seemed like a new B-school was opening up on a daily basis.

“Since last few years, I’m seeing the maturity phase. India is a growing economy worth more than 40 lakh Crores rupees… sometimes growing fast and sometimes slow. Depending upon this pace of growth, sometimes in our country there will be new projects worth 50,000 Crores, sometimes 30,000 Crores. Depending on that, assuming for every 5 crore worth of new project one manager is needed; sometimes 10,000 managers will be required by the industries, and sometimes 6,000 managers. And this number will only increase in the future .If the well-established B-schools like IMT, Nagpur are not to branch out, there will be run-of-the-mills operators that will churn out insufficiently and improperly groomed managers, simply because the demand outstrips supply. So premium B-schools like IMT, Nagpur are duty-bound to expand and branch out. ”

Prior to IMT Nagpur Prof. Banerjee was with Narsee-Monjee, Mumbai.

“It was quite an intellectually stimulating institution, but I was not finding the academic ambience in the city. Mumbai is a city of struggle, especially for the middle class. It is a maximum city; either you have to be super-rich or you have to accept the life at the lowest rank of the economy, in order to survive it. The middle class is neither here nor there. They can neither live in Dharavi, nor could we afford an apartment in Bandra. Prior to joining here as full time faculty, I had been associated with IMT, Nagpur as a visiting faculty. I liked the institute, and found the city much better place to live in.”

Pretty evolved, one may say. But Prof Banerjee thinks that you cannot live for money… use money to make a living. The truth is that pay packages for the new managers have not dwindled; it’s just that the benchmarks have changed.

“The thumb rule is that, a Manager dealing with a 100 Crore project, may get an annual package of 50 Lakhs. But if a project worth is just a few crores then the package cannot exceed 10 Lakhs. Students end up benchmarking unrealistically. But for a twenty-three old person, with no responsibility; in a country, where the per-capita income is very low, a package of 10 Lakhs is very good. The media will talk of that one odd case where one student of one B-school gets a package of one Crore. Media thrives on Sensation not Sense.”

Prof. Sayan Banerjee finds great incentives in making his classes at IMT Nagpur interesting.

“More than my students, I get bored if I don’t see something interesting happening in my Classes. It’s a different kind of a profession. Here your performance appraisal or bonus amount is not the real award. A small note to you by a student praising a particular session or attributing a certain changed perspective leading to a good job interview, are big incentives for a faculty.”

Prof Banerjee feels that while IMT Nagpur undoubtedly has a fantastic infrastructure – both human and physical infrastructure – at par with the best B-schools in the country, Nagpur is not in an economically happening city, and students of this institute may have a limited real life ,everyday business exposure which is provided by a city like Mumbai or Delhi. The city is growing though, and it has been reported that it will be one of the major drivers of future growth of the country, so that’s a positive for him.

“Twenty years down the line, everything with a definite ‘Right’ or ‘Wrong’ for an answer, will be carried out by machines. The only place where humans will still be needed when there would not be a definite ‘Right’ or ‘Wrong’. My advice to the IMT, Nagpur grads is don’t simplify, think complex, look at a problem from different perspectives, only then can you survive and outsmart the Machines  in the future.”

As a part of the industry interface programme of IMT Nagpur, on the 17^th of March 2012 PGDM students of IMT Nagpur had  the opportunity of interacting with a pioneer who had, by choosing an unconventional route, created an entire industry -Mr. K Padmakumar, Secretary of Public Sector Restructuring and Internal Audit Board, Kerala government.

“Our organization was started by Dr Rajagopal, the Industrial Secretary, who passed away at the age of 46. It was his mission that we translated and implemented. In 2004, the Indian government acknowledged the concept, by constituting the board for reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises. Now such bodies exist in 20 countries. So now, for specialization, there’ll be takers for it in say Bengal, Haryana or Rajasthan as well; something impossible 15 years back, as the industry didn’t exist.”

Mr. Padmakumar urged students to focus on the challenging sectors, where competition is scarce because no one cares. Despite being an engineer, his complete focus on industrial management aspects during his post graduation days, gave him the early bird advantage, and he was asked to head a DP project for Kerala. One thing led to the other and at about 30, he landed a fellowship to the commonwealth secretariat, followed by an ADB project amongst others.

“Over a period of time there has been lot of world-wide movement in corporate governance, especially in SOE’s. It’s good of IMT Nagpur to organize this interaction for its students, but SOE’s should also reciprocate in terms of industrial training.”

Mr. Padmakumar asked the students of IMT Nagpur to anticipate the challenges in e-governance. Preparedness in e-initiatives is low, and any e-initiative has to be based on an IT-strategy at the board level, which many companies find difficult to design, develop and implement. He gave the example of the effort by the e-governance authorities to try and educate contractors in the methodology of preparing a ‘terms of reference’ document – something you can only do if you know what you want. Mr. Padmakumar asked the IMT Nagpur students to closely watch the e-procurement initiative, where some standard softwares are being operated through the web, for use by various companies. It was a short-cut for better utilization of e-principles, but some serious leapfrogging was urgently needed. He ENCOURAGED IMT Nagpur, to invite public sector leaders to debate an e-strategy.

Mr. Padmakumar asked the young guns of IMT Nagpur to practice ethical management.

“One change I’m trying to bring in many companies is a culture of management professionalism. There is lot of infighting between managers. Focus on a corporate goal, and continuously upgrade your own skills and be transparent.”

He advised the IMT Nagpur batches to blend their energy and sense of opportunities with the expertise, procedure and knowledge of the experienced managers, but not be polluted by a ‘learned helplessness’.

“To our generation, Info-Tech is just about sacrificing health… sandwiches and coke and banging our head at 4 o’clock in the morning over a bug in a programme. Your generation has sound fundamentals in soft-skills and understands work-life balance better.”

He concluded with an emphatic reminder to the students of IMT, Nagpur about the single most management tenet.

“Excellent people from IIT’s and even IIM’s were picked by the public sector in the 80’s but moved abroad after some time. Had they tuned-in to their business environment, and had the companies turned competitive, this brain-drain wouldn’t have happened.”

The new economic equations emerging on global front are implyingIndiaas a potential economic super-power in decades to come. That is because of the rising discontentedness among Indians to excel and to lead the businesses across the globe.

Dr. Raj Kumar Phatate who is the Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship Development at Instituteof Management Technology, Nagpurexplains how Indiais a good place for entrepreneurs? “There are tremendous opportunities in our economy. If we see the recent economic growth inIndia, it is primarily driven by the private home grown entrepreneurship. The second best country across the world for entrepreneurship, afterUSA, isIndia because we already have a base of home grown entrepreneurs, and are a democratic country, full of resources, emerging markets, etc.,” he says.

Management institutions like IMT also understand this fact and hence are incorporating various activities that nurture the spirit of entrepreneurship among the students. The faculties at IMT Nagpur always teach their students with the motto to produce entrepreneurial managers rather than just managers.

Dr. Phatate reveals the activities at the campus that instill entrepreneurship among students. “We have established an entrepreneurship development cell where students carry out lots activities from planning to execution. They run businesses within the campus, like spa-centers, juices centers, laundry-services, newspaper deliveries, salons, etc.  They source goods, market their products and manage the business themselves. In this process they get experience of being an entrepreneur,” he says.

It is not just the students who take all initiatives but the institute also offers various electives on entrepreneurship and the faculties focus on the entrepreneurship as well. “We offer our students various electives like entrepreneurship development, business plan preparation, social entrepreneurship, family business management, etc. Also, each faculty at IMT teaches whatever their subjects may be on a canvas of entrepreneurship. Also the case studies that we choose to teach the students are of entrepreneurial contexts,” says Dr. Phatate.

Dr. Phatate who has a vast experience in teaching entrepreneurship explains why doing an MBA is required to become a successful entrepreneur. “For any business to start MBA may not be a pre requisite but when it comes to sustaining and growth, certainly, one need MBA.  All businesses have to move from entrepreneurially managed firms to professionally managed firms or else they remain just as salary substitute or life style enterprises. To sow the seeds of high growth enterprises it is advisable to know in advance what it takes to be a high growth enterprise before conceiving and shaping a business opportunity. MBA education can impart this knowledge and skills. Business has to pass through different turbulences, phases, etc. There may be mistakes in business operation. It is better to get proper training for successful operation and hence MBA is necessary.

Dr. Phatate believes that discontentedness, willingness to reform and commitment to mobilize the resources, energy, time and the reputation required for entrepreneurship are the three basic qualities that any aspiring entrepreneur must have. “Entrepreneurship is one’s journey from his or her personal discontentedness to worldly contentedness leading to creation of wealth. If I feel not happy or satisfied with something, then rather than blaming or getting frustrated, I have to take initiative to reform and to offer innovative solutions either in the form of products or services or business model and be ready to take risk. I have to utilize my energy, time, resource and reputation etc.,” he shares.

In its continuing expansion of global linkages, Institute of Management Technology Nagpur is now allied with University Diponegoro (UNDIP), Semerang-Indonesia and has conducted its first joint research project.

The memorandum of understanding signed by the two institutes covers joint research and faculty exchange and a joint research initiative between the partners produced two full-fledged research papers and one proposal.

Faculty members involved from IMT Nagpur included Prof. Hanish Rajpal, Prof. Shiv Nath Sinha and Dr. Gajavelli V S and the faculty team from UNDIP included Dr. Augus Purwanto, Dr. F. X. Sugianto and Dr Waridin.

In joint consultations stretching over November and December, 2011 the team produced: Earnings Management and Value Creation – Dr. Agus Purwanto and Prof. Hanish Rajpal; CSR, CG and Value Creation – Dr. Agus Purwanto and Prof. Shiv Nath Sinha and Rural Economy Competitiveness Models – Dr F X Sugianto and Dr Gajavelli V S.

Further dialogue with other IMT Nagpur faculty members saw valuable input from Dr. Veena Pailwar on research and text-book publications in the area of business management.

This spring, the new alliance will see an IMT Nagpur faculty team going to UNDIP for the spring session for teaching and faculty development involving a wide range of areas including: case study work-shops in the business and economics domains; research methodology; publishing research papers in reputable international journals and textbooks; and quantitative and qualitative research in management.

UNDIP University has a respectable global ranking (26th best university globally) with an impressive performance and focus on academics and research.

It is located in Semarang, the capital city, of Central Java Province and is comprised of five campuses located in Semarang and the District of Jepara, about 70 Km northeast of Semarang.

This latest international alliance brings IMT Nagpur’s number of global linkups to 29 ranging from Canada to France, Mexico, Ireland, Australia, the United States and beyond, encompassing every corner of the globe.

Bright young lives stood at the threshold of a brilliant future. The very air at IMT Nagpur was charged with excitement and anticipation as business magnate Mukesh Ambani and Kamal Nath, Union Minister for Urban Development, Government of India addressed the gathering at IMT Nagpur’s Convocation, 2012, held on 3 March, 2012.

“This century is poised to become an India Century,” Chief Guest Shri Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani, a man who needs no introduction, said in his IMT Nagpur Convocation address. Those nine words had every member of the audience experience one emotion – a deep pride in India, and a deeper pride of being Indian.

Convocation 2012, on 3 March, was IMT Nagpur’s 7^th, and turned into a memorable day, charged with brilliance. Mukesh Ambani was in his usual element as he told the students that success belonged to those who sought it. A huge factor in every success story is one person – you. “India is a land of a billion opportunities – not a billion problems. This is the centre of the world,” Ambani, a symbol of India’s transformation, said, adding, “These opportunities manifest themselves through the various challenges faced by our country. The youth power – you – will be central to converting challenges into opportunities.”

Shri Mukesh Ambani acknowledged that a graduation ceremony is an unforgettable landmark in any student’s life. But it is also a beginning. The beginning of the end of a comfortable life in exchange of real life challenges. Graduate Himanshu Arora said, “An IMT-ian is born with two lives. One is life at IMT – a mixture of anxiety, academics, friends, fun, joy, tears, love and passion. The second life is reality.” Obviously, he had been listening to Shri Ambani closely.

Sensing the excitement brewing within the students, Ambani told them, “Graduation is not about moving out. It actually means moving UP. Up the ladder of excellence, moving up the steps of responsibility, and do this with poise and character, enthusiasm and conviction. Graduate yourselves to a higher existence. Emotionally and spiritually.”

He went on to remind those waiting for their future to unfold, that they had many people to thank before their journey began. Parents, family and elders. All of them have made huge sacrifices to get the graduates to IMT. IMT Nagpur faculty, who had worked tirelessly on the graduating batch’s education received their share of applause, courtesy Mukesh Ambani’s acknowledgement of them.

“We have one of the best faculty pools in the country, and use online testing in some exams,” Dr. Rajendra Nargundkar, Director, IMT Nagpur said. “It is only in its 8^th year, and is already among the top 20 private B-Schools in India.”A truly commendable achievement.

The students, most of them already placed in jobs that would fetch them an average of Rs. 5.4 lakhs per annum, sat at rapt attention, soaking in every moment.

Pushpinder Singh, a new graduate became sentimental at the thought of leaving the comfort zone that IMT Nagpur offered. “I wish life had an action replay button, I would will my time at IMT Nagpur back,” he sighed.

Shri Kamal Nath ended his address with some very relevant thoughts, thoughts that every student will replay in their minds. “Make the earth a happier planet. As you leave the portals of IMT Nagpur as trained managers, never forget you are the citizens of India,” he said. “Because you have received one of the best educations the country has to offer, you are saddled with a greater responsibility – to put education to use in a socially responsible manner. I wish you a great future. You have worked hard towards it. Now go out and grasp it.”

Navdeep attended his summer internship program at Asian Paints Ltd. He was into the sales and marketing division during his internship program and shares that the work “pertained to understanding the gaps in the existing offering and developing a strategy to improve Asian Paints market penetration for its Tinting machines”.

He was assigned a project in Gujrat, where in, his job was to conduct a market survey in order to find out as to why most of the new dealers were installing paint tinting machines without approaching APL. He was expected to find out the reason behind this sudden change in the Gujrat market, analyse it and build a strong strategy which can help in raising APL’s tinting machine penetration in the city. The project was a great learning experience for this IMT student. He says, “It was tough to understand the new industry and its dynamics. I travelled almost 4000 kms across Gujarat for the Project to many backward towns with only a single paint dealer. It was a great learning experience and more so an eye opener about how well the organizations have set up their distribution channels and dealer networks. I also got various insights into the mindsets of dealers across different strata of the society.” Navdeep carried out the task with utmost dedication and its outcome couldn’t have been better; APL was so impressed with his hard work and devotion that it gave him the PPI offer right away and finally selected him for a suitable position in the company.

On being asked if he was prepared to handle the position given to him during the summer internship program at APL, he answered that he wasn’t prepared at all. It was the first time he was stepping into such a large organization. He had no prior work experience unlike the other summer trainees in his batch. However, he had been the marketing head of the college youth council and had been involved in several extra co-curricular activities at IMT-Nagpur. Managing time and resources efficiently is something that comes naturally to him. These were two of his strong points that helped him throughout the internship. He also studied about APL’s background, its products and services before going for the SIP and it proved to be of great help for him.

Navdeep believes that one thing that set him apart from the other trainees was his knowledge about the industry basics. He says, “I spent a week understanding the backhand depot operations and understanding the product portfolio of APL, which was not required for my project per se, but I believe the initial time that I spent understanding APL was what made the difference between me and others getting the PPI and then the job.” He further adds, “I always stuck to the basics and tried to understand the root of the problem.”

He feels that internship program is an essential part of a PGDM course as it provides the required exposure to the students before they set out for their actual ventures in the corporate world. He also shares how his SIP at APL has helped him learn and grow professionally.

Music lover, sportsman and MBA in the making, Karan Ratti Kapoor of IMT Nagpur is clear about his priorities. In his own words, he is “Definitely a sports person.”

Recently, Karan Ratti Kapoor was awarded Most Valuable Player of his team at Athlos, a sports event organized by XIMB in early February 2012.

Kapoor’s passions are many but his game is Basket Ball – a game he’s been playing since he was in class six. Today, he plays Basket Ball more as a way to keep fit. His attention, however, is now consumed by the golf course and the equestrian track. “I intend to pursue them in the future,” he says. Maybe replace Tiger Woods? Well, who knows? For now, though, it’s IMT Nagpur and serious studies.

As a junior, when he first entered IMT Nagpur, Kapoor was utterly fascinated by Ranbhoomi, the home sports event. The febrile exuberance and sprit of 400 people consumed by sports for three days catapulted him into the heart of sporting activity that went on non-stop.

“IMT offers a very versatile learning experience,” he says, admiring how the B-School goes about its curriculum, employing top quality faculty, inviting guest lecturers, including relevant case studies and focusing on a student’s interpersonal development.

Aiming at being a ‘master of many’ Kapoor is of the opinion that learning does not end with an MBA. In truth, an MBA is the beginning of the many stepping stones to ultimate success. That, probably reflects in his playing so many games. Ultimately, though, Karan Kapoor plans on becoming an entrepreneur. He has a ‘string of ideas’ playing around in his brain and will be converting them into business plans soon. Really soon.

Kapoor believes that perseverance leads to perfection. His favourite quote for the moment comes from Lord Chesterfield, who once said, “Aim at perfection in everything, though in most things it is unattainable. However, they who aim at it, and persevere, will come much nearer to it than those whose laziness and despondency make them give it up as unattainable.”

Not just a creative thinker, Merwin James of IMT Nagpur is a very strategic and logical person. He came to IMT Nagpur for a management qualification after a lot of deliberation. Today he nearing the end of his two year stint and is placed with Tata Technologies in his dream job.

An engineer by qualification, Merwin James worked for four years before he ventured back into college for an MBA qualification. Those four years were instrumental in helping him recognize his strengths and decide on the area he wanted his career focus to be: a management role in the manufacturing industry.

Merwin chose IMT Nagpur for his MBA after he visited the campus and met the faculty. Here he found the infrastructure and the learning opportunities met his expectations. “I was very pleased with the few lecturers I met,” elaborates this Jack of all trades and master of some.

Tata Technologies, a first time recruiter at IMT Nagpur offered him the role of SAP Business Consultant to their most profitable client – Tata Motors, mostly in the Product Procurement and Materials Management Divisions. James is well prepared to perform this role due to his prior experience within the IT sector and the courses he selected for his Operations Electives at IMT Nagpur.

Choosing the right career-boosting electives is very important. James carefully chose courses like Enterprise Resource Planning, Supply Chain Management, Customer Relationship Management, etc, which are tailor made to give students like him a holistic perspective to today’s market demands in Operations in the Manufacturing Sectors.

“Although the demands of the market keep changing, the core reason for the existence of any business is to generate revenues for its stakeholders by integrating all its various functions. A PGDM degree shows how every single department of an organization cannot exist in individual silos but must synergize every activity towards the goal of a better value proposition. A theoretical understanding of the system, its intricacies and how it all integrates and links, is essentially what the course teaches you,” Merwin elaborates.

He cracked his placement interview with confidence. A confidence that comes with the knowledge that you are well prepared and know your subject like the back of your hand. To do that, you need knowledge through meticulous, relentless research. James knew what he wanted and went after it. He sold himself by showing his personal suitability for the job that nobody else could fit into.

The present recession does not depress him. Instead he is looking at concentrating on the ride back to times of growth. The future promises a whole gamut of opportunities. “Any entrepreneur willing to take the risk will always find the conditions conducive to successfully fructify his idea,” he signs off.

A prime placement at Welspun has been landed by Institute of Management Technology Nagpur student Abhinav Gogia.

Welspun is an amalgamation of expertise, resources, opportunities and engineering excellence, with a strong foothold in more than 50 countries, more than 24,000 employees, more than 100,000 shareholders and is one of India’s fastest growing conglomerates.

Abhinav, who landed a plum position in their finance section, says his exact job profile will be discussed after the induction phase, but he believes he has performed well in past positions and “I am prepared to take this opportunity and add value to the Welspun family.”Born and raised in Ludhiana, Abhinav took mechanical engineering at Government College Ferozepur then decided to work in the services sector and joined a growing software company, Nagarro Softwares.

From there he came to IMT Nagpur because “I wanted to pursue a fully residential MBA because I believe that an MBA is more about what happens outside the classroom,” he said. “Some of my friends had completed their MBA from Nagpur campus and they supported my decision. The management gives independence and resources to students to take initiatives.”

It’s a move he’s glad he made, noting: “It definitely has helped me to bag this job because the environment provided here has made me culturally acceptable to any respected organization where I would like to work.”

“One thing I believe is education always pays you; it may be today or after some time. The courses offered are well designed and are adding value to me and every student.”

Abhinav will be bringing more than his knowledge to the job at Welspun.

“My dedication and religious effort for the work that I do will help to achieve excellence,” he said “and my people skills in making connections will help to grow business.”

Welspun has also landed itself a loyal employee.

“Five years down the line if things go as I have planned, I would see myself at a good position in the company that I will join right now,” said Abhinav. “I don’t run for money, I rather strive for better work – I think that money follows in the end and I am not a person who shifts between companies or jobs quite often.”