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

Would-be MBA students getting ready to take the GMAT might be in for a little surprise when they show up at the testing center. In addition to all the usual security measures—including video monitoring and the computer adaptive test itself—test takers will soon be asked to submit to a new one: a biometric device that uses an infared light to capture the test-taker’s unique “palm vein pattern.”

Pearson VUE, the company that administers the GMAT for the Graduate Management Admission Council, plans to announce the new security effort tomorrow, but BusinessWeek got a sneak peak at it today.

The Fujitsu “PalmSecure” device will be rolled out next month at 16 testing centers in India and Korea for GMAT candidates. It goes live in the U.S. this fall, and when fully deployed will be used in 400 facilities in 107 countries by May 2009.

The announcement comes as the b-school world is embroiled in a cheating scandal involving the GMAT–users of a now-defunct test prep Web site, Scoretop.com, have been accused by GMAC of using it to post and access live test questions, and GMAC has said it will cancel the test scores of anyone who violated its rules.

But the new security measure is designed to stop a different kind of cheating–the use of professional test takers, or proxies, to take the exam on behalf of someone else. GMAC’s been burned by this type of cheater before. Back in 2003, it busted a half dozen people who took the GMAT for others for about $5,000 a pop. GMAC canceled 166 scores as a result, and five of the six imposters ended up at Rikers.

More : businessweek.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.

An innovation expert from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) will be visiting the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), in November to promote the importance of user-based innovations in creating successful companies.

“India and Indians residing worldwide have a wonderful record as innovators and entrepreneurs. I believe users tend to be the real developers of many important products. Recently, research by my colleagues has shown that many new companies are started by users who become entrepreneurs. Learning about how user innovations foster the creation of successful new companies will be very useful information for IIM students and others in India,” says Eric von Hippel, professor and head of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Group at the MIT Sloan School of Management and professor of Engineering Systems at MIT.

It will be his first trip to India, which he also intends to use “to forge closer contacts with my colleagues at IIM-A, who have very similar research interests”.

The lecture is part of a two-week long ‘Inventors of India’ workshop by the Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) at IIM-A. About 70 inventors and innovators of all ages and technical background are expected to be present at the event. Premier institutes could also be called to participate at the workshop.

“Eric will participate and may give the inaugural address at the workshop. In addition, he will interact with the faculty and students and explore possibilities of collaborative research. Apart from visiting some grassroot innovators, he will interact with our incubatee companies as well. Several things are being planned and we are quite excited about his visit. Also, we may ask institutes like National Institute of Design (NID) and Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad (MICA), to pitch in,” says Rakesh Basant, chairman of CIIE and a professor at IIM-A.

An expert in Principle of Developing Economics, Eric has made two of his books available openly on his website at no cost to the reader: Democratising Innovation, published in 2005 by the MIT Press, and Sources of Innovation, published in 1988 by Oxford University Press. Leading companies in the world have used practical methods based on his research.

Hippel is also expected to meet grassroot innovators at SRISTI, an NGO founded by Anil Gupta, a professor at IIM-A. Incidentally, Gupta too would be lecturing at MIT as part of the Amy Smith’s International design and development course on July 16-17.

More : business-standard.com

For Indian Business Schools with global ambitions, Singapore is fast, hot as a goal. Earlier this year, IIM Bangalore announced its plans for the creation of a campus. And now Mumbai-based SP Jain Institute of Management and Research expects to likewise.

If this SP Jain overall the second incursion within two years. In 2004, the Institute has a campus in Dubai and was the first to offer a full residential full-time MBA program in the Middle East. Beflügelt by its success, it now has its sights on Singapore.

It is interesting to note that both SP Jain and IIM-B-plane orientation of the Indian diaspora in Singapore. Nearly 7.9 percent of 4 million people of Singapore are of Indian origin, this is the third ethnic group by the Chinese (76.8 percent) and Malays (13.9 percent).

IIM-B is planning to target the leaders to work in Singapore is short-term programmes Executive Education and Executive MBA, while SP Jain can be full-time program or an Executive MBA. “What are we going programmes make a bit of localization,” says ML Shrikant, dean of volunteers, SP Jain. “There will be a strong component of India programmes, such as the Modern World increasingly interested in India in the region, “she added.

Both IIM-B and SP Jain plan to fly down right in India. This could lead to a serious crisis of the resource, especially for SP Jain, given that the same option is also Deputy Director of Dubai. “This is probably a lot more pressure on resources, therefore we are in the process of the Faculty employs more,” said Shrikant

In today’s highly competitive corporate world, working professionals are keen to upgrade their skills and qualifications like never before. SP Jain Center of Management, a business school that offers programs of intensive management business, both working for executives as well as full-time students, recently sought applications for its Executive MBA second batch of sixty and was overwhelmed by the response.

SP Jain Center of Management, located at Knowledge Village, Dubai has a legacy of being at the cutting edge of management education. Its parent campus, SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR), ranked seventh by Asia Inc, the Singapore based business magazine, and India’s top business school for job placements, has been constantly innovating not just the curriculum and pedagogy but also the imparting methodologies employed in business education. These advances are now available at Dubai’s SP Jain campus for the region’s business management aspirants to benefit from.

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.

The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) action plans, students and their parents and complaints issue showcause notices management of schools and universities that are not tuition reimbursement and keep the certificates original university students wishing to change their school before the academic course begins.

The technical training corps plans direct regulation on institutions refund all fees charged by the student, after deduction of processing fee not exceeding 1000 R

If the student is leaving after his admission to the course and the seat is not occupied by the last day of registration, the establishment is still seen relatively tax deduction of monthly tax and relatively rented the hostel Youth.

There are about 1100 B-100 schools and universities in India.

Last year, AICTE has received complaints from students and parents, against more than 100 schools of management, that there Director approximately 70 per cent of fresh settlements

Chairman and Chief Mentor of Infosys Technologies Limited (BSE: INFY) NR Narayana Murthy was presented on Saturday, the “brand-comm’s most admired Business Leader Award.

brand-comm, leading brand consultancy, advertising and relations company, said that after its third annual b-school study, Murthy has been admired for the most visionary and its value for the third consecutive year, managing students from ten institutes across India.

The distinction was Murthy director of the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, Professor PG Apte, said today, the management of students were seeking job opportunities in an environment that was created for their overall growth .

“You need leadership to exceed the global market and in a world increasingly competitive, a visionary, as Narayana Murthy is indeed an inspiration to all of them,” said Apte.

Looking merely at direct taxes, it is often suggested that India is an under-taxed nation. This, says R. Vaidyanathan, does not take into account the speed money paid for government service. This rent-seeking makes the nation high-taxed.

THERE is a view among some experts that India is an under-taxed economy. Many a time Finance Ministers believe in this and exhort people to pay their dues.

Advertisements are issued to induce people to pay taxes and novel schemes are suggested before every Budget to augment government revenues. One of the common arguments is based on the share of taxes to GDP and it is suggested that it can be much higher. Another is in terms of the composition of the taxes - direct and indirect - and it is suggested that the latter, which are regressive, are larger share of the pool.

Table 1 gives the share of taxes to GDP for select years from 1991. The share of taxes, both direct and indirect, has been around 15 per cent of GDP in the last decade and half. The share of indirect taxes was of the order of 11.5 per cent and that of direct taxes 3.6 per cent.

Based on this data of direct taxes to GDP of nearly 4 per cent, many experts, particularly of the Left persuasion, argue that we are a under-taxed nation from the view of the direct taxes. But, as we will show, they do not take in to account the payment to be made to government employees (variously called bribe, rent seeking, speed money, lubrication, etc.) for carrying on any activity and to that extent the total taxes are much higher than reflected.

Table 2 gives the level and composition of taxes of both Central and State governments in the last decade. A slight shift in the proportion of direct taxes from 1991 to 2003 is seen. It has gone up from 14 per cent of all taxes to nearly 24 per cent during this period when the proportion of the indirect taxes came down from 86 per cent to 76 per cent.

A substantial drop is seen in the Customs duties due to our international commitments. Excise duties declined from 28 per cent to 23 per cent during 1991 to 1996 and by a similar magnitude later. The share of personal income-tax showed an increase from 6.6 per cent to 9.9 per cent. As personal income-taxes and excise duties are shared with State governments, there is no enthusiasm for the Centre to reform them.

The aggregate taxes do not reveal the full picture of evasion and coverage. Table 3 provides the number of returns filed by salaried and non-salaried persons in 1999-2000 according to the I-T Department.

It says that there were no salaried persons earning more than Rs 1 crore annually and in all only 200 persons above Rs 25-lakh. In the case of self-employed, the number is around 900 in the Rs 25-lakh category with none in the Rs 50-100-lakh category.

From Table-3, it looks as if a relief fund should be created for all our top film-stars, cricket players, surgeons, lawyers, chartered accountants, architects, tax consultants and other self-employed persons. They all seem to be in distress!

Table 4 provides the number of returns from some categories of services as published by the I-T Department. The numbers speak volumes about the coverage and the nature of underlying collections.

The whole country there are apparently only 10,539 utensil and 5477 furniture shops in the taxable category. Pinch yourself.

Immediately the argument will be to strengthen, enhance, improve and network the I-T Department. The issue is not that. It is much more serious and cancerous. If you visit the Postal Department officers’ quarters in, say, Mumbai you will find mostly cycles and scooters.

But if you visit the residential quarters of the staff of Direct or Indirect Tax Department, you may find expensive cars parked there. That should provide clues to the issues facing us.

At the same time we find that the income of government employees rising faster than the inflation rate in the last thirty years.

Table 5 provides the increase in salaries of public sector employees in relation to inflation. The emoluments have risen 3610 per cent from 1971-72 to 2000-01 when the Consumer Price Index climbed 1440 per cent. This implies the public sector employees are net gainers with their real income well protected.

Hence decline in the real income cannot be a reason, if at all it is justifiable, for rent seeking from ordinary citizens.