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

Pune, Jan 5: Scene I: A Balasubramanian, high-profile director of the prestigious Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies (SIMS), Pune, which is regarded as one of the best private business schools in the country, and flaunts a 100 — Position record percent Suspended after a student complains about what he agacés. He is a director and revolt finally recedes.

Scene II: The season is the placement. The Institute can not be without head and authorities to make a choice. Enter Mudholkar Ranjeet, 24, graduated in computer science and a student SIMS von’96 the classroom. A year after his separation from service graduation Mudholkar chucks his work with the Birla AMC Capital Limited, New Delhi and agrees with The Sims as director.

Gasp you like, roll their eyes and I wonder what went wrong. Thus, the child is soon rubbing shoulders with the management gurus and the top brass in the sector? Is he a genius or a boy, he is … SIMS is abuzz.

His courses are at a whisper in Art Gallery Mudholkar appointment, the rules we have not yet been violated because he was the unanimous choice of the symbiosis for the body, but some students and teachers are perplexed.

Indeed, Mudholkar academic record is not just World Class, sources say he was “ one of the best students .”“ One of his succès”touted round that Ratan Tata to participate in a seminar in Mumbai.

Few are under discussion. No student or teacher publicly criticized the new director. Indeed, the subject is taboo and there is a watchful eye on each eye, each time you question. “ Yes, it is a Go-Getter. It has big names on campus. Yes, it is in order, OK.”Mudholkar, but it is a “ type-of-Service”zu his alma mater. “ In fact, I am strongly with SIMS. Money plays no role,”he said. He prefers to call the discipline itself a soldier SIMS and said it is already in the momentum of things “.”

The Indian Institute of Travel and Tourism Management (IITM) provides a short duration of course, after which the candidates can be empanelled as a guide. Guide license has been granted both at the state and central level by the Department of Tourism. They hold examination according to their needs and advertise in leading newspapers. The test consists of Erlangen in general knowledge, history and culture, etc.. For further details contact directly to the tourism department of your choice.

In recent years, employment opportunities is increasing dramatically in this industry in the country. All travel services, including travel operators, travel agents, hoteliers, restaurateurs, adventure tourism and leisure providers, the manufacture and sale of craft items, etc.. require professionalism.

The Government of India Tourist Office and the Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management (IITTM), New Delhi, Gwalior and Kurukshetra University offer training tourist guides. These are short term (3-4 months) courses for graduates with a background in art / archaeology / history. Tourism and Travel Administration / Management Course is supported by several institutions, including DU, Delhi, Vikarm University, University Utakl, Sri Venkateswara University, Kurukshetra University, Garhwal University, Annamalai University, Lucknow University, SNDT Mumbai, and so on.

NOW that the IIMs have more or less ruled out a legal recourse against the HRD Ministry’s directive to impose a fee cut in their PGP (Post-Graduate Programmes) courses, the country’s premier business schools are busy considering various options to make up for this revenue loss.

“One of the options before us is to increase the number of Management Development Programmes (MDPs),” said Prof Prakash G. Apte, Director, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

In an exclusive interview with Business Line today, he said that the board of governors would meet in the next four days. “IIM-Bangalore will work out its finances then. We have not yet received the break-up for the planned and non-planned grants.”

But would increasing the number of management development programmes not impose a huge load on the already over-burdened professors who are handling various PG courses, executive education programmes and consultancy assignments?

(IIM-Bangalore, for instance, has about 70 professors for 700 students (400 in the PGP, 300 in the PGP in Software Management and 40 PhD students) and this year, the institute has conducted about 45 MDPs.)

Prof Apte said that they might even consider reducing the number of offerings for the students so that more staff time is available for corporate training programmes.

On whether the institute would recruit more teachers, he said: “Yes, that would be one option,” but expressed doubt about finding the right kind of talent in the industry.

But this too would require Government permission. And what about additional funds for the salaries? With the cut in allocation in this year’s Interim Budget - from Rs 79.73 crore last year to Rs 45 crore in 2004-05 - the IIMs would have to tread this path carefully.

Meanwhile, the Government is also insisting that the IIMs increase intake of students.

This might be one way of boosting their revenues, but Prof Apte said: “We can take about 40 more students, provided we have the right infrastructure like hostel rooms, mess, etc.”

An extension of the knowledge base, more than anything else, strength of will of the Indian economy in the 21 century, as it is a conscious move to a central pillar of the knowledge of the nation’s Development planning.

This was the message that resonate in every conversation in recent weeks with companies and researchers throughout India.

At the opening of the annual summit of partnership, the Confederation of Indian Industry in Kolkata invited donors mid-January, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced a plan to establish a Commission of knowledge. His agenda specific to know, but Mr. Singh’s message was loud and clear: the time for Inde’s leap is here.

Economically, India is at its best post-war period. The currency reserves exceed $ 131 billion - sufficient funds for imports rose by nearly two years. And the knowledge base has been too long without continually expanded is a strength.

“Think big, bold feel about our country,” said Singh, his audience, mostly corporate India.

India is on the cutting edge of knowledge, not only before the command of the English language. The level of competence in English, without the benefits of knowledge in many areas, none other than the ability to work for low English Master.

It would not be a nation globally competitive. Japan launched its leap without much spoken English and second in the world of the economy. Thus, China.

India is now better placed than postwar Japan and China. His brain is enormous power and English is an official language by far across the country. The association represents the new generation of specialists in India with their Western counterparts in technological capacity, economy and ingenuity of each platform oratory is rare in developing countries.

It is this combination of brains and language, that India is the main meeting point for the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), otherwise known as information technology capable of services (IT-ES).

With this advantage, the Indians have the brain bank working more software, keeping accounts and Back-Office, functions for Western groups.

Today, American schoolchildren Santa Barbara after Michigan and Massachusetts are learning math and science online every day by the guardians to rest in places like Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in the South India. The potential of this new service line is so great that “approximately U.S. $ 10 million-$ 12 million to the economy this year.

India, the assets in emerging countries tutoring, “said the president’s career launcher, Satya Narayanan, supra, was on January 16 at national level will be put into circulation daily, The Indian Express, mental strength is its superior in comparison with competitors like the Philippines, Singapore and one in Asia - Pacific countries.

Launcher is a career 10 Online brain, that school in Massachusetts, USA. There is also some 20 years, earns $ 350 per month for a pocket money tutoring online and USA children, as tutors say that the Americans in their own curriculum is never difficult, because “we Indians are intellectually superior.”

These allegations prahlerisch it may seem. But how is beyond try to study, many American and European certificate India brain power by one against competitors in the allocation of work in India demand for high intellectual performance for the recruitment of graduates of Indian universities learning.

“The best of India is comparable to the best in the world,” says Dr. G. Prakash Apte, director of the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB), it was found that 200 super-brain of each year.

The support of this thesis, Pawan Kumar, a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, is now President and Chief Executive Officer of software developer VMoksha Technologies, said that in the years 1980, software, state - US field and was a “person outside India, India was thought likely to produce software.”

We now but the situation has changed, America and the world are in India hit the doors of orders. This country deserves $ 12.5 billion last year, outsourcing services, with an increase of 16.5 billion dollars this year. In addition, Indian people overseas, many of them in key positions of jobs in global companies, pump $ 4 billion-$ 5 billion per year.

India brain Well, Mr. Kumar said, is reflected in the structure of the population and the number of graduates license and other specific qualifications Indian universities and institutes of higher learning.

More than 500 million Indians are under 25 years. About six million of them deserve a bachelor of science, economics or art each year and 400000 others deserve to graduate engineers. Nearly half of these graduates of engineering software specialization.

In addition, 1200 young men and women specializing in the areas of management and technology just over half a dozen institutes of engineering, technology and management, as IIMB, across the country.

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.

Under pressure from local industrialists who fear they are losing out to foreign competition, the Indian government is reviewing a number of free-trade pacts, including those pending with Thailand and Asean.

“Bilateral agreements having divergent standards with different countries may not help India remain competitive in the international market,” said R.V. Kanoria, a international trade expert with the Confederation of Indian Industry, a New Dehli-based trade group.

“Liberalisation of tariffs by the Indian government should be calibrated with internal reforms in labour, infrastructure and agriculture,” he said in an interview with the Bangkok Post.

In October 2003, India signed a signed a limited trade deal with Thailand that came into effect in September 2004. Under the so-called “early-harvest” agreement, which expires in 2008, Indian and Thai firms can freely import and export 82 items. The deal calls for tariffs to be reduced by 50 percent in 2004-05, 75 percent in 2005 and 100 percent in 2006.

Bilateral trade in these 82 items consequently doubled to US$430 million in 2005 from $217 million in 2004, with Thailand recording a trade surplus of $253 million.

The lopsided numbers soured the Indian business community, particularly the automotive components makers, and talks on a more comprehensive deal that would cover thousands of items has since stalled. Recently CII said it was working to modify existing FTAs and implement a new set of industry recommendations for future trade deals, while claiming that multilateral agreements under the World Trade Organisation would benefit the country more than bilateral agreements.

“Toyota, Honda and Procter & Gamble are the three multinational corporations that have benefited the most from the Indo-Thai FTA,” said Sharif D. Rangnekar, an economic analyst and editor of the Indiabiznews.com website.

He added that “these three companies find the logistics of doing business with India rather attractive because they have major manufacturing units in Thailand and find it easy to launch their products in India”.

Indian products, on the other hand, “don’t have a large market in Thailand even if they have the required certification,” Mr Rangnekar said, explaining that this is partly due to the fact that India’s population of 1.1 billion dwarfs that of Thailand.

Criticism of the India-Thai FTA has come from a wide range of sources, including industry groups, independent research think-tanks and columnists. In 2004, the National Council of Applied Economic Research slammed the pact, primarily because of the complicated issue of “rules of origin”. It also questioned if the “early-harvest” agreement is compatible with WTO rules.

Last year, India’s Ministry of Commerce undertook an impact assessment study of the limited trade scheme with Thailand, which analysed trade flows and drew inferences for the future. The Tariff Commission also submitted a similar study to the federal Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion in New Delhi.

The CII committee headed by Mr Kanoria will soon come up with guidelines for the Indian government to consider before negotiating FTAs. These are expected to include guidelines relating to negative list, common floor prices and rules of origin.

A survey by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), one of the largest apex industry associations in India together with the CII, found in 2005 that imports from Thailand rose phenomenally under the limited FTA, while exports from India to Thailand actually declined.

After dumping taxes in the six IIMS, the HRD ministry has its eyes on other B-schools in the country.

The ministry is governed by the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) to follow the recommendations of the UR Rao Committee and the state fee committees, once their reports, Slash and costs of all schools B.

Among the prominent institutes, which is perhaps in the line of fire of the line Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (New Delhi), Jamnalal Bajaj Institute (Mumbai), Symbosis (Pune) and XLRI (Jamshedpur). There are over 600 institutions managing the AICTE, all may have to reduce their costs, less than Rs 40,000 per year, ministry officials sources said. Currently, fees range from 60000 to R RS 1.5 lakh.

The UR Rao Committee has already, with its recommendations, which were used by the ministry to justify its decision to reduce taxes on IIMS 80 per cent. A Ministry said government sources charges committees its recommendations to the AICTE within two months.

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.

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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.

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It is that time of the year again when thousands of students across the country appear for a slew of entrance examinations conducted by various business schools in the country.

This year, the examinations begin on November 11 and end on January 6. Unfortunately, Symbiosis National Aptitude Test (SNAP) and ICFAI Business School Aptitude Test (IBSAT) are scheduled on the same day (December 16).

Speaking to The Hindu, Ajay Arora, Director, Triumphant Institute of Management Education, Bangalore centre, said that the clash in the dates of a few management aptitude tests is not uncommon. “I do not know what the fuss is all about. Every year, something similar happens,” he said.

Last year, the entrance exam for Faculty of Management Studies and Narsee Monjee Aptitude Test were held on the same day. “One cannot blame the institutions for the clash in dates. The best time to conduct the entrance tests is between November and January, as the students will not be over-burdened with mid-term examinations,” Mr. Arora said.

The admission cycle is such that for a programme to commence in June, the entrance test must be conducted between November and January, so that the results may be announced in April. Mr. Arora said that around 20,000 students of the country appear for the IBSAT and 18,000 to 20,000 appear for SNAP. “The question is how many of those students will appear for both the entrance tests. That group is not very big. The number of students ‘affected’ is minimal,” he said.