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.”

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The Indian government must be their policy so that foreign direct investment up to 24 percent in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), while ensuring better credit facility financing and technology for global competitiveness, industry experts said Wednesday.

Direct benefits of FDI have not durchdrang on SMEs “, Prabir Sengupta, director of the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, said in a Workshop on Technology Financing for SMEs.

He proposed a revision of the current political DI-including the provision of foreign equity up to 24 per cent for SMEs.

Opening a workshop, Sengupta said the SME sector was important for the economy, because about one third of total Indian exports and 7.0 percent of GDP.

Draw the challenges of the industry, which accounts for 95 per cent of industrial units and employs more than 17.8 million people, Sengupta said small businesses should be cheap loans instead of grants.

In an era of globalization techno-brands to the internationalization of technology and the globalization of the economy, Sengupta said the training system must also be the development of the industry. In his speech, Senior Adviser Confederation of Indian Industries, YS Rajan, said while it is important for SME units-specific skills, they must also think globally and work on the world market.

Rajan, co-author of “India 2020 - A vision for the new millennium” with President APJ Abdul Kalam, said that the mere invention of a technology is not enough.

Similarly, it is important to say that technology in production and provide a delivery system, so it can be used, he said.

BALLARPUR Industries Ltd (Bilt) LM Thapar group is active, envisages the creation of a separate subsidiary to engage exclusively commerce activities on paper and paperproducts. This was confirmed by the President’s Bilt, M. LM Thapar.

Talking to Business Line here Tuesday, Mr. Thapar said that the proposed trade of society would be against, despite Bilt, regardless of controlling equity participation in it.

Explains the foundations for the creation of a separate subsidiary for commercial purposes, he said that trade in products such as paper, in the framework of the WTO regime felt that the challenge activity, professional management. In addition, new business opportunities are likely to arise on trade in paper and paperproducts, he pointed out.

Mr. Thapar said that Bilt would be no direct link with the proposed trade of society. In other words, the proposal of the subsidiary would be free Paper Source and paperproducts and board domestic paper mills, and should continue to Bilt marketing of its products independently from each other by their own network distribution.

In emerging markets paper, Bilt could have consequences on the production and marketing of five or six species of value-added specialty titles alone, he said.

The chairman of Bilt, is also former president of the Asso Cham and president of the incumbent of the New Delhi-based quasi-Government Council for the Development of paper, pulp and Industry and industries Related, felt that many nationals to give the paper mills, paper trading in the coming years, Gepaart with plans to increase production capacity at their mills, either expansion or fallow by the acquisition of other mills or being merged with other mills.

Mr. Thapar informed that Bilt had big plans for enlargement increases their own combined production capacity of paper and paperproducts over 4.5 lakh tonnes currently to 10 lakh tonnes in the years to come. The creation of additional capacity in large part by industrial wasteland, expansion projects. However, we must not exclude the possibility of acquiring a few mills.

Regarding the future supply of demand for paper and paperproducts in the country, “said Thapar, we have no significant gap in the next three years. Moulins home may be concerned about the shortage, if ever.

It expects, however, a situation of shortage in the country after three years only, in the absence of major investment “greenfield project was done in the pipeline.

Mr. Thapar believes that the tariffs on imported paper to be established in accordance with the directives of the WTO. It was therefore of the opinion that domestic paper mills should reduce its overheads and improve operational efficiency, competition from paper. This exercise has led to do, because it is assumed that obligation, finally, is aimed at 10 per cent.

Mr. Thapar was in the city of 6 Convening Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management. In his speech by the invited as a leader, he informed professional managers today to try to entrepreneurs. Its management has been advising students, it should consider “the real value of jobs instead of careers” before the accession of each company.