Navdeep of IMT-Nagpur got placed even before the Placement in college began

Four students from IMT-Nagpur managed to get the Pre-placement interview offer. One of them was lucky enough to grab the job as well. Navdeep is the first student from the 2010-12 batch to fetch the placement offer.

Navdeep attended his summer internship program at Asian Paints Ltd. He was into the sales and marketing division during his internship program and shares that the work “pertained to understanding the gaps in the existing offering and developing a strategy to improve Asian Paints market penetration for its Tinting machines”.

He was assigned a project in Gujrat, where in, his job was to conduct a market survey in order to find out as to why most of the new dealers were installing paint tinting machines without approaching APL. He was expected to find out the reason behind this sudden change in the Gujrat market, analyse it and build a strong strategy which can help in raising APL’s tinting machine penetration in the city. The project was a great learning experience for this IMT student. He says, “It was tough to understand the new industry and its dynamics. I travelled almost 4000 kms across Gujarat for the Project to many backward towns with only a single paint dealer. It was a great learning experience and more so an eye opener about how well the organizations have set up their distribution channels and dealer networks. I also got various insights into the mindsets of dealers across different strata of the society.” Navdeep carried out the task with utmost dedication and its outcome couldn’t have been better; APL was so impressed with his hard work and devotion that it gave him the PPI offer right away and finally selected him for a suitable position in the company.

On being asked if he was prepared to handle the position given to him during the summer internship program at APL, he answered that he wasn’t prepared at all. It was the first time he was stepping into such a large organization. He had no prior work experience unlike the other summer trainees in his batch. However, he had been the marketing head of the college youth council and had been involved in several extra co-curricular activities at IMT-Nagpur. Managing time and resources efficiently is something that comes naturally to him. These were two of his strong points that helped him throughout the internship. He also studied about APL’s background, its products and services before going for the SIP and it proved to be of great help for him.

Navdeep believes that one thing that set him apart from the other trainees was his knowledge about the industry basics. He says, “I spent a week understanding the backhand depot operations and understanding the product portfolio of APL, which was not required for my project per se, but I believe the initial time that I spent understanding APL was what made the difference between me and others getting the PPI and then the job.” He further adds, “I always stuck to the basics and tried to understand the root of the problem.”

He feels that internship program is an essential part of a PGDM course as it provides the required exposure to the students before they set out for their actual ventures in the corporate world. He also shares how his SIP at APL has helped him learn and grow professionally.

Navdeep is proud to be a part of IMT-Nagpur and has a number of good experiences to share. He appreciates the infrastucture and facilities at the campus. As per him, “The brilliant infrastructure and facilities of the IMT-N campus give us ample chances to have fun, rejuvenate and exhibit our talent in various different ways.”

IMT-CDL is on the cutting edge with EDGE 2011

Once again bringing academia and industry together in a workshop, the Institute of Management Technology, Centre for Distance Learning showed as to why IMT-CDL’s ranking is Number One among B-schools in the distance learning mode.
Held May 15, 2011, at the India International Centre, the IMT-CDL workshop focused on trends in production and operations management, with speakers highlighting the innovative changes operations management could introduce to improve diverse production and operations.
The aim was to clarify the key roles that production and operations management play in a firm’s success and show how to structure and solve operations-related problems analytically.
In his opening address, Dr. A.M. Sherry, Director of IMT-CDL, mentioned that the workshop was a new initiative by IMT to bridge the gap between industry and academia and to also bridge the gap between an MBA and a distance MBA.

Among the many speakers from the academic side, IMT-CDL’s Prof. S.K. Sachdev informed the 306 delegates - “Innovation has been recognized as one potential lever for value creation” while Prof. Santanu Roy of IMT Ghazibad remarked - “Capacity decisions must be integrated into the organization’s mission and strategy.”
Prof. N.M. Mishra told delegates: “Statistical process control is to detect and eliminate the sources of variation in the process that could not be attributed to the routine operation.”
The importance of location was stressed by Prof. Vivek Kumar, of  FORE School, who added the idea that the site for a manufacturing or service facility should be one “that minimizes costs and maximizes revenue,” and Prof. Nand Kumar of TERI pointed out: “Quality has to be proactive and it should be built into products and services.” Speaking from industry’s viewpoint, S.S. Sharma, principal partner of System Dynamics, said: “Building a competitive service advantage is the best operational strategy,” and Mr. P. Narayan, former Director of SAIL insisted that “Maintenance helps in continuous and regular production by minimizing plant shutdown time.”
Sanjeev Sherry, assistant vice-president and SAP delivery head for Mahindra Satyam told delegates: “We need various tools to manage inventory, however tools may vary depending upon the business complexities.” 
Preveen Chauhary, Dy, GM,HCL said: “Information technology is an excellent enabler to achieve the supply chain needs,” and  senior consultant Rajeev Bhatia told the assembly: “CPM, PERT and PERT/Cost are also used to provide activity-by-activity planning and control.”
Such innovative workshops are an example of why Zee Business, the business news channel, listed IMT-CDL’s ranking as Number One, factoring in such things as: course content, quality of course material, course delivery mode, personal contact, exclusive faculty members, research and consultancy, library facility, industry acceptability and examination system.

IMT Ghaziabad all set for the Start Up Fair 2011

After the success of the Start Up Fair organized in 2010, IMT Ghaziabad is back with its 2011 installment. Start Up Fair 2010 was organized by IMT Ghaziabad’s Entrepreneurship Cell (E-Cell) and was held in the B-school campus. Various experienced professionals from different fields were invited to the event. These professionals shared their knowledge and gave an insight about the working of the industry to the students. The event proved to be beneficial for both the students as well as the start ups.

The Start Up Fair 2011 is scheduled for 15th October. The event is expected to be conducted on a larger scale as compared to the one held last year. Around 30 start ups came over to attend the Start Up Fair last year while this time more than 70 of them are expected to join the students at the event. Some top venture capitalists as well as banks and other financial institutions are also expected at the Start Up Fair.
The start ups participating in the event will get a chance to display their brands, communicate with their prospective clients and investors and of course interact with students in order to obtain fresh and novel ideas which can prove to be useful for their business. Not just the start ups but the students would also be equally benefited by the Start Up Fair as they would get a good industry exposure. These budding managers would get a chance to learn and understand the nitty-gritty of the various industries; something they would not be able to learn during their classroom studies.

Venture Capitalists are always in search of young talent and in events such as these they are sure to find a number of them. Banks and financial institutes are also invited in the Start Up Fair so that they are able to meet and judge the caliber of various start ups from different fields including Media, Entertainment, Digital Marketing, IT, Logistics, Infrastructure, Sports, Manufacturing, Telecom, Health care, Hospitality, Travel and Tourism. Start ups look for financial support and back up from banks and financial institutes. In events such as the Start Up Fair the start ups are able to learn about the various terms and conditions of different banks and financial institutes under one roof. While the financial institutes and banks are able to judge the payback capacity of these start ups to some extent.

All in all, IMT Ghaziabad is doing a great job by bringing together flourishing start ups, upcoming businesses, venture capitalists, banks and potential industrialists and managers to interact and share ideas with each other.
A lot has been planned for the Start Up Fair 2011 and various start ups, banks, venture capitalists and young MBA students are looking forward to the event this year.