Anjuman 2012

Anjuman – The Annual Leader’s Corporate Luncheon stands unique in its aim to bring together students and industry leaders for an informal interaction over a sumptuous Nawabi Lunch. Anjuman 2012, structured along the same lines as its predecessors, brought together renowned industry leaders as keynote speakers and provided an ideal platform for corporate heads, IIM Lucknow faculty and a select set of students to learn from each other.

Organized around the theme ‘ Innovate, Implement and Inspire: Build a Legacy’, Anjuman sought to celebrate the business houses, leaders and institutions who have through their continuous and consistent show of brilliance shaped the county.

 The Keynote Speakers for this year’s event were:

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·         Mr. S D Latkar  (CFO, Computational Research Laboratories)

·         Mr. Jayant Krishna (CSI Lucknow Chairman & Principal Consultant, TCS)

·         Mr. Chaitanya Kalbag (Editor, Business Today)

·         Mr. Sheshadri Rajaram (CEO,  Erhardt + Leimer India Pvt. Ltd)

·         Mr. Santosh Nair (Editor, moneycontrol.com)

The event was flagged off by a keynote address by Dr. Devi Singh (Director, IIM Lucknow) who set the theme of the discussion by expressing how legacy stemmed from the fact that some were brave enough to think beyond the obvious, employ successfully ideas which no one else would dare to employ and then persistently work on those ideas to make a substantial difference to the lives of all those it touched. He pointed out that most of us Indians believe that we are creative but it is our failure to take those ideas to conclusion that threatens our quest to establish India as a global power in the next two decades.

Mr. S D Latkar (CFO, Computational Research Laboratories) shared his long experience with the Tata Group, narrating to the audience not only various innovations he had seen but also the work done in developing Computational Research Laboratories

Mr. Jayant Krishna (CSI Lucknow Chairman & Principal Consultant, TCS) sought, through examples to explain how an enterprise builds its legacy. Narrating anecdotes highlighting the rise of the Tata Group, he illustrated how at times through innovation, how at times choosing to focus on strengths and how sometimes through the sheer desire to change the way you want the world to see you can inspire a company to rise from humble beginnings to become one of the most respected names of the world.

 Mr. Chaitanya Kalbag (Editor, Business Today), the first Asian to rise to one of the most senior positions at Reuters, shared with the audience his views on how Indian culture and work ethics are different with in relation to innovation, from that of its western counterparts. He put before the house that perhaps we as Indians should detach ourselves from our culture in order to innovate and build India as an economic powerhouse. He did concede however that countries such as Japan and Korea have managed to embrace innovation as a part of their culture and grow economically while holding steadfast to their traditional values.

Mr. Sheshadri Rajaram (CEO,  Erhardt + Leimer India Pvt. Ltd) stated that perhaps it is easier to innovate when you are in charge of a smaller organization than when you are involved in a large company and hindered by countless processes. He used his own experience as an example of how being hindered in a big company before his business education, he chose to work for a smaller firm post MBA and how the satisfaction of being able to innovate as he chooses stops him from even thinking of swapping organizations

Mr. Santosh Nair  (Editor, moneycontrol.com) bought to the table his technical insights from moneycontrol.com, impressing upon the audience the need for innovation for a nascent idea to grow and eventually establish itself in the wider scheme of things.  

Following the keynote addresses and an insightful Q&A session with the audience, the event concluded with a sumptuous lunch which presented the lighter side of the leaders, as they opened up to informal discussion with the attendees. Speaking about the event, Rishikesh Tripathy, a second year student of IIM Lucknow remarked, “Events such as Anjuman help the students in viewing the regular course work at IIM through the lens of Industry people. These interactions truly are an invaluable part of an IIM experience.”

SAMVIT 2011

Samvit 2011 - The Annual Leadership Summit of IIM Lucknow was held on December 3, 2011. Samvit 2011 witnessed the congregation of some of India’s most brilliant and potent minds who ideated on “The Sinking World Economy and its Implications for Indian businesses”. The focus was on how India should face the stormy headwinds seeking to derail the progress of its fledgling industries and emerge stronger and surer of her place as one of the vanguards of global economy. This year’s panel consisted of corporate leaders and banking-stalwarts. The eminent speakers included Mr. Aditya Puri, MD HDFC Bank, Mr. KR Kamath, CMD Punjab National Bank, Mr. Roopen Roy, MD, Deloitte Consulting, India, Mr. Srinivasan Iyengar, MD-Strategy, Standard Chartered Bank, Mr. Dharmakirti Joshi, Chief Economist, CRISIL, Mr. Naresh Kothari, President & Co-Head, Edelweiss Financial Services and Mr. Sonjoy Mohanty, CEO, Educomp Supplemental Business. Mr. Sharat Pradhan, eminent journalist, donned the role of Master of Ceremonies.

Leader's Panel at SAMVIT 2011

Opening the round of discussions, Mr Aditya Puri set the tone for the evening with the idea that Indian economy has a bright future. He spoke about the Indian economy being structurally resilient with sound banking fundamentals. He added that India’s economic model is quite different from that of the US and most of the European countries. Further, he expressed optimism for India’s future saying that there will not be a huge impact of current global crisis on India and that 7% growth in GDP is still magnificent. He expressed confidence in the Indian banks and commented that they are safe and secure to run. However, he was circumspect about the surge in commodity prices and proffered that this trend can lead to a drop in growth rate to below 8%. Elaborating on the issue Mr Puri quipped “This is not the only for problem for us, government needs to take supply side measures for a sustainable growth rate in the long term.”

Taking the cue from Mr Puri, Mr. Kamath enlightened the audience with several anecdotes and explained that Indian banks had the capabilities to handle the growing non-performing assets (NPAs) which comprise only a small percentage of the bank’s total portfolio. He laid stress on protecting the weakest links of the economy such as the consumer, Non-Banking Financial Corporations (NBFCs) etc. However he too expressed optimism for the long term growth of the country and stressed on reaping the strong demographic dividends and intellectual property that is inherent to India. He explained that a lot of pessimism has been created about India’s future by the media and philosophically predicted that “The only way ahead is to prepare for challenges and be patient”.

Mr. Roopen Roy presented an optimistic view to the discussion with the idea that we as a country are more global than we think. Taking cue from Edward Lorenz’s famous Chaos theory and the butterfly effect, Mr. Roy explained how a small disturbance in a place like Lucknow can result into a tornado in Los Angeles. Justifying his stance, Mr Roy said “We should not ignore the small things that happen globally.” Further, he mentioned that looking at the economy only from the GDP and stakeholders’ perspective narrows down the vision. To broaden our view, we should include the needs of the people in rural areas. A more realistic view on our economy is the need of the hour, appreciating what is good but at the same time keeping our eyes open for the impending challenges. On the global crisis, Mr. Roy said that Europe is likely to witness supervised fiscal union with poor countries being brought under the surveillance of European Union, especially Germany.

Mr. Dharmakirti Joshi painted a grim scenario of the future ahead and warned the students of painful times ahead as he suggested that the internal and external firepower to make the necessary changes in policy and governance is missing. He remarked “It will be difficult for us to offset any future downturn without a fiscal muscle power. In 2008, India managed to escape the global crisis mainly because of the policy measures that had already been embedded in the economy such as the increase in the public sector wages, farm loan waiver and NREGA.” He also talked about the growing interaction of Indian industries with the world in that currently around 25% of the revenues for top 50 corporations in India come from outside the country. He also mentioned how economic cycles of India and western countries are synchronised. He said “Even though the long term growth trajectory may be different from the OECD countries but in short term a downturn in western countries leads to a downturn in India.”

Mr Iyenger described the Indian economy as interdependent and said that we should have the resolve to turn around the situation considering what we have done it in the past. He compared the Indian economy with a swarm of bees indicating that the directionality towards growth of India is clear and we are marching ahead but the pace of this growth is in question. He also talked about doing things right and doing the right things. Stressing that the solution to the present scenario is well within our hands, Mr. Iyenger quipped “we are well positioned to take the advantage of the opportunities that shift of power from west to east will bring.” He concluded with the point that there is supporting infrastructure to foster reverse brain drain in the country and that sinking world economy is a big opportunity for us.

Mr Kothari sounded a word of caution “Although Indian economy is insulated at its core with a domestic consumption of close to 70% of GDP and low dependence on the global debt. He felt that India can grow at 6-7% on its own but to grow beyond 8-9%, it has to depend on its global trading partners to perform well.” He explained further “This is mainly because Indian is well integrated in the global economy.” He expressed disappointment that lately there has not been much policy making but only policy tinkering.

Mr Mohanty, an alumnus of the first batch of IIM Lucknow, explained how things have changed over the years. He famously remarked that “We looked to the west for everything but now the west looks to the east. India brings unparalleled innovation to the world.” He urged the youth to be more entrepreneurial in their endeavours. Talking about our adaptability and using the vast reserves of knowledge that we have, Mr. Mohanty said sinking world provides a lot opportunities for the country.

In its 4^th edition, Samvit 2011 lived up to its reputation as the Annual Leadership Summit of IIM Lucknow. The excited student crowd, mingled freely with the leaders in the informal high tea session, which marked the closure of the event. Speaking jubilantly and reminiscing about his favourite moment of the summit, Vamshidar Bandi, a 2^nd year student of IIM Lucknow said “It was an eye opener of sorts for me. Mr. Aditya Puri’s and Mr Kamath’s age old adages make a B-school student wonder what exactly he should be aiming for in his life?” His dreamy smiles however suggested that he had actually found his answer.

IIM Lucknow hosts leading bankers at Samvit 2010

Samvit, IIM Lucknow's Leadership Summit, ended today on a high note. The two day event drew to close today with some of the biggest names in the corporate world and economists coming down to the campus for a panel discussion. The theme for this year's event and the topic for the panel discussion, "Financial Regulation & Development in India: Challenges & Prospects" saw the very best of the corporate world and policymakers thrash out ideas that could lay down the growth platform for the country in the years to come. The Master of Ceremonies for this year's panel discussion was Mr. Bhupesh Bhandari, a senior editor with Business Standard.

The key note speakers for this year's event were - Mr. Atul Khosla (Country Head Oliver Wyman), Mr. V Bunty Bohra (CEO Goldman Sachs India), Mr. Vikas Vasal (Executive Director KPMG), Mr Sanjiv Bhasin (CEO DBS Bank) and Mr.Suresh Senapaty (CFO Wipro Ltd.) and Mr. Amitabha Ghosh (Former Governor, RBI).

 Mr. Bhandari set the tone for the event by driving home the importance of financial regulation. He said that the Indian economy has a unique identity of its own and that any resemblance it shares with the US economy in terms of structure or policies is a matter of happenstance. He also remarked upon the key roles which the soon to be instituted Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) has to play.

Speaking on the topic, Mr. Amitabha Ghosh (Former Governor, RBI), commended the role of RBI in formulating policies for the economic wellbeing of the economy, but was also critical about the scale and efficacy with which these policies are being implemented. He was of the opinion that instead of government bodies formulating policies, an environment of discipline wherein all the financial players have a set of "Self Regulations", a practice that once incorporated at the top level would percolate to the lower levels and ensure overall economic health.

Mr Sanjiv Bhasin (CEO DBS Bank) quipped that regulations might be something that might not go down too well with a few, but the regulation is of immense importance in the current volatile macroeconomic environment. He said that for regulations to achieve their true purpose they should be relevant to the market and the overall macroeconomic scenario. Elucidating his stance he mentioned that these regulations have a widespread impact on common people, so the regulators have to be very cautious while laying down norms.

Mr. Suresh Senapaty (CFO Wipro Ltd.) delivered a spirited speech in which he talked about the various phases of economic reforms and the importance such reforms hold for the future. He said that with limited or no social safety cover , the policy makers should come up with policies that mitigate any risks that might emerge in the capital or the debt market.Pressing on the importance of a deeper secondary debt market, Mr. Senapaty spoke about an environment of confidence in which all segments of the society can prosper.

Mr. Atul Khosla (Country Head Oliver Wyman), delved into the topic of inclusive growth. He stressed upon the enhancement of risk coverage in public as well as private markets. Mr. Khosla said that overall consumer protection should be at the apex of any policy initiative.

Mr. Vikas Vasal (Executive Director KPMG), pointed out that the focus of economic activities have shifted from the west to the east. In the new light, it is important to device strategies to tap the massive growth potential that India has. Commending the core Indian values of prudency, Mr. Vasal said that it is due to these virtues that we largely went unscathed in the worst economic crisis after the Great Depression.

Mr. V Bunty Bohra (CEO Goldman Sachs India), was of the opinion that higher inclusion and robust capital markets are the need of the hour. He also highlighted the importance of governance stability and oversight.

The discussion was followed by a Q&A session in which the students and faculty of the institute probed the leaders on a variety of topics concerning the financial sector. Samvit - 2010 drew to a close with the event Consilium - The policymaking event, in which two member teams presented their views on fiscal and monetary policy.

The two day extravaganzas saw teams from other institutes such as MDI and IIM Indore come down to the campus and participate in the various events organized as a part of Samvit. The event was cordially accepted by both the faculty and the students. Speaking about the event, Ayush a first student said, "The event has been a revelation of sorts to the students at the campus. Not only have we been treated to a host of competitions, but also we have gained insights into the current and future economic conditions of the country".

IIM Lucknow’s Samvit – 2010, begins on a high note

Samvit - the Annual Leadership Summit of IIM Lucknow began on a propitious note today. The theme for this year’s summit is “Financial Regulation & Development in India: Challenges & Prospects”. The premier institute hosted Dr. Subir Gokarn, Deputy Governor Reserve Bank of India to unveil the theme for Samvit on the 13th of November. The main event for this year’s Samvit is the panel discussion which is scheduled to be held on the morning of Sunday 28th of November.

Over the years, Samvit has signified the homecoming of some of the biggest corporate leaders in India for the panel discussion at IIM Lucknow. Some of the names that have been associated with Samvit in the past are, Ms Kalpana J Moraparia (Chief JP Morgan India), Ms Meera Sanyal (Head ABN Amro), Mr. Pramod Bhasin (Chairman, NASSCOM), Ms Naina Lal Kidwai (India Head HSBC) and Padma Bhushan Dr. J J Irani. In continuation of the tradition, this year the institute is playing host to noted bankers and industry stalwarts – Mr. Atul Khosla (Country Head Oliver Wyman), Mr. V Bunty Bohra (CEO Goldman Sachs India), Mr. Vikas Vasal (Executive Director KPMG), Mr Sanjiv Bhasin (CEO DBS Bank) and Mr. Suresh Senapaty (CFO Wipro Ltd.) – for the panel discussion. Former RBI Governor Mr. Amitabha Ghosh will also be present to express his views on the challenges and prospects of the current regulatory environment.

In the run up to the main event, the first day of Samvit saw some exhilarating events being organised on campus. The students also got a feeler of the finance world through “Stratagem – The national level Mergers & Acquisitions Competition”. The unique event allowed the students to delve deep into financial concepts and exercise their wisdom at real time scenarios. “Finquizitive – The finance quiz” had the participants by their breath till the end. The highlight of the first day was the finance workshop conducted by Mr. Vaidya Nathan, a certified trainer who works in close association with brands such as JP Morgan Chase, Citibank and Deutsche Bank. 

Speaking about the event Hansraj Mishra, a second year student from IIM Lucknow said, “Such events which bring the industry and the academia on a common platform provide a fresh perspective to the holistic learning at B-school. More such initiatives should be taken in future”. In all the first day of the event was fun filled yet insightful. The institute now awaits the panel discussion that shall be held on Sunday morning.

Citibank Head demystifies the world of LBOs at IIM Lucknow

The students of IIM Lucknow got their fair taste of  the world of finance through the guest talk by Mr Rahul Shukla, Head Corporate Banking, Citigroup, India. Mr Shukla, who had joined Citi in 1991,was most recently heading the bank's telecom, media and technology practice in the Asia Pacific. Under his leadership, Citi's TMT franchise was recognized as the best in Asia by Finance Asia and the Asset Magazine for 3 years in a row.

The theme of the talk was centered around leveraged buyouts and the mathematics behind the same. Mr. Shukla began the session with a brief introduction to the leading private equity players in the Asian markets. Mr. Shukla thereon extensively covered the various phases that constitute the LBO process. He highlighted the key drivers of an LBO, its illustrative transaction structure and financial model output that is expected of the analyst. Mr. Shukla concluded the session with LBO valuation and an extensive Q&A session. The students were completely at awe for his sharp rhetoric and in-depth understanding of the core issues.

The lecture was organized as a part of Prodigies – The Leadership Series by the Industry Interaction Cell, IIM Lucknow. This talk was in continuation of the institute’s endeavor to expose students to a variety of exciting job opportunities and providing them the necessary exposure to leadership roles.

IIM Lucknow students learn lessons in Bollywood

R. Balakrishnan (Director, Paa and Cheeni Kum)

The IIMs have played host to many a CEO and budding entrepreneur in the past – learning the latest in management trends across the traditional industry verticals. Tuesday evening came as a welcome refresher when IIM Lucknow invited one of the most creative minds of the country - R Balakrishnan, aka R. BalkiAd Film Professional-turned-Film Director par excellence, Balki is the Chairperson and Chief Creative Officer (CCO) of Lowe Lintas and the director of Cheeni Kum and Paa.  for an interactive session with its MBA students.

Balki is known for his no-nonsense approach to advertising as exemplified in his “Daag Achche Hain” campaign for Surf Excel. His “Jaago Re” ads for Tata Tea and “Walk when you Talk” Idea Cellular campaign have brought in a much needed fresh social voice to advertising. His penchant for exploring different creative avenues led him to Bollywood. He wrote and directed Cheeni Kum, with Amitabh Bachchan and Tabu in the lead. Paa (2009), starring Abhishek Bachchan, Vidya Balan and Amitabh Bachchan was his second directorial venture.

The interactive talk was held on campus as part of ‘Prodigies – the Leadership talk series’ facilitated by the student run Industry Interaction Cell of IIM Lucknow. Based on the theme of ‘Ad & Film Making – Through the Management Lens’, it was very well received by the IIM Lucknow community with a jam-packed auditorium. From the Lalitaji of Surf to the Auro of Paa played by Mr. Bachchan Senior, Balki had the audience floored with his anecdotes. Over the course of an hour and a half, he took the students through his journey of ad making, playing out different ads and explaining their significance, story board and the like.

The session gave the students a flavour of how the Indian advertising industry works in general and how Lowe Lintas, with Mr. Balki at the helm, succeeded in producing top-notch, eye-catching ads. Highlighting the nuances of designing integrated ad-campaigns, he shared his perspective on the changing consumer behaviour in India which throws up new challenges to today’s marketers. The students were particularly amazed about his experiences as a director to some of the most noted actors in Bollywood.

“The advertising world is a business of disparate, different brains”, says Balki. It is ready to play, ready to risk all the challenges and accept new ideas. For instance, Surf Excel, a detergent brand, is celebrating the glory of being dirty! TATA tea puts an awakening thought in your mind each and every day! Havells is ready to experiment with a new idea each time! Marketers have now become more forthcoming in implementing out-of-the-box ideas generated by advertisers – ideas which do not necessarily highlight product benefits but rather make the consumer’s life more interesting.

The greatest challenge for Balki is to take up the most boring brand and making it the most noticeable. He says success comes only to those who step into the discomfort zone. The best advertisements are those that remind you of the brand and not the ad itself. Commenting on the talk, Dheeraj Sarwaiya, a second year student said, “Today’s MBA student is more enterprising and bold than ever before. We have students who choose not to tread the beaten path but simply follow their dreams in unconventional fields. These talks are a good source of inspiration for us to pursue what we truly believe in.”

Colloquy: The Leadership series 2009

The Colloquy leadership series organized by IIC invites thought leaders from various spheres to share their valuable knowledge and experiences with the budding managers of tomorrow. Some of the notable industry stalwarts who visited the campus in 2009 were:


Mr. Chetan Bulsari, Head (Finance), Barclays Wealth
This session was aimed at educating students on the real issues that led to the financial crisis in its present shape and what could be the potential strategies that could be employed by companies to better the situation. In a second session he helped the second year students, majoring in Finance, understand the nuances of Risk Management in a Bank & explained in detail the critical role played by the bank’s Treasury.


Mr.Anuratna, Global Marketing Manager, Citi Private Bank
Primarily focused at the first year students, this talk by Mr. Anuratna Chaddha centered around the credit crisis, its origins and the mechanism of its spread to all economies. Further, Mr. Chaddha shared deep insights highlighting the key steps that financial institutions such as Citi were taking to emerge from the crisis and start their progress towards growth. Drawing from his personal experiences, he also shared with the students his perspective on the prime challenges he encountered while working in diverse geographical locations such as South Africa & Sub Saharan Africa, which was a very important take-away for students.

Anirban Malakar, Business Head, Maxus Global
Mr. Malakar held an engaging talk on "Media Strategy and Media Schedules" for students of IIM Lucknow. He highlighted how advertising companies go about promotional strategies for corporates. He also shed light on the importance of 360 degree campaigns by companies involving various technology components to create bigger impact and increase reach to the consumers. Mr. Malakar talked about how one should go about placing advertisements and campaigns in different media like print, TV, magazines etc. The session was a great learning experience for the students who gained useful insights into the media strategy domain.


Mr. Bijoy Daga, Head Invest Banking group
Mr. Bijoy Daga, a CA with over 14 years of experience in Relationship Management, Asset & Structured Finance, Advisory Services and Project Finance and currently heading the Investment Banking group at IL&FS Financial Services Limited, took a session on Project Finance. This highly-engaging session primarily dealt with examples of live deals in tune with the current market trends in the International and Indian arena.

Beyond Kotler: The retail and experiential marketing Workshop

Mr. Vijay and Mr. Rajesh of 141Sercon, a WPP Company, delivered a flawless and highly engrossing session on Retail and Experiential Marketing at IIM Lucknow on the 6th of February. Speaking to a packed room of over 100 participants, they walked the students through a whole new world of marketing communications. By opening up new channels of thought in Social Media and how it is changing the face of marketing communications, the highly learned duo, disabused multiple fallacies and passé understanding of marketing communication. The workshop also touched up solutions that 141Sercon has executed for its clients and delved deep into some of the most popular case studies in the world of experiential and retail marketing.


The session proved to be highly interactive with multiple questions on the relevance of social media, the cluttering of the web, the relevance to the Indian context, indices for measuring the results of below the line advertising taking precedence. An interesting anecdote involved a student questioning the relevance of social media in the context of the usage of Facebook in B2B contexts and the presenters breaking the common myth that social media revolved around social networks and Facebook.


Amit Haralalka, a first year student and a marketing enthusiast felt that the session was an eye opener for marketing students, thanks to the numerous case studies on Burger King, Ikea, WHO et al which helped relate to the content easily. IIC, which coordinated the workshop, was inundated with requests for another session on digital marketing by the company the next year around. Vijay and Rajesh were more than happy to come back to IIM Lucknow and termed the student participation as well-informed and precise. On the whole, a highly engaging afternoon and time well spent.

IPL CEO enthrals prospective managers at IIM Lucknow!

IIM Lucknow woke up to a freezing Saturday morning with Great Expectations! The Prestigious Management school has witnessed some of the best CEO’s from India Inc. deliver Key Note addresses over the past 6 months, but Saturday promised a whole new degree of Entertainment. Mr. Sundar Raman, the CEO of the Indian Premier League was slated to deliver an address on “Sports Management with IPL as a case in point”. The energy thawed the freeze across the IIM campus with students anticipating a highly enriching session.

Sports Management in India is increasingly becoming a highly sought after career for budding managers from India’s premier Business schools. Managing a sport in India demands no less than the most prolific Business minds in the country. Given this, To discuss and interact with the Big Daddy of Entertainment promised to be exhilarating experience for some of the brightest young minds in the country. The address by Mr. Sundar Raman witnessed a full house with passionate Managers and equally intense Cricket fans coming out in full strength. Managing the Indian Premier League is a challenge of monstrous proportions and its CEO showed why. Strategies and Cricket proved to be the hottest ideas exchanged with Bollywood being discussed sotto voce.


Mr. Sundar Raman’s session proved to both Entertaining and Enriching. According to Arvind Charanyan, a student coordinator of the Industry Interaction Committee which organized the event, “Mr. Sundar’s session was phenomenal. We have a lot of students who are very keen on pursuing a career in Sports Management. This session was a dream come true for them.”


If the student enthusiasm at IIM Lucknow was anything to go by, Management Strategies will find their way into net practise in the offing!

Doing business, the Himalayan Way!

The talk by Himalaya’s CEO Mr. Ravi Prasad provided the students of IIM Lucknow the wonderful opportunity to learn about brand building from the man himself who has transformed brand Himalaya globally.


Mr. Ravi Prasad talked about the journey of Himalaya and discussed decisions- right or wrong, which has helped Himalaya to reach the position which it has attained today. With the benefit of hindsight he talked about what Himalaya could have done better in terms of decision making.


He talked about health care trend shift in India and as well as shift of consumer to Ayurveda. He talked about success of Liv 52 which has defied all concepts of product life cycles and shared insights on what made the product huge success during all these years since its inception in 1955.


He talked about the most important milestone of creating a brand from the company – Himalaya Health care and then extending it to other products like body care, body oil, chawanyaprash etc. He also discussed ways about how to lend credibility to brands and how to keep consumers hooked and provided live examples. He also discussed about Himalaya‘s international market strategy.


The session was highly interactive and lots of question related to Himalaya ‘s position as compared to leading FMCG giants like P&G and HUL were asked. Audience were impressed and heavily applauded Mr. Ravi Prasad when he shared Himalaya’s stand towards environment and its conscious decision of not introducing sachets until they come up with bio degradable packets. Session was aptly summed up by one of the audience who said that perhaps he has learned more about building brands in these 90 minutes than in the complete course in a semester.

Samvit’09 - The Leaders’ Conclave: Who's who of India Inc. at IIM Lucknow

The Industry Interaction Committee’s cardinal endeavour is to build a conduit from the Knowledge centres of the corporate world to the classrooms of IIM Lucknow. In that pursuit, Samvit (Knowledge potency) was conceptualized to bring the best from the Industry to IIM Lucknow. The flagship event of IIC, Samvit has become an indispensable thread in IIM Lucknow’s brand positioning.


Samvit’09 saw the presence of stalwarts such as Pramod Bhasin (Chairman of NASSCOM & CEO of Genpact), Ajit Balakrishnan (Chairman Rediff.com), Kalpana Morparia (Country Head JP Morgan), Meera Sanyal (Country Head ABN AMRO) and Dr.Biswadip Mitra (MD Texas Instruments). These Industry Leaders were joined by Dr. Sandeep Pandey, a 2002 Magsaysay award winner who chose to throw away a lucrative career to become a social activist. The event was thus rightly titled “The Leaders’ Conclave” given this panel of elite visionaries.


The event was anchored by the affable Mr. Sanjeev Srivastava (BBC India Editor) who ensured that the conclave was as entertaining as informative. The theme of Samvit’09 was “Emerging pillars of the Indian Economy”. The theme was in line with the Indian growth story amidst the wreck of the financial slump where new sectors and a diversified labour force were emerging from the rubble.




The event opened with key note speeches from the each of the leaders. Mr. Ajit Balakrishnan and Dr. Biswadip Mitra shared their insights on technology’s indispensable contribution hitherto and its potential for India. To a question on corruption remaining unchanged, Mr. Ajit Balakrishnan intrigued the audience by focussing on the different facts of corruption and how India emerging from a licence raj era to a fairly liberal environment is per se, progress and an abatement of one type of corruption.


Dr. Sandeep Pandey, renowned for his work for the underprivileged, reminded the audience about the plight of more than a million people who truly constitute the “Unorganized” sector/section and thereby forced to accept punitive measures. His comparison of the price of mineral water to the price of milk drew widespread applause amidst a guffaw. Ms. Meera Sanyal shared her thoughts on the elections she contested. The student community was awed by her rationale and sense of conviction in contesting the elections while managing ABN AMRO in addition to contributing to social welfare activities. A second year student at IIM Lucknow opined that “Ms. Sanyal is the true paradigm of being strong and decisive”.


Mr. Pramod Bhasin delivered a flawless key note address followed by multiple interjections in the panel discussion, and made it clear that India’s progress can be supplemented only by the simultaneous existence of liberalization and social transformation.


Ms. Kalpana Morparia disabused some of the most popular misconceptions about China and drew the panel into an interesting discussion on China’s progress viz-a-viz India. The panel of leaders collectively threw light on how China’s administration is governed by some of the smartest people in the country which facilitates sustained development.


Ms. Meera Sanyal’s parting words to the panel of leaders and to the audience became the cynosure of the talk, when she quipped, “I hope this entire panel joins politics” in the context of Indian Administration needing leaders and visionaries such as those pre-independence.


The panel discussion drew a flurry of questions from the audience including the most appreciated one from a serving captain of the army who said “We have heard of Jai Jawan Jai Keesan. We only talk about the ‘Keesan’, what about the 'Jawan’? Do banks also have models for our needs?”


The 25th of October,2009 saw IIM Lucknow culminate its 25th year by opening a new chapter in its inimitable record. Samvit’10 is expected to be bigger and grander with IIC25 setting the plans in place in advance to add another feather to the School’s cap.