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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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.”

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.

THE SECOND batch complete the Graduate Diploma in Post-Infrastructure Management (PGDIM), proposed by the Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU), is scheduled for the beginning of the School of Management for buildings, facilities and development strategies (MINDS) India, here.

The PGDIM one year full-time for graduates in all disciplines of engineering sciences, including agriculture and the technical architecture and doctorates in other disciplines.

The program focuses on planning tools, project management, Contract Management, Infrastructure Finance, Information and communication technologies (ICTs), applications and geographic information systems; strategic environmental assessment, legal and regulatory environment and emerging paradigms.

ISD signed a Memorandum of Understanding

The city-based Dayananda Sagar institutions (ISD) has, in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Uganda as a technical partner and academic institutions of higher education is it in Uganda, for the know - make the ISD.

The partnership, according to the authorities JG allows upgradation of existing programs and new programs from time to time in institutions of higher education in Uganda. “DSI, put its infrastructure and the Faculty for teachers and students work on joint programmes and Bangalore in Uganda,” she said.

In addition to the partnership allows the exchange of professors and students between universities in Uganda and DSI.

DSI receive students in universities in Uganda charging on its institutions of higher education within the partnership.

The technical and scientific cooperation in information technology, engineering, management, languages, health sciences and health care.

As part of the agreement, which Sagar group will help to plan and build a pediatric health care in Uganda with the commitment to the development of national centres of education in this country, JG President D. Hemachandra Sagar.

The declaration of intent was signed by Fred Beyendoca, High Commissioner and Nimisha Madhvani, Deputy High Commissioner of the Government of India in Uganda, and Dr. Sagar.

Louis Banks, a former editor of Fortune magazine and former editor of Time Inc., died Sunday at his home in Naples, Fla. He was 77

The cause was congestive heart failure, Fortune said in a statement yesterday.

Mr. Banks, when began in 1945 as a correspondent in Los Angeles office. He was editor of Fortune from 1965 to 1970 and as editor from 1970 to 1973, he occupied the second position in the editorial Time Inc.

He wore a number of new businesses, especially money Magazine. It as a member emeritus of the Corporate Board reached in the year 1987, when he reached the age of 70.

Mr. Banks was in Pittsburgh was born and raised in southern California, where he studied economics at UCLA during the Second World War, he was Marine pilot in the Pacific with the rank of lieutenant.

In 1969, he took a sabbatical to study at Harvard University as a Nieman Fellow Research. Kehrte it Time Inc, whether tenders Editorial Director’s Post, with a seat on the company.

In 1973, he was a visiting professor at Harvard’s Graduate School of Business Administration.

Mr. Banks leaves his wife, Mary Campbell banks, four son, Robert L., William C. and Theodore R., a daughter, Margaret Czekaj banks, and eight grandchildren.

It is a system that offers numerous references to the correct terminal. Management of men, materials and the image of an institution.

The students’ register Delhi University (DU), manages the admission of more than 500 students at sea each year, ensures that the experience is smooth for her.

Even as their Indian counterparts welding it out in serpentine queues, foreign students go through the completion of formalities for admission with ease. A little planning in advance, this aspect is simple.

Students from more than 50 countries for admission to the AU per year. The process begins in January, when the issues of registries formal notification to all countries. The information is also available on the website of YOU.

“We expect the students, their applications not later than the end of April,” informs Professor AS Narag, foreign students “consultant. A professor at the Faculty of Management Studies (FMS) since 1969, Narag place all tools, although the system oiled.

After a short list of students, eligibility requirements are the letters at the end of May to allow them to apply for student visas.

“Most students come from the first week of June and formalities. As a general rule, they have a pleasant experience,” Narag informed, this mandate has been for the past 17 years.

Aziza Zyivoddin Khan of Uzbekistan, here’s you connect to the MBA program has agreed not to have to go through the usual loops.

Your elder sister Zyivoddin Feroza Khan, followed by an MBA from FMS, but believes that it is a little more junior level are responsible for advising small problems faced by foreign students in their daily routine.

Narag recognizes that the university is positive prejudices vis-à-vis foreign students. The diplomas for students are heavily subsidized - they pay only $ 100 per year to their schools.

However, the university is a single registration fee of up to $ 300 for Undergraduate courses, $ 400 for Post-Graduate Programs and $ 500 for MPhil and PhD. On an average of 500 students enrolled each year, you in a cool Rs 70 lakh.

“This happened for a good Corpus created for better opportunities for students,” said Narag.

A State-of-the-art International House students for women is an example. The hostel, inform Narag, everything - from microwave ovens on rice cookers and washing machines.

“Do you think these students go to the ambassador of our brand and help the country’s image management,” said Narag. Indeed, current high Commissioners of Uganda, Ethiopia and Mauritius are old.

“Once I met with three government ministers of Uganda, had studied at YOU,” remembers Narag. The majority of foreign students come from the SAARC countries, but also more recently, students from countries in Southeast Asia have also been coming in

Demand for management professionals is growing, but the supply of quality manager was unable to maintain in the future. In Chennai, for example, there are only a few institutions in the city of meals to the growing demand for quality training.

The Franco-Indian Chamber of Commerce (IGCC) has decided to close the gap with the launch of the Indo-German Training Centre and offers a platform for management aspirants to acquire skills to meet the needs companies.

The management of institutions IGCC development goals, administration and management skills of students who, otherwise, that the academic, adapting to the culture of work in the industry.

The 18 months Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration has launched Thursday, a German company of the German Management by its “dual system”. This system offers practical training, transmission of industrial training, in collaboration with classroom meetings.

Furthermore, that students learn German as part of the curriculum. Graduates and young researchers from 50 per cent for the course. Working visit sponsored by the forces of their business are also eligible.

Inauguration of the Centre, L.S. Ganesh, Head of the Department of Management Studies, IIT Chennai, there is a growing demand in Chennai for admission to the quality of institutions. Chennai with emerging countries, as an automobile race in the capital and health care, we need good institutions, innovative programs management.

Three basic E –

Give advice to students, he said that three basic E’s expected of leaders - the efficiency of production quality, efficiency with minimal resources and excellence. The management of these institutions in their abilities of candidates.

During their training must develop 5 E’s - excitement, boredom, know-how through experience, energy and empowerment, “he said.

Stefan Graf, the German Consul General, Chennai, said the institution would open the doors of Germany and globalization for students. If one compares the globalization of football games, he said that students should be trained, are winners in the global game.

T.R. Gopalan, regional director of the IGCC, said that 25 students across the country, including Delhi and Coimbatore, have opted for the course. The number will increase to 40 in the next game.