Wealth is the ability to fully experience life – Henry David Thoreau

The role of money is very important in today’s world.  Majority of the people do not have adequate money at the right time when they require it the most. To hedge this unpredictability, one must learn how to invest smartly. Most of the people invest in the mutual funds but with time there are many other investment products prevailing in the market gaining people’s attention.

The Students of IIT Kanpur were fortunate enough to get a chance to learn about other investment options specifically Exchange Traded funds when DIME IIT Kanpur hosted Mr. Sivananth Ramachandran, Director of Morningstar Indexes under its Corporate Seminar series on 11th August 2018.  Mr. Sivananth is an IIM Lucknow pass out and has over 11 years of experience in the investment industry. He mainly deals in new products development at Morningstar. Mr. Sivananth in his session explained about Exchange-Traded Fund, which is a hybrid investment product. An ETF, or exchange-traded fund, is a marketable security that tracks an index, a commodity, bonds, or a basket of assets like an index fund. Unlike mutual funds, an ETF trades like a common stock on a stock exchange. He discussed the differences between a mutual fund and exchange-traded fund and how the landscape of ETF‘s have evolved from the past. Mr. Sivananth explained in-detail working and stakeholders of mutual funds as well as ETFs.  While explaining the same, he said that the working of ETFs and mutual funds are similar in India, unlike the US. ETFs are more efficient due to in-kind transactions as compared to mutual funds. While talking about tracking error, he said that amount by which the ETF performance lags or exceeds with respect to the underlying benchmark index directs to tracking error. While walking us through the applications of ETFs, he explained long-term as well as short-term applications of ETFs. At last, he spelled out the issues related to ETFs which included specific as well as in broader perspectives.

This session by Mr. Sivananth gave us the overall panorama of the investment industry and which will definitely help us in the future.

Wealth is the ability to fully experience life – Henry David Thoreau

The role of money is very important in today’s world.  Majority of the people do not have adequate money at the right time when they require it the most. To hedge this unpredictability, one must learn how to invest smartly. Most of the people invest in the mutual funds but with time there are many other investment products prevailing in the market gaining people’s attention.The Students of IIT Kanpur were fortunate enough to get a chance to learn about other investment options specifically Exchange Traded funds when DIME IIT Kanpur hosted Mr. Sivananth Ramachandran, Director of Morningstar Indexes under its Corporate Seminar series on 11th August 2018.  Mr. Sivananth is an IIM Lucknow pass out and has over 11 years of experience in the investment industry. He mainly deals in new products development at Morningstar. Mr. Sivananth in his session explained about Exchange-Traded Fund, which is a hybrid investment product. An ETF, or exchange-traded fund, is a marketable security that tracks an index, a commodity, bonds, or a basket of assets like an index fund. Unlike mutual funds, an ETF trades like a common stock on a stock exchange. He discussed the differences between a mutual fund and exchange-traded fund and how the landscape of ETF‘s have evolved from the past. Mr. Sivananth explained in-detail working and stakeholders of mutual funds as well as ETFs.  While explaining the same, he said that the working of ETFs and mutual funds are similar in India, unlike the US. ETFs are more efficient due to in-kind transactions as compared to mutual funds. While talking about tracking error, he said that amount by which the ETF performance lags or exceeds with respect to the underlying benchmark index directs to tracking error. While walking us through the applications of ETFs, he explained long-term as well as short-term applications of ETFs. At last, he spelled out the issues related to ETFs which included specific as well as in broader perspectives.This session by Mr. Sivananth gave us the overall panorama of the investment industry and which will definitely help us in the future.

The department of Industrial and Management engineering hosted Mr. Aniruddha Khekale, Group Human Resource Director, Emerson Automation Solutions India for a corporate seminar on 4^th of August. It was an engaging session on the topic, ‘HR for passion and dispassion’. The seminar commenced with Mr. Khekale giving us a glimpse of Emerson Automation Solutions and its journey from a start-up in mass production to building Emerson platforms, going global.

He began his speech on the topic with a picture of a pulse signifying upward slope as passion and downward as dispassion. Passion and dispassion is defined by business driver however compassion is a human element that we can choose to deal with them. This compassion comes from organization’s values and culture. The speaker asked us for our views on the roles and functions of various facets of a CEO, a COO and a CHRO, what we would expect a CHROs contribution to the company and its decision-making system? It was an engaging moment, with many people coming up with multitudes of different thoughts and perspective.

While defining HR accountability, he spoke about the ideas of a moral compass, with a focus on results and human empathy. In the world of artificial intelligence, it is human empathy that will help a company to grow and prosper. The speaker next went on to discuss a case study about a company struggling to achieve a certain target in a year while having a de-growth in a certain quarter. After 10 minutes of brain storming the student came up with various solutions. Mr. Khekale discussed about how in such a situation that the company was facing, dispassion can be cost containment, restructuring and downward spiral, while passion is the growth which can come only from positive energy that we get from the hope and direction communicated by the top people in business. So, when Emerson faced with a similar situation, they implemented simple steps like empathetic communication, focus, engaging high potential members of various teams and reorganization. Smal steps of wisdom such as Weekly To-Do list or dynamic work allocation went a long way in improving the business ambience as opposed to critical appraisal systems where the productivity may be taken for a long walk under the occurrence of the same.

Mr. Khekale also talked about six step process of ‘Mission’ and ‘Role’ being long term and Goals and plans (To-Do list, Schedule and delegate) to be weekly point of focus. He also talked about the company policies of engaging and re-organizing the high potential people. There were greater than 95% retention and 75+ promotions and job moves. The speaker also spoke about the steps taken by the company in providing the women leaders an environment to work together. He spoke last but not the least about the  skills one should have as an HR which includes, strategic intelligence, energize organization, alignment, balance, speed, strength and compassion. In the world where numbers speak, one need to realise it is the humans to speak with numbers and it is imperative, we take care and value our human resources. After a truly engaging and interactive session, we thank Mr.Khekale for spending time us and sharing real life experiences that broadened our knowledge horizon.

When I got an offer from Halma India to intern at their Bengaluru office, I was not sure of the industry that I was supposed to deal with, Halma, after all, is a group of a good 50 number of fully owned independently managed companies that build products for different sectors viz. Medical, Environmental, Safety & Infrastructure, and it was only after I joined in, did they assign me to Medicel, an Ophthalmic Surgical Instruments Manufacturing Company.

I was asked to undertake a project, the objective of which was to get a complete market information on competitors, & factors that influence decision making in this market, with an ultimate aim to recommend measures that’ll boost Medicel’s revenue in India.

Once I was given the project, my superiors left it all on me to chalk out an approach and gave complete autonomy to steer the course in these 2 months, the culture at the office couldn’t have been more encouraging.

I started off by understanding the cataract surgery procedure & once I got the basics, especially the application of the Medicel products on to it, I packed my bags and travelled across India from Chennai in the South to Mumbai, Ahmedabad, in the West to Delhi, Amritsar in the North & back to Bengaluru, meeting different OEM’s, distributors & doctors, to understand the dynamics of this market. All the observations made during these deliberations & the inferences that I drew out of it formed the basis of the recommendations that I came up with & the same were presented to the Halma India & the Medicel team, post which there was a discussion on the viabilities of the recommendations & suggestions on how things could have been better,

To sum it up, it’s been a phenomenal experience & I enjoyed every bit of it.

There is a very awakening article written by one of our research scholars on “nation’s secularism”. It is rich in its explanation of secularism and also reasons on why India is suffering with communal hatred in today’s times? It is a good read to understand “Secularism in India”. Next is an article covering part of a project done under Prof. Rahul Varman. It has interesting information and good insights into Kanpur railway station organization. We are sure our readers can gain valuable knowledge. In this edition, two of our MBA students have shared their internship experience. It will be an informative read to know about internship of others. That’s all readers! No wait. We have also added a section of fun articles this time. So that makes this edition unique! Very interesting article in this section is on summation of natural numbers. It was mind-boggling when we read it. We think it will astound you too. Also, this section has articles on the MBA tour trip and badminton league. Both the events were fun-filled; we hope you enjoy the articles. And so, we take leave. We wish for good health of all the readers and also the non-readers.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Special thanks to writers. Thank you all the readers. We wish you enjoy reading. Without you readers and writers, this magazine would not exist. So keep reading and keep writing. Keep smiling.
Team Avant Garde

In India, after the explosion of the population bomb, the demand for land has increased manifolds. The price of land has risen to alarming proportions. But it is an open secret that it is one industry where black economy has a lot of presence.   The politico-mafia nexus has also been largely responsible for this dire situation.

Market forces are always good for an economy, but the mafia forces always have a detrimental effect on its overall health. As we all know, much of the real estate industry is operating on speculations. There is more noise than substance in it. Let us understand it with an example. Suppose the property rate in a particular area is 1000 rupees per square feet. Now, within three months, a coterie of powerful people sells their properties at 1500 rupees per square feet to potential buyers by various means, be it by changing the land use or by promoting a big project near it in the coming future or by any other means, the prices in the area are now automatically set at 1500 square feet. This system is only benefitting the high and mighty and is making the plight of low middle class or people even worse. There are no effective regulations to put an end to this dubious system. Recent upheavals in Nandigram and Bhatta Parsaul are examples that arise, as a result of such mismanagement.

Indian property bubble is building up. More and more are flocking to the nearby towns and cities in search of jobs, thereby worsening the problem further. In a country like India with 1.25 billion people, developing industrial hubs near only major metropolis would not solve the problems. Developing industrial hubs, at least, at the divisional level, would be the ideal solution. As a result, a large section of the country would experience the fruits of the industrialisation that is going on in the country.

Now, Let us move towards Seemandhra. After ten years it has to part with Hyderabad and has to develop a new capital. What would the politicians, bureaucrats and other builders do? They would buy huge tracts of land in some remote city at very low prices. They would then convert the land use by various means and then announce this city as the capital of new state of Seemandhra. With the coming of various government and private projects, land prices would escalate like anything, thereby benefiting them hugely . It is the common man that always suffers. We do not need a country where there are two INDIA’s. One is the “The shining one“and the other is the ‘Real Bharat’. Each and every individual should be a part of the growth story.

The problem is also the worsening the disparity in the incomes of the various regions of the country. Let me quote the example of my state i.e. Uttar Pradesh. If you look at the real estate prices in NCR region i.e. Noida , Greater Noida etc. , it has gone out of the reach of common man . Even the upper middle class cannot afford it without the ‘vicious’ support of the banks. The cities are becoming inaccessible, as far as , housing and rentals are concerned . This is a problem of deep concern. It has also led to dissatisfaction in other regions of the state. People nearby NCR region are benefitting by the huge rise in the land prices, but the other parts are still reeling under acute poverty. I want to ask a question.  Do only the people of NCR have a right to higher standard of living?  What fault has people from other regions have committed? Either the land prices should be regulated or the development curve should shift to the other regions as well. Otherwise the demands for new states and developmental authorities would not subside. The Eastern UP, even with cheap labour and one of the most fertile lands in the world, is reeling under serious poverty. The land prices in the region are either growing very slowly or have stagnated.

The situation is also worsening the overall productivity of the population. We always emphasize that India should be a manufacturing nation. We should contribute things of real substance to the world, but the fact is that the path chosen towards that goal is very ambiguous. People in large metropolis and cities have taken property dealing as a safe option. They fail to understand that this honeymoon period will not go on endlessly.   The fizzling of the US and Dubai real estate bubbles are good examples of that. Money is a thing that needs to be circulated in the economy. People in the country just follow the safest option. They invest their money in real estate thus capturing a huge amount in it. If that money was circulated in the economy many people would have benefitted from that.

Housing is a basic necessity. Every family needs a home to sustain its life. But the craze for real estate is making them blind. They go on and on investing without thinking of the plight of others who cannot afford it. Such a situation cannot continue for long.

It is high time that we look into and refresh, whenever needed, our land reforms system. A central authority should be set up which should look into the real estate prices at pan India level. The disparity between the prices of various regions should be not huge. A proper structure needs to be put into shape to look at the various pitfalls of the real estate industry. The Land Acquisition Act and REITS i.e. Real Estate Investment Trusts are good measures taken by the government in this regard. But a lot still needs to be done. Low cost housing, as a concept, should be promoted in a big way.

Housing is a necessity.  Let it remain a necessity. It should not get converted into a dream.

By: Abdul Baree

IndiaMart is India’s largest B2B market space  with 1.5 million suppliers listed on its website, with around 10 million buyers visiting the online platform every month. Mr. Vikas Aggarwal has been a part of this organization since 1999 and presently heads the Client Servicing division.

The seminar was an interactive session where Mr. Aggarwal addressed the queries of students. He explained the difference between running a B2B business model and a B2C e-commerce model. According to Mr. Aggarwal, IndiaMart primarily plays the role of matchmaking by bringing  together buyers and sellers from different parts of the country. He explained the high importance of Data Base management and Data Analysis in the business like theirs.

Mr. Aggarwal explained the “freemium” model through which their business operates, that is, their basic service is free for all suppliers but to get priority based listings and other added features one had to pay a premium subscription.He shared how IndiaMart started as a website developing company for different SME’s and later decided to aggregate the same on one common platform. He also gave a brief idea about transition of business from P-Commerce (Paper) to E-Commerce (Internet, Desktop) and now to M-Commerce (Mobile) model and how Net Promoters Score (NPS) is an important factor nowadays. The case of Zappos and its acquisition by Amazon explains the importance and power of high NPS, by satisfying customer through exceptional service rather than giving discounts. He discussed how IndiaMart aims to do the same by protecting buyers from suppliers by flagging faulty suppliers and even de-listing unresponsive suppliers.

Apart from supplier-buyer relationship, IndiaMart believes in having a strong relationship with their employees as well. At IndiaMart they have ticket system which ensures that all kinds of employee redressals are heard and taken care of.

In the end he advised the students to be flexible and open minded in their career opportunities and growth as well as take care of how one is at transition in his/her career. He stressed to always strive to learn something new and try something different as one progresses in their career.Overall, it was a very informative session where the management aspirants got a glimpse in to the inner workings of India’s B2B market space.

“Being from the the Pioneer batch of MBA 2003, we had to face certain challenges in getting recognized and get a face in the job market. It was exciting that we were learning the subject for the  first time in a group of talented Engineers, scoring marks and at the same time working hard on placements. Placement job included collecting email addresses and contact numbers of HR head of different organizations. I remember Nishant, Varadarajan and Gopal working all night on placement activities and distributing work amongst us. All this after  finishing assignments of Dr AP Sinha or group assignments of Dr Varman in the hostel. In IITK MBA, we learned how to move and develop as a group and yes our hard work in placement did show colors when the combined efforts of teachers and students helped companies like LML, Ingersoll Rand, TCS come to campus to select candidates from a less renowned MBA college.
I remember the days of MBA full of assignments, activities, photo copies, canteen food – Maggi, alu paratha obviously, Diwali celebration with hopping professors quarters for nice treats – special mention to Dr AP Sinha, Dr Veena Bansal. Still remember the wonderful Dahi Vadas, and Cholla Baturas made by Dr Veena Bansal in 2001.

Another very interesting part of IITK MBA was the multiple onsite projects we had to do in Consumer Behavior, Organization structure . We got to see what the outside world looks like with so many tours. We did sell T shirts in Hall Dining in one of Dr AP Sinha’s project and went to Hotel Landmark “N” number of times to meet the HR person in Dr Varman’s project. It was so much fun. All is well that ends well. I got a Campus placement in Ingersoll Rand India Ltd as Management Trainee in 2003. I left Ingersoll Rand in 2007 and joined IBM. Currently I am working with IBM as Advisory Consultant based at Chesterbrook, PA. I work in ERP (SAP ECC) in Sales and Distribution Module as a Functional Consultant. My Sales background from Ingersoll Rand (Worked as Branch Manager Sales selling Road and Mining machinery to Private and
Government contractors in Orissa and then in Bihar and Jharkhand) has really helped me understand the details of Sales process, Distribution channels, Consignment sales, Taxation etc. IBM has given me a broad experience with respect to working in multiple North American locations (Country Canada and USA) and with clients from different industries like Johnson and Johnson (Pharma), Caterpillar (Heavy engineering), Cascades (Paper), AmerisourceBergen Corporation (Drug distributor). IITK MBA has helped me build the confidence in me to take on any task and do it with endurance and perfection.”