Satish Mandhana has IDFC Private Equity (IDFC PE) as Executive Vice President, the company said in a release here today.

Piror to Mandhana worked as Chief Financial Officer at JK Paper.

From an MBA from the Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University and a bachelor of Industrial Engineering of the IIT, Roorkee, Mandhana has more than 24 years exeprience in the field of financial services.

The annual Business Barons-TNS Mode opinion poll has ranked Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad in the number one position in terms of industry interface. Indian Institute of Planning and Management has been ranked second, Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore ranked third, Indian Institute of Management-Calcutta ranked fourth, Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi ranked fifth, Indian Institute of Management-Lucknow ranked sixth and Xavier Labour Relations Institute ranked seventh in the survey. Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai is ranked eighth, National Institute of Industrial Engineering ninth, Indian Institute of Management-Indore 10th, SJM School of Management at Mumbai 11th, SP Jain Institute of Management and Research 12th, Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies 13th, Xavier Institute of Management 14th and Indian Institute of Management, Kozikode 15th in the survey.

The turnover on a business trip annual Barons-TNS Mode opinion poll has ranked Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad in the position of number one in the industry in regard to the interface. Indian Institute of Planning and Management was second, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore third largest, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta fourth largest, Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi fifth largest, Indian Institute of Management Lucknow-sixth rank and Xavier Labour Relations Institute seventh place in the survey. Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai eighth largest, National Institute of Industrial Engineering Ninth, Indian Institute of Management Indore-10, LSU School of Management, Mumbai 11th, SP Jain Institute of Management and Research 12, Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies 13 , Xavier Institute of Management 14 and Indian Institute of Management, Kozikode 15 in the survey.

THE INITIAL selection process of candidates for the top 10 B-schools in the country is almost over. While the group discussions and interviews are over for most of the premier management institutions, only the IIM-Bangalore and IIM- Lucknow are conducting their round in the first week of April. Rough estimates show that about 150 students in and around Chennai have received call letters from the premier management schools. Many of them have in fact have received multiple call letters from different institutes, including the Indian Institutes of Management, S.P. Jain Institute, Management Development Institute — Delhi, T.A. Pai (Manipal) and Mudra Institute.

Of course coming to close these in student choice are schools such as Faculty of Management Studies Delhi University, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade and XLRI-Jamshedpur. An interesting article in Management Compass, the in-house magazine of Career Launcher carries students’ viewpoint on how the previous year students made up their mind in a similar situation.

To get a deeper insight into the field of brand management, Education Times spoke to Harsh Vardhan Verma, professor of marketing, Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University. Verma teaches marketing management, brand management, marketing of services and consumer behaviour at the institute. He has written various books on brand management; managing a service business successfully and marketing of services.

Importance of a brand in business
In the past, a business could survive on the basis of the sheer strength of its product. The product used to be a connection between the business and the customer. Not any more. Brands have risen in the hierarchy of value generating assets. They are perhaps at the top. What differentiates an excellent performer from the others is that the former have brands while others may simply be good products. A good brand is a good product, but a good product may not be a good brand. Making a product is easier but making a brand is not. Customers now do not look for products, they look for brands.

Various aspects of brand management
Brand management is nothing but brand stewardship or navigation. It essentially involves maintaining the relevance of the brand in the market. A brand manager makes sure that the brand’s connection with the targeted customer is not upset. The process requires fine-tuning the brand with all the dynamism and change without tampering with its core or ‘essence’. At a tactical level, brand management includes assessing the brand as it stands in the customer mind, checking its position, brand extensions, brand revitalisation and brand relaunches.

As they say: “If I become difficult, it is difficult to play.” This applies both to the 630 odd for candidates who, the group discussion, interview, Extempore phase of the Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University MBA program two years 2003-05.

Jinesh Shah, the first year, says: “The ability to listen, manage, as a situation where a group of potential leaders and forces to show how analytical skills, teamwork and to strengthen their capacities Working in groups is the key to exceed and DG. ”

The concept of taking impromptu speech during a test of entry B of the school, there are only the FMS. Avisek Mandal, the first year, the FMS said, “Speaking improvised not come naturally to everyone. Thus, the key is too good for the habit of talking. The idea behind the impromptu speech is Student’s test a oratorial skills, confidence, knowledge, capacity and fuzzy logic. queries from the interview can be everything under the sun, which may be one of the strengths and weaknesses of what we want to do in life, where you want to emulate in life. “

Students passing out of private business schools (B-schools) in Delhi are being offered high salary packages to the tune of Rs7 lakh per annum, which is better than that offered to Indian Institute of Management (IIM) students. At the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, 94 students of 2005 batch were offered a compensation of Rs7.28 lakh per annum on an average as against Rs6.28 lakh per annum in 2004. At Amity Business School, 153 students out of 167 passing out in 2005 have been offered packages of Rs4 lakh in campus recruitments and the highest offer is Rs7 lakh per annum. Out of 95 students passing out from Birla Institute of Management Technology in 2005, 87 have already been placed with salaries being 70 percent higher than 2004. Campus placement exercise at the Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University, is yet to begin.

MUMBAI: Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi, announced plans for the formalization of an exchange programme with the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Pakistan.

A delegation of 22 students from New Delhi FMS LUMS visited last year and returned with a wealth of ideas and experiences. The aim of the visit was to allow students a holistic experience, and not as a university degree, students have a better understanding of the life of a management student in Pakistan that the culture of Lahore.

Under this program, FMS is now playing host to eight members of the delegation LUMS students, which reached Delhi, January 5 and will remain so until 13. Dr Syed Zahoor Hassan, Dean, FMS LUMS, visited during the past year, a point that the difference between training in the management of India and Pakistan, while India has been stronger on internships business in Pakistan, there was a strong emphasis On Family Business Management.

As part of his stay in India, students participate in lectures on the strategy and marketing in the FMS, which interact Dean, as well as other members of the faculty are also available on the maps. The delegation is also aquarium Red Fort, the Jama Masjid, India Gate, Qutub Minar, as well as other places of historic significance in New Delhi, with the exception of Agra visit.

To head an organisation in the midst of a major solvency crisis and to leave it when punters are betting on it as the next best thing, you need more than luck. Riding the rising economy wave, RM Malla, who ended his tenure at IFCI earlier this month, left the organisation at, what many call, ‘a period of dawn’. In his new role as the chairman of Sidbi, he has to increase credit access to SMEs by giving the bank a strategic direction. When Mr Malla joined IFCI in 2001, it was reeling under the effect of bad lending in the late 90s. He had to run the organisation, yet was mandated not to lend. The FI found its feet again after a major restructuring of proposals that took shape during Mr Malla’s tenure. His former colleagues describe him as a good team leader, who was astute. “He could cut across all levels of hierarchy, and communicate,” says one of them. Some describe Mr Malla as having skills of a trader. He was instrumental in fund raising activities, and could sacrifice his self pride for the sake of the organisation, they say.
The wheel of fortune turned for IFCI, on the back of a property boom. Apart from real estate, the all-powerful security enforcement law, which allows lenders and owners of bad loans to acquire the borrowers’ assets, have helped IFCI re-price itself. Each of these bad loans can unlock real estate worth thousands of crores of rupees, capturing mind space of investors. Mr Malla was lucky to be at the helm of affairs during this phase. But this MBA graduate from the Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University, is sometimes criticised for not giving direction to IFCI over the past six years, when the morale of its employees remained low and bred listlessness. “Maybe, he is moving away at the right time,” says a colleague.
Mr Malla, started his professional career as a probationary officer in Syndicate Bank in 1975, where he handled various areas of core commercial banking like resource mobilisation, advances to small industries and foreign exchange. He switched gears to developmental banking when he joined IDBI in the middle management cadre in December 1979. During the two decades that followed, he held responsibilities in various capacities at the head office and branches, including business development, treasury & funding, corporate finance, accounts, merchant banking, human resources and administration. He subsequently rose to the position of executive director of IDBI. He joined IFCI in 2001 after he took voluntary retirement from IDBI. He joins Sidbi at a time when SMEs are facing a number of challenges including raising resources at competitive rates. His job will involve increasing Sidbi’s branch network to reach out to SME clusters, tying up with other banks and institutions for channel financing arrangements, co-financing and developing innovative products for the SME clients, besides managing portfolio of ailing State Finance Corporations.