Five post-graduate programme (PGP) students of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) have set up a Private Equity (PE) and Venture Capital (VC) club to help students get hands-on experience by involving PE/VC players from India and abroad. Unlike finance clubs run by most B-schools in the country, this club exclusively focuses on PE and VC funding.

The lack of opportunities and experience in the PE and VC space led five students to set up the club called ‘Leverage’. With around 50 students interested in being members, the club will be a forum for students interested in all aspects of private equity and venture capital.

“We came up with an initial skeletal structure of the PE club by looking at institutes like Harvard and others from the Ivy League. But the end product has been entirely our idea of how a PE club should be. Although we prefer to call it an interest group for the time being, we plan to run a full-fledged club with more activities soon,” says Anirudh Singh, a member of the club.

“PE as an industry has boomed in India and we plan to invite speakers to the campus, hold conclaves, workshops and other events to provide a platform for the students and corporates to interact. Also, we are looking forward to hold intra-institute events, where the students can write an investment proposal and a panel of faculty members can judge them.

We have no restrictions when it comes to corporates as we would be involving both top- and middle-level players to encourage more and more activities in the field of PE and VC,” says Gagandeep Singh, another member of the club.

As part of formalising the club, the students are holding the first intra-institute event called the ‘Zen of Investing’, where the club plans to invite alumni working in the area of private equity, besides involving the faculty and students for the activity.

The club also has plans to tie-up with Post-Graduate Programme in Management for Executives (PGPX) students to getter a better perspective of private equity. “The PGPX students would be able to share their experiences about private equity and with their support, we plan to involve ourselves with the corporates in a deeper way through various activities, including projects and case workshops,” adds Anirudh Singh.

The club is in talks with a few corporates, who have shown interest in sponsoring the club.

“We are considering more options for funding besides the institute and the corporates we are in talks with. Currently, we are in the stage of gauging the responses from the people about the club,” says Anirudh Singh, before adding, “Although we have started out PE and VC, we may consider branching out to other areas like micro finance later.”

More : business-standard.com

AHMEDABAD: The anxiety levels of those who cleared the interviews at any or all of the Indian Institutes of Management have hit the roof after the IIMs declared that the admission process was deferred since the quota issue was subjudice, based on an advisory from the ministry of human resource and development (MHRD).

This came even as the directors of the six IIMs called off their meeting to be held in Delhi on Friday to discuss the issue of admissions in the light of the quota row.

With time running out, several students took admissions at other management institutes and will stand to lose the amount paid as fees to these institutes in case they decide to enrol at any of the IIMs when the quota issue is resolved.

On the flip side, the IIMs could stand to lose the meritorious students to other schools. Candidates like Abhishek Sharma who cleared IIM-Bangalore are already looking at other management institutes.

An IT consultant, Sharma has taken admission into Xavier Labour Relations Institute, Jamshedpur, and also paid Rs 1.76 lakh as fees on Friday, it being the last day for admissions.

“In waiting for the IIM results, I have let go of admissions to Narsee Monjee Institute of Management, S P Jain Institute of Management and Management Development Institute, Gurgaon,” says Sharma.

After the IIMs declared on April 12 that they would release the admissions list for 2007-08 on April 21 as per the procedure last year, the MHRD sent a communiqué on Thursday suggesting that “any unilateral decision by any Central educational institutions would be a violation”.

The IIMs subsequently posted a communiqué saying admissions to the Post Graduate Programme for 2007-08 would proceed only after the quota issue was resolved.

Anurag Jayanti who got through IIM-Indore, says, “I have already got through MDI, Gurgaon, and have paid fees of Rs 1.85 lakh. But I will still wait for news from IIM-Indore.”

There are others like Anirudh Soory, an IT consultant who only applied for IIMs and cleared five of them, even IIM-A. Frustrated about the uncertainty, he said, “I have to serve a three months’ notice to my company before leaving.”

The concern of OBC candidates is further compounded, since their admissions will solely depend on the Supreme Court’s view.

Pushkaraj Khambayate, a software engineer, is an OBC candidate who appeared for interviews at IIM-C, IIM-I and IIM-K.

He said, “As I am hopeful of getting through IIMs, I am letting go of admissions to other private colleges.” He cannot start procedures for taking an education loan too, since admissions are not confirmed, he adds.