XL Get together in Dallas, TX- 19th May

Dear All,

We had a small gathering but big fun a couple weeks back. This time around we are planning a more elaborate one in one of the DFW area parks. I am sending this to everybody so that people who are either travelling or are located somewhere nearby also can participate. It would be great to have all of us there on that day.

Looking forward to hear back from you soon.

Thanks,

Sabya

(Sabyasachi Mitra )

XLRI Endowment Fund (XEF): WE ARE GAINING MOMENTUM

Dear

I am happy to share that as on April 1, 2012 we crossed the first milestone of XEF (XLRI Endowment Fund), crossing Rs.1 crore. This happened because of the generous contributions by :

Jose Parayanken (Rs.50 lakhs) : BME-81, Founder & Managing Director, Mozambique Holdings. Ltd. Recipient of the prestigious Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award in January 2012. Recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2011

Jaspal Bindra (Rs.20 lakhs) : BM-84, Group Executive Director & Chief Executive Officer, Asia, Standard Chartered Bank, and Member, Board of Governors, XLRI. Recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2011

Vineet Nayar (Rs.5 lakhs) : BM-85, Vice Chairman & CEO, HCL Technologies, and Member, Board of Governors, XLRI. Recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2010

N Krishnakumar (Rs.5 lakhs) : BM-83, Co-Founder & Managing Director, MindTree Consulting. Recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2012

Surojit Shome (Rs.5 lakhs) BM-86, MD & Country Head, Rabobank International, India

Samir Sahu (PM-86)and Ingrid Sahu (BM-86) (Rs.5 lakhs)

Alok Sinha (BM-86)(Rs.5 lakhs), MD, Oil & Gas Group, Standard Chartered Bank

Harish K. (PM-85)(Rs.2 lakhs)

Chris Doyle (BM-73) (Rs.1 lakh)

Sudhir Mathulla (BM-84) (Rs.50,000)

Ashok Krishen (PMIR – 86)(Rs.5 lakhs)

Our analysis reveals, that as of April, 2012 the breakup of contributions has been:

Amount	Contribution(s)
Rs.50 lakhs                          1 Rs.20 lakhs                          1 Rs.5 lakhs                            5 Rs.2 lakhs                            1 Rs.1 lakh                              10 Rs.50,000                             22 Below Rs.50,000                 16

Our target is to cross Rs.20 crores by the end of April 2013.This means we have to raise nearly USD 4 million.To meet this target, we plan to have alumni get-togethers in U.S.A., Dubai, and Singapore, besides alumni meets in the country.

Some of you are keen to know : what would XLRI do with the funds?

1. Upgrade the existing Physical Infrastructure to world-class standards.The new campus may cost us around Rs.50 to Rs.60 crores.
2. Create Chair Professorship. Each Chair would need around Rs.4 to 5 crores.
3. Scholarships or loan to the needy students.
4. Support Global Research.
5. Support the expenses for Global Branding of XLRI.
6. Support the social initiatives of XLRI in the area of education for poor, rural entrepreneurship and alike on a sustained basis.

A news write-up in April 5 Telegraph stated that IIM-A has set a target to raise Rs.250 crores, that is, approximately USD 50 million. By April 5, they have raised about Rs.8 crores, and in the Golden Jubilee Celebration held in December 2011, the alumni promised to contribute Rs.38 crores. I am confident Excellors would be equally generous.

Sharad Sarin
Coordinator : XEF

Upcoming XLRI Alumni meets - Summer 2012

Kolkatta: 5th May

Pune: 12th May

Bangalore: 19th May

Singapore: 19th/20th May

Delhi: 26th May

Mumbai: 2nd June

This is the tentative schedule.
Bangalore is confirmed and has a whole weekend lined up for the first ever Pan South India XLRI Alumni meet. Check 19th May weekend for more details.

 Will keep updating as I get more information.

What are you doing on May 19th weekend?

Hey there,

Alumni meets are happening all over the globe this summer, but XLBang is going a giant step further and lining up an entire weekend of activities and we would love to have you with us in Bangalore (still can't think of it as Bengaluru) that weekend.

There's golf being planned for the 18th of May (for those who play golf - not newbies or wannabes).  Contact George Olapally for more details - ollapally@gmail.com

The Big Bash is at ITC Gardenia on the 19th and another lunch is being planned for the 20th. More details will be updated soon.

Director Fr. Abraham, Prof Sarin, Prof. Madhukar Shukla, Prof. Ray from campus,  Fr. Casmir Raj, Roshan Dastur- who has been around for more than 40 years at XLRI and the one-and-only Bishuda from XLRI.will also be there!!

Last years band for the XLBang Bash was completely made up of XLers, we are hoping for something similar this year too and Jishnu from Swarathma is providing the music studio for practices. A fashion show
by xlers and their family members, drinking, dancing, eating, networking, catching up are all on the agenda. XLBang has always taken special care of kids of xlers and activities are always organised to keep them entertained and occupied too, so they don't bug you by asking "are we going home yet?"

This year we are specially inviting alumni from all over for this meet, not just those in Bangalore. For your convenience, accomodation has been blocked at Century Club (Rs 2,000 on b&b basis), XIME hostel on Hosur Road (free -for those who can't find friends to pile on to), sightseeing tours are also being organised.
Contact Venkatesh at narsipur.venkatesh@gmail.com for acco and Vijay for Intercity travel and sight-seeing communicate2vijay@yahoo.co.in

We already have some sponsors lined up, but more are always welcome. Contact Tito - John Idicula on john.idicula@gmail.com if you or your company would like to capitalise on this opportunity to reach out to such a large group of XLers and their families.

A large part of the money generated by the event finds its way to worthy causes. Last year 50,000Rs was donated to provide vocational training for children of farmers suicides in Vidharba (near Nagpur). So we "party with a purpose" too.

Take a look at our new dedicated website for more details - http://xlbang.in and pre-register for the event to get the benefit of a discount.

So what are you waiting for? There's barely a month left, the sooner you book your tickets the better. If you can convince your company to send you to Bangalore on an "official" visit, nothing like it, but you don't really need an excuse to join us, do you?

HT promotes Diptakirti Chaudhuri (BMD 99) as Head - Strategy & New Businesses, Digital Business

From afaqs:

Diptakirti Chaudhuri, head, marketing, HT Delhi, has been given a new role at HT Media in the digital wing of the company as head, strategy and new businesses, digital business. His position at HT Delhi (that of head, marketing) has been handed over to Parveen Gupta with immediate effect.

In this new role, Chaudhuri will be a part of the leadership team of the digital business of the group and will be responsible for working on new category evaluation and its entry.

Chaudhuri will report to Amit Garg, business head, digital, HT Media.

Chaudhuri is a Mechanical Engineering graduate from the Jadavpur University and is an MBA from XLRI, Jamshedpur.

Padma Bhushan Award conferred to Mr. B Muthuraman by President Pratibha Patil

From Odisha Diary

New Delhi: The Honourable President of India Mrs. Pratibha Patil presented the prestigious Padma Bhushan Award to Mr. B Muthuraman, Vice Chairman, Tata Steel Limited in the trade and industry category on Wednesday at a glittering function organized at Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi.

The function was attended by Vice-President Mr. Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and a host of other dignitaries. Mr. Muthuraman is amongst the 109 Padma award winners this year. Padma Awards, the country's highest civilian awards, are given in all disciplines/ fields of activities, viz. art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service, etc.

Mr. Muthuraman joined Tata Steel in 1966 and has held various positions at the Company including Vice President (Marketing & Sales) & Vice President (Cold Rolling Mill Projects). He was appointed as Executive Director in 2000, Managing Director of the Company in 2001 and non-executive Vice chairman in 2009. Under his visionary leadership, Tata Steel became a truly global company marked by some of landmark events like the acquisition of Corus, UK and Netherlands in 2007.

Mr. Muthuraman is currently the President of Confederation of Indian Industry. He is the Chairman of Tata International Limited on the Boards of several companies which include, Bosch Limited, Tata Industries and Strategic Energy Technology Systems Pvt. Ltd. He was Chairman of several Tata Steel Group companies like Nat Steel, Singapore; Tata Steel, Thailand; Tinplate Company of India Ltd; Dhamra Port Company Ltd.; Tata Sponge Ltd. and Tata – Martrade International Logistics Ltd. He was also the Chairman of the Board of Governors National Institute of Technology (NIT), Jamshedpur; IIT, Kharagpur; XLRI, Jamshedpur and Member of the Board of Governors of Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT Madras). He is member of Governing Council of The National Institute of Design (NID). He is also a member of the Business Advisory Council of Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).

Mr Muthuraman holds degrees in Bachelor of Technology in Metallurgical Engineering from IIT, Madras and a Masters of Business Administration from XLRI, Jamshedpur. He has also completed the Advanced Management Programme at European Centre for Executive Development, France and has undergone the Leadership Programme at INSEAD, France.

Mr Muthuraman received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from IIT Madras in 1997 and the Tata Gold Medal from the Indian Institute of Metals in 2002. He also received the “CEO of the Year Award” from Business Standard in 2005, “CEO with HR Orientation Award” from World HRD Congress in 2005, Economic Times Award for Corporate Excellence in 2008 and IIM JRD Tata Award conferred by Indian Institute of Metals. He was recently bestowed an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa from Loyola University, Chicago.

XLRI launches "MS Degree in Positive Organisational Development & Change"

XLRI launches an "MS Degree Programme in Positive Organisational Development & Change" with Case Western University, USA.

Details are at: http://www.xlri.ac.in/mpod

More Details are at: http://www.xlri.ac.in/mpod

XLRI degree day with India Inc.

From The Telegraph

HM Nerurkar (right) presents the Sir Jehangir Medal to NR Narayana Murthy on Wednesday. Picture by Bhola Prasad

XLRI, Jamshedpur, hosted its 56th annual convocation at Tata Auditorium on Wednesday, officially conferring post-graduate diplomas on 257 smiling faces.

Students of business management as well as personnel management and industrial relations — shortened to BM and PM&IR by everyone — numbering 235, three of fellow programmes in management and 19 from the Dubai campus, got certificates as well as business sustainability tips from invited stalwarts. 

Infosys founder and chairman emeritus N.R. Narayana Murthy as well as Standard Chartered Bank group executive director and CEO (Asia) Jaspal Singh Bindra addressed the outgoing batch of cub managers.

Corporate legend Murthy also received the 46th presentation of Sir Jehangir Medal for Industrial and Social Peace. 

“On behalf of about 140,000 Infosians, I receive this honour with much gratitude. I will try to work harder and smarter. In the last three decades, I have learnt many lessons that includes openness to new ideas, meritocracy and excellence in execution. The barrier for success is generally within one’s self, generally between the mind and the mindset,” said Murthy to resounding applause. 

He added that the mind should triumph over mindset, giving birth to new and efficient ways of working.

“Even though your schooling is over, your education continues. From my experience, I have learnt that you have to keep jumping to identify and take the right opportunities in life,” Bindra said in a lively address peppered with many anecdotes from his life. 

“Just work as a leader, don’t work out of fear,” added Bindra.

Also present were Tata Steel managing director and XLRI board of governors chairman H.M. Nerurkar and XLRI director Father E. Abraham, other board and faculty members, students and their parents.

Students also came for their share of the spotlight.

The XLRI medal for best all-rounder went to Deepanjan Deb and best all rounder (woman) went to Neeti Kumar.

In the BM, the first five toppers were Siddhartha Saran, Aadith Raman, Aniruddh Vallabh Kamat, Shambhavi and Sunny Suresh Shahadadpuri.

Their PM&IR counterparts were Kakunuri Bhargavi, Meenakshi Narayanan, Manan Deepak Shah, Sameer Kumar Agrawal and Prateek Rungta.

Corporate stint helps start-up, says Peelworks CEO Sachin Chhabra (XLRI 96)

From The Economic Times

From a corporate executive to an entrepreneur, the journey of Sachin Chhabra, CEO and founder of Mumbai-based Peelworks, has not been an easy one, he tells ET. After 14 years at Hindustan Unilever in a variety of roles in HR and sales, he decided to set out on his own to manage the indirect sales force of companies across various sectors.

THE TRANSITION

It was difficult, given that till some time back I had the organisation to back me up for everything. HUL offered me all the expertise, support, wisdom and alignment to carry out any task. But again, I believe you can be a better entrepreneur if you've had a stint at corporate India, especially in the kind of business I am in. It is there that I realised that a majority of the consumer goods industry's revenue comes from its indirect sales force, and ironically it doesn't get the attention it deserves. I decided to fix this problem.

THE EARLY DAYS

Having put all my thoughts in place, I started operating out of home for the first few days, then moved to my wife's office, which had a spare room. I spent a lot of time hunting for a viable office space in and around Mumbai and visited at least 30 locations to try to strike a deal. Now, we have an office in Navi Mumbai.

THE IDEA

My decision to become an entrepreneur was not impulsive. It was there in my mind for long. I completed my graduation in Economics from St. Stephen's College and joined Xavier's Labour Relations Institute (XLRI). I joined HUL as a management trainee in 1996. It was in the early 2000s that I started scouting for an idea, the right one, which would sail me through a competitive market.

It was difficult for me to take the final plunge given that I had a steady job going for me but I didn't want to finish my working life without trying my hands at entrepreneurship. I decided to quit in 2010 and put into practice all that I learnt as an HR professional in HUL in my own venture. Getting the right talent for my venture was a problem initially but good talent gets excited by vision. Currently, we have about 40 employees, both on and off payrolls.

THE BUSINESS

We cater to companies that conduct their businesses using indirect sales force. We compute performance-based ratings and offer recommendations on promotions, skill and competency for outsourced staff on an online platform so that the staff that helps generate revenue is not neglected. Having been in HR for long, I realised the opportunity in this space specially in a country like ours where trade is fragmented.

Within 9 months of launching, we got around $1 million in angel funding from the Indian Angel Network in December last year. Going forward, we have big plans and want to add clients given that there is tremendous opportunity in the sector.