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

Leading business process outsourcing (BPO) firm Genpact has roped in professors from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Lucknow to give its employees lessons in management skills and improving productivity.

Through electronically enabled interactive sessions, workers at Genpact’s operation hubs in Delhi, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Jaipur will learn the finer nuances of management, soft skills and strategic planning from senior professors of the business school.

This is an e-certificate programme in general management (e-CPGM) and there are 119 participants, most of whom have worked for one to three years.

“The objective of this programme is to develop managerial capabilities among people who are at the early stages of their career to enable them to effectively undertake managerial responsibilities,” said Ajay Singh, course director of IIM Lucknow.

The programme is divided into 12 modules. Keeping in mind the requirements of the industry, the modules are designed to create managerial and leadership competence among the professionals. There are 120 hours of e-enabled interactive sessions.

Singh said the programme was being run from IIM Lucknow’s Noida campus, which was being developed as a centre of excellence in the area of executive education.

The India headquartered Genpact operates service delivery centres in India, China, Hungary, Mexico, the Philippines, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain and the US.

The government has asked Indian Institute of Foreign Trade to prepare a report on the impact of the enlargement of the European Union in the country exports.

The report analyses the impact and developing a plausible negotiating strategy for India with respect to elements of export interest.

The three main points identified in products negotiable “, where most favorites nationality prices are probably related to increase, leather, textiles and chemicals.

The study, in collaboration with the Federation of Indian Export Organizations, the government’s proposals on the basis of feedback from exporters, FIEO said.

IIFT has already initiated discussions with exporters in this context, in the land of the major cities of Chennai and Mumbai.

With the European Union’s largest trading partner and second largest source of foreign direct investment in India, its current expansion is certainly have a great influence on the Indian economy in general and especially exports.

In the area of market access, it is estimated that in the case of new members joining the EU, tariffs on products are not be bound.

Some experts believe that since the EU already has a wide variety Tarrif barriers unavailable, it is unlikely that migration tarrifs.

The government wrote to the training center to initiate the coast of Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Mangalore.

G. Giridhar Prabhu, president of the Chamber of Commerce Kanara and head of the Committee on sectors Coastal Agenda Task Force (CATF), said the Hindu on Friday that the Minister for large companies, RVDeshpande a meeting with representatives of LUCF in this context, on Thursday.

Mr. Prabhu, thanked the Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada, AKMonnappa, and the president of LUCF, N. Vinaya Hegde said IDECK Ltd had proposed three sites in Baikampady in Dakshina Kannada, Padubidri in Udupi District, and Agsoor near Ankola in Uttara Kannada district.

The government has shown interest in it “in principle” to the draft authorisation for private sector participation.

The government would only play a mediator. The government is not interested in what the circle and management KCCI area to recognize and develop, in collaboration with the CATF.

Mr. Prabhu said that there were now mandatory for the Centre to ask their own countries SEZ Act. He said the CATF, a copy of the Bill of Maharashtra SEZ on the Prime Minister and LUCF, he assured that the State of extending “legal cover” for the formation of the SEZ. However, on the coast SEZ is unique.

The coasts of the belt of Karnataka was known for his immense reservoir of human resources and have a huge potential for SEZ in the area of trade and services.

The OECD countries and developed countries had a lot of NIC in the services sector, which could be replicated in Mangalore, if these SEZs born here, the concept paper on the SEZ said.

The SEZ in Mangalore would be first to find trade and service companies. But it would also have an area of production, conservation, taking into account regional differences in the chemical industry.

Units could clean SEZ.

The approach paper KCCI, said the work units, such as clothing, toys, paper conversion, change packaging and specialty packaging, value-added in agriculture and cultivation of plants Horticulture, spices, rubber, coconut and arecanut based products should preferably be in the of the SEZ. Production units specialized in all entries to the Indian cuisine as masalas, finished preparations of dried vegetables, ingredients for and entrances, maize, sugar, rice and rice, wheat, potatoes and onions, vegetables dried and other processed foods and be considered for SEZ. The approach document cites the target markets of SEZ in West Asia, East and West Africa, Asia-Pacific and Russia.

The Government in its letter, said the CSEZ would be ideal for a port based on the establishment in the medium term, highlighted in the Export Strategy 2002-07.

The Union Ministry of Industry and Commerce noted that NMPT as a strategic location for the port of India in the implementation of the study Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi.

Do you have a knack for figures? Does the rise and fall of the sensitive index excite you? Would you like to have a say in the country’s future? Check out the wide range of options open to a qualified economist. A report by Debojyoti Ghosh and Rupa Ganguly Economics is the art of trying to satisfy infinite needs with limited resources.

-Albert Camus CONSIDERED a rich subject, the study of economics covers a vast field and requires an analytical brain to grasp its nuances. It is a branch of social science that deals with production, distribution and consumption of goods and services and their management. The subject deals with the process of satisfying unlimited human wants with limited resources. Therefore, in essence, economics is about making choices. It’s about guiding men and society to make the right choice, and manage to live within their means.

What it entails Economists study the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services. Their work mainly has to do with analysing data and practical applications of economic policy in a particular area. Economists use mathematical models to develop programmes, predicting the nature and length of business cycles, the effects of inflation on the economy, or unemployment.

Assessment of economic conditions nationally and internationally to estimate the economic effects of specific changes in legislation or public policy is also a part of their job. The primary task of economists, however, is to predict the probable consequences of a course of action or policy decision. They may work as advisors with different kinds of employers Begin early Economics could be studied in school, as a sixth subject in ICSE and an additional subject in Madhyamik. It could be taken up as a regular subject at the plus two level. However, if you want to major in economics at the graduation level, you just have to pass 10+2 in any stream. To get a postgraduate degree in the subject, you should have a graduate degree in economics.

Options abroad The London School of Economics is known the world over as a premiere institute in the field and runs all sorts of courses. A wide variety of funding options is available for overseas students. The LSE itself gives awards to the tune of 1.4 million pounds. There are a number of awards covering teaching and living expenses. Two of these scholarships are given to undergraduate students on the basis of exceptional performance. The third goes to a student who has completed his degree as an external student. Several other schemes, such as the Overseas Research Students (ORS) awards, the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan, the Rotary Foundation Scholarships, UNESCO fellowships, the Department for International Development Shared Scholarship Scheme (DIDSSS) etc. are also available. The Indian friends of LSE offer scholarships to Indian students. Teaching expenses could be covered by awards from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, while the Indian friends support the living costs.

Fashion designer Ralph Lauren lives next door. Billionaire Financier George Soros is down the street.

If Martha Stewart gets prison in West Virginia next week, they are not a characteristic Halfway House. Instead, it is at its aufbrechend of 153 hectares of farm at the centre of Bedford, serves as a transition to society, envy and others.

This is the place where she hopes at the beginning of their return to the USA as a culture and business symbol.

Friends and associates said Stewart detailed “to-do lists for five months, they serve as delivery at home, the second half of their sentence, up to an obstacle to the federal justice system.

She writes for the next edition of Martha Stewart Living Magazine. She bought seeds and filled two greenhouses plants in anticipation of the Outdoor of the season gardening. And it should consider at regular intervals with their probation officer.

While conditions Stewart’s “monitors release” herumlaufen limiting their freedom, even within the whole it seems a lot to be done on the ground is she decided to their new place of residence to live in Westport, Conn. , For more than 30 years.

The dozen buildings in the area of West Chester - in most varnish Stewart’s own shade Bedford Gray - are in various states of construction.

“The enthusiasm of this new beginning - a new house, a new garden - has sustained their spirits,” Margaret Roach, editor in chief of Martha Stewart Living, wrote recently in a letter to readers.

Roach and other top leaders to Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia were not available for comment on this story. In a conference call with analysts on Wall Street last Wednesday, Chief Executive Susan Lyne said that despite Stewart’s home detention until August, she plays an active role in the development of new products, strategic planning and production Two new television programs. One of these is a version of the reality program “The Apprentice”, where Stewart expects Donald Trump’s.

“Our capacity to plan no longer clouded,” said Lyne.

She added that Stewart’s return should contribute to positive results for the publicity of Martha Stewart Living, for the first time in over two years.

Advertisers fled amid allegations that insider dealing with Stewart-commerce with their shares in drugmaker ImClone Systems in late 2001, and many have not returned. Your belief, during the past year, less expenses also condemned a syndicated TV program, slowed sales of Martha Stewart Everyday home goods at Kmart stores and led to the closure of a catalogue and ” Internet sales department. Since 2001, about 125 jobs have been created on average Affairs Manhattan.

If the IBM-Board meets Tuesday, the key decision will face as deeply to cut this period. And the result would be to say much about how fast and powerful, as the company’s new chief executive, Louis V. Gerstner Jr., wants its mark on the troubled computer giant, he joined in April.

Most of Wall Street and industry analysts expect that the sources of board to take a cargo of large profits for the second quarter against the closure of factories and equipment balances, since the company streamline its activities. The fee for the cutting of production capacity - which could be enriched by $ 1 billion to over U.S. $ 4 billion, said one analyst - would, in addition to $ 2 billion of depreciation announced earlier this month as provided for greater reduction of staff. The operating loss expected

The International Business Machines Corporation is also expected to announce its second quarter results after the committee meeting. In addition to a special levy for the reductions, analysts predict that the report is an IBM operating loss in the area of $ 140 million to $ 180 million.

Most analysts believe that the board decides Tuesday on the slice of IBM dividend for the second time this year, given that the company cash to recover the fighting. The quarterly distribution is 54 cents and analysts predict that this is more than half, or 25 cents.

The computer industry are also noted, if the name of IBM or compensation for its two onboard. Three out of directors recently decided to bottom, and Tuesday of the meeting are also the last of Jack D. Kuehler, a vice-president of IBM, retired. A clean, bold stroke

If you are a second quarter enormous fees is that it works to the advantage of Mr. Gerstner - and IBM - for financial housecleaning necessary for a stroke and bold move with the reconstruction process. That must stop IBM, analysts say, is its recent history, the costs quarter after quarter, year after year, react to market changes, rather than control.

“Death by a thousand cuts is exactly what IBM has done for years,” said David Yoffie, a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration. “Gerstner has helped to reduce as much as possible, as quickly as possible, that behind him.

Mr. Gerstner, provides Dan Mandresh, an analyst for Merrill Lynch & Company, is in favour of a “clear the decks” approach.