Sunday 21 August 2016

Our new RBI Governor: Urjit Patel

Mr. Urjit Patel has been appointed as the new Governor of RBI, here are a few facts about him:

1) Patel is one the four deputy governors at the RBI. He heads the monetary policy department.
2) He was appointed by the UPA government in 2013.
3) His term, which was supposed to end this year, was extended by three years in January.
4) Reserve bank officials consider him to be incumbent RBI governor Raghuram Rajan's closest lieutenant.
5) Patel has an M.Phil from Oxford University, and a PhD (economics) from Yale University.
6) He worked on the India, US, Myanmar, and Bahamas desks at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from 1990 to 1995.
7) He served as an IMF advisor to the RBI from 1996 to 1997.
8) Patel also worked as an consultant with the Department of Economic Affairs of India's Ministry of Finance from 1998 to 2001.
9) Before his 2013 RBI appointment, he was an advisor to the Boston Consulting Group, an American think-tank.
10) A committee headed by Urjit Patel recommended shifting the focus away from wholesale prices, and targeting consumer inflation with an aim to check volatile prices. In March last year, the Reserve Bank and the Ministry of Finance - headed by Arun Jaitley - agreed on a consumer inflation target of 4 percent, with a leeway of 2 percent more or less, by the financial year 2016-2017. The decision to use inflation-targeting is considered to be one of the most important changes to monetary policy since the 1991 reforms.
(Source: various articles, specially from Times of India)

The resume' looks commendable and impressive, lets hope our new governor takes over from where Mr. Rajan left and continue in his noble footsteps.

SMSR wishes the Mr. Urjit Patel all the best!!

Tuesday 16 August 2016

The rising inflation: A cause for concern

Wholesale inflation accelerated at a faster-than-expected pace in July, surging to 23-month high of 3.55 per cent on higher food prices. 

Wholesale food prices last month rose 11.82 per cent year-on-year, compared with a 8.18 per cent gain in June. Among individual food items, potato prices surged 59 per cent, vegetables 28 per cent, pulses 36 per cent and sugar 32 per cent.

In June, wholesale inflation had risen 1.62 per cent.

Madan Sabnavis, chief economist, Care Ratings, said until the new harvest comes in September, the pressure on inflation is unlikely to ease.

The consumer inflation data for July, which was released on Friday, also showed an acceleration, with the reading topping the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) near-term target.

Consumer prices rose at a faster-than-expected pace to 6.07 per cent last month from a year ago, up from June's 5.77 per cent annual gain. Mr Sabnavis said that the price rise vindicates Reserve Bank's strong stance on inflation. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day address to the nation strongly backed the government's fight against inflation.

While PM Modi's government is yet to pick a successor to RBI chief Raghuram Rajan, it has bound the next governor with Dr Rajan's retail inflation target of 4 per cent, with a band of 2 percent on either side, for the next five years. 

Article first published on NDTV and has been borrowed for academic purposes only.

So with this rising inflation and the strange spot our job market is in, as an MBA aspirant let us know how do you think the government can stabilise the situation.

Thursday 11 August 2016

A STEP FORWARD TOWARDS A BETTER CAREER :- By Dr. S. V. Patil

India is country of  over  1.3 billion people, second largest with highest demographic advantage. India is third largest economy in the world after China and USA and an important player in G20.  It is a country of diversity in many respects like language, life style, economy, culture… Now it is celebrating ‘25 years of liberalization’ during which GDP and per capita income has grown in many folds. About 30 million students have been enrolled to higher education system.

Recently I was talking to faculty members of a PU College; there I raised questions by showing pictures of an anchored boat and boat without compass. The message here is a boat is safe when anchored but not desirable and a boat is motion but directionless in absence of compass.  The boat is meant for sailing but captain of the boat should have the compass to guide the boat towards expected destination. Similarly every individual should be progressive. Let our dreams (vision) set the direction and passion drive to the destination.  Passion towards realizing the dreams must be persistent. This is applicable to students at all level and disciplines and more specific to post graduation. We are witnessing the hardship taken by the candidates appearing for CAT, GATE and the like to get into a particular institute and specializations. The similar heat must be there with aspirants of PG programs at different levels. Passion must drive the students to a particular program otherwise a “study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in.” (Leonardo da Vinci). Similarly a balloon can go up in any given environment only when it filled with gas to certain level of pressure otherwise it will not take off (excess pressure burst the balloon). Similarly whatever may be environment, the individual’s competency and capability will make her/him to fly high in career. This is the basic of science and hard fact of life.

Now it is time of admission to PG programs. Master of Business Administration (MBA) is one among the most sought program. It is an interdisciplinary program catering to all sectors (agriculture, manufacturing and service) and levels, entrepreneurship and NGOs as well.  Every entity needs to be managed efficiently and effectively. It requires the human resource equipped with skills to manage them. The profession like engineering, paramedical, agriculture etc. are sector specific, where as management is for all sectors. If there is slowdown in one sector, there will be boom in other.  The demand for the people with management skills and knowledge is always there and is consistent.  Also the scope for career advancement is very high due to the knowledge across the functionalities like HR, Marketing, Finance and Operations.  At the same time it is not bed of roses, has intrinsic challenges to succeed. David M. Burns says “Aim for success, not perfection. Never give up your right to be wrong, because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move forward with your life. Remember that fear always lurks behind perfectionism”. So pursuit for success is critical and continuous.

At this juncture, India is considered as the fastest growing in slowing (global) economy. The new initiatives of government of India like focus on Agriculture, Make in India, Digital India etc.  and good monsoon are the good signs of development. Further youths are orienting towards entrepreneurship hence start up boom.  

The IT companies see a big jump in campus offers acceptance as jobs shrink with each passing year. Banks are also aggressively recruiting.  On the contrary, downsizing, right sizing and delayed joining are happening in many places. . ET (ET June 10, 2016) reports that India Inc. faces a dearth of talent at the middle management level across sectors and locations that could derail the entire country's growth prospects, a survey of 350 CXOs and business heads in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi has revealed.  If one door of opportunity closes, other definitely opens, even can create a new door through start ups. In this scenario India is facing challenges such as skill gaps, retention of high potential employees, talent development, communication, collaboration, leading teams and execution skills. Innovation and strategic thinking is the most important skill gap to be addressed nationally ((ET, Jun 10, 2016). On one side demand for people persists and on the other side capacity lacks, it implies that capable ones always have immense opportunities. Task in front of MBA aspirants is to build capacity in terms Attitude, Skills and Knowledge to combat with the said challenges. The fundamentals to capacity building are: Hard work, Discipline, Communication, Team work and Leadership. These in turn develop right Attitude, Skills and Knowledge to sustain and grow in career (shown in Figure).




The aspiring students should die hard to imbibe the bottom layer attributes. To develop these attributes, others can only guide or assist but individual has to make deliberate attempt and convert attributes as character. This will result into middle level which is required to build career.  The middle level includes Attitude, Skills and Knowledge, can automatically build the top level.  There is no short cut for top level.  Hence get, set ready for first level.

MBA is a program which has the scope for creating the platform for middle level. Students who are joining B-Schools should prepare their heart and soul to fit in middle level. They must choose B-School which is most conducive and striving to help to students to attain middle level. The faculty members, Infrastructure, library and laboratory facilities are the facilitators for the students attainment. The program structure and pedagogy must act like a compass of a boat. Students must come out of conventional teaching learning process. “Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon.”(E.M. Forster). Self study and experiential learning are the need of the hour.


The students should assess contributing factors for middle level and decide the appropriate school for next two years their journey to attain top level.  The most common question from the enquiries is how is placement? It is difficult to answer this question because: i. Economy ii. Rapport of the school and iii. Students’ competency. Alumni and faculty members are the ambassadors of the school. Faculty members’ credentials and reputation in academia, industry and society are feathers to the rapport of the school.    Since students are the largest stakeholders in B-schools, their commitment to bottom level will be one solution to all challenges and issues. To realize your dream, “A STEP FORWARD TOWARDS A BETTER CAREER” through an MBA from reputed B-School.  

Sunday 31 July 2016


MBA Aspirants please note: 

The schedule notified for verification of documents for admission to MBA / MCA / M.E. / M.Tech courses stands cancelled and the same has been withdrawn. The document verification will not be commenced from 02-08-2016. The revised schedule for verification of documents for admission to MBA / MCA / M.E. / M.Tech courses for the year 2016 will be notified shortly. 
However, Physically Disabled candidates have to appear for medical examination on 01-08-2016 itself, and the ex-defence certificates have to be submitted on 01-08-2016. There is no change in the schedule for these two special category candidates.

Ref: http://kea.kar.nic.in/pgcet_2016.htm


For Document verification schedule - click on
http://kea.kar.nic.in/pgcet_2016/pgcet_doc_veri_notification.pdf


Click the link to get MBA draft seat matrix
http://kea.kar.nic.in/pgcet_2016/mba_mca_daft.pdf

Wednesday 27 July 2016

Why India would need more business grads in the Modi era!

The present government at the centre has come out with some incredible (some might say desperate) features in the FDI policy this year. Even though they had opposed the then UPA government who took us through the global route in '91, realisation seems to have sinked in that foreign investment could solve most of our problems. Have a look at few of the pointers of the FDI policy of 2016:

  • 100 per cent FDI under government approval route for trading, including through e-commerce, in respect of food products manufactured and/or produced in India. 

  • To attract investment in the defence sector, the government has removed the condition of 'state-of-art' technology, besides permitting foreign investment in manufacturing of small arms and ammunitions

  • The government has also permitted 100 per cent FDI through automatic route in broadcasting carriage services like teleports, direct-to-home and mobile TV

  • the government allowed 100 per cent FDI in airlines and relaxed norms for overseas investments in brownfield airports

  • In private security agencies, FDI limit was raised to 74 per cent from 49 per cent earlier.

  • The conditions related to local sourcing in single brand retail were exempted upto 3 years of initial operations

  • In pharmaceuticals, government has allowed FDI upto 74 per cent through automatic route and beyond that under government approval

  • The government has also relaxed the norms in animal husbandry sector

  • And not to mention the infamous Private Universities act, which will become a reality in a few months, will bring in unprecedented and unopposed investments from abroad

With so many new avenues opening up in the current economy and market, who will manage all these new ventures and business which will be setup in our country through the FDI route? You know the answer, so if you are an MBA aspirant and planning to take it up this admission season then make sure you chose the right B-School. Probably the one which makes sure you are aware about all these current trends in the economy!


Source: Economic Times

Tuesday 26 July 2016

Choose the right B-School, Probably one with an " Incubator" !

The tendency of an MBA grad to embark on the entrepreneurial path is higher than most other grads ( with very rare exceptions).

Here are few notable examples for your reference:

--> Taxi for sure: Radakrishna and Ragunandan G, IIM-A grads

--> Reporting Bee: Anantharaman Mani, Anjan T, Balaganesh S and Vinod Kumar, IIM-B grads

--> Vaxess: Michael Schrader, Harvard Business School

--> Naukri.com: Sanjeev Bikhchandan, IIM-A grad


--> MakeMyTrip.com: Deep Karla, IIM-A grad

--> Shree Renuka Sugars:  Nerendra Murkumbi, IIM-A grad


And countless more business grads are nurturing successful start-ups which have transformed in to mega business houses.

If you are an MBA aspirant and planning to take the plunge this admission season, then choose the right B-School. Probably one which houses an incubator, to nurture your entrepreneurial dreams and aspirations.

Sunday 24 July 2016


Friends, who can understand kannada must spend 50 min and watch this video



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCyxt6lbp6k