Bhavan's SPJIMR Alumni Newsletter 
                December 2021                  

Index

1. Institute updates
2. Topics of interests
    a) Best of Founding Fuel
    b) Faculty articles
    c) From the archives
3. Alumni in news
4. Programmes & Events
5. Online merchandise
6. Newsletter depository
7. Stay connected

Institute Updates

SPandan 2021 highlights

The annual alumni meet called SPandan brought together SPJIMR alumni spread across 45 cities and 10 countries, spanning batches that have graduated over the last four decades and represent nine programmes of the institute.

The meet on Dec 11 was also the event for the annual alumni awards.

Winners and nominees in six categories of awards were announced, with a new category added this year. This is the Alumni Service Award to recognise and celebrate alumni for excellence in volunteering for SPJIMR and the alumni community.

Prof. Ratika Gore, Head – ARO, spoke to the alumni abut new initiatives to drive engagement and to make the alumni network accessible to all (at 2.45 mins).

Dr. Varun Nagaraj, Dean talked about the historic strength in the values of SPJIMR and invited the alumni to think of more ways to create impact with their work. Dr. Nagaraj connected this to a new focus on “advancing wise innovation at scale”, explaining how and why this must be seen as aspirational by the extended SPJIMR community (at 51.40 mins)

There were other performances and messages:
- Campus tour by Tasveer Club at 6.42 mins
- Musical performance by B-Major Club at 22.37mins
- Dance performance by SPin Club at 34.35 mins
- Faculty messages at 1.04.09 mins

Alumni Award Winners 2021

1. Promising Recent Alumnus (at 12.10 mins)
a) Dhinesh Babu Potnuru (PGDM, Class of 2016) 
    Company - INDMONEY      
    Designation - Vice President, Product Management & Growth Marketing,               

b) Siddharth Jain  (PGDM, Class of 2016) 
    Company - Godrej Properties Ltd.         

    Designation - Deputy General Manager, Investments and Acquisitions 

2.Social Excellence (at 18.35 mins)
a) Swapnil Arun Gawande (PGPDM, Class of 2017)    
    Company - Deesha Group 
    Designation: Managing Trustee

3. Excellence in Entrepreneurship - Founder's of GoBOLT (at 26.40 mins)
a) Sumit Sharma (PGDM, Class of 2013)
b) Parag Aggarwal (PGDM, Class of 2013)
c) Naitik Bagla (PGDM, Class of 2011)

4. Best Company of the Year (at 29.21 mins)

a) Navneet Agarwal (PGP-FMB, Class of 2016)
    Company - Agarwal Packers and Movers Ltd.
b) P Abishek Abraham (PGP-FMB, Class of 2010)
    Company - Aachi Group of Companies.

5. Corporate Excellence (at 38.03 mins)
a) Deepak Shetty (PGEMP, Class of 2008)   
    Company - JCB India Ltd.
    Designation:- Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director     

6. Alumni Service Award (at 43.40 mins)
a) Mahesh Khatri (PGDM/MMS, Class of 1984)
b) Atish Mukhopadhyaya (PGDM, Class of 2004)

SPJIMR Alumni City Councils (2021-2022)

SPJIMR alumni city councils work closely with the central Alumni Relations Office to help drive alumni engagement in their cities, across the globe. They create and drive an annual calendar of initiatives and welcome new alumni into their respective city communities.

The councils play an important role in nurturing the alumni connect with the institute, sharing Institute news with the alumni, while keeping the Institute updated with alumni achievements and news.

If you are in any of the above cities and wish to get connected with the alumni there, you can reach out to the council members for any kind of help/guidance. To know more about the city councils. Read here

Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) 

India Chapter Meet 2021

SPJIMR hosted the 8th Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) India Chapter on 10th December 2021 with the theme: Partnering to Build Sustainable Futures: Towards Responsible Management Education.

PRME, a United Nations initiative, sees itself as a platform to raise the profile of sustainability in schools around the world. The meet was hosted by Dr. Chandrika Parmar, faculty at SPJIMR. Dr. Parmar is the current Chair of the PRME India chapter. The meeting saw 267 participants from 67 institutions represented. Attendees included Dr. Mette Morsing, Head of UN PRME,  Alec Wersun, Member UN PRME Governing Chapter Council, and 31 Deans from management schools, and various chapter chairs.

The event also hosted a Dean’s panel wherein Deans and Directors from the Goa Institute of Management, TAPMI, Great Lakes, IIM Ranchi, and SPJIMR agreed that collaboration between the institutes is important to build on the principles of PRME. The event also included various other panels.

PRME for collective action by Dr. Harivansh Chaturvedi at 18:16 mins
Dean's dialogue at 26:10 mins
Positive Impact Rating (PIR) at 01:48:12 mins
How to build a community with sustainability mindset within Indian Management schools? at 02:34:48 mins

Awards and Recognition

PGDM 2020-22 participant awarded
the O.P Jindal Scholarship

SPJIMR’s PGDM 2020-22 participant Rishab Mahajan has won the O.P Jindal Engineering and Management Scholarship 2021 (OPJEMS). Rishab has been awarded a medal, certificate, and prize money of Rs1,50,000 as part of the scholarship. He is one of 20 students from management institutions across the country to have won this scholarship. 

The O.P. Jindal Group-instituted OPJEMS scholarships to promote academic and leadership excellence and are awarded to meritorious students who emulate the vision and values of Shri O. P. Jindal and have the potential to become leaders in entrepreneurial excellence and innovation.

PGDM Participants win Global CAPSIM challenge

PGDM Class of 2023 participants Rishabh Chawla, Ravva Subramanyam and Shubhendu Ojas Tewary recently won the Global CAPSIM challenge, an international Business Simulation challenge where they competed with teams from across the globe to manage a virtual firm and test their business acumen.

Topics of Interest

Best of Founding Fuel

A selection of stories and columns on management
and related topics, curated by

THE BIG PICTURE

From Russia with Love

This month’s A Letter from London column talks about the surprise winner in the emerging multipolar world. The column, by a leading London-based strategic analyst who prefers the pen name Samuel Pepys, looks at what’s shifting at the intersection of business, markets, economy and society.

Russia is now more influential on global affairs than at any time since the 1970s, Pepys writes. And Vladimir Putin has emerged as the arbitrator and peacemaker. The world's biggest oil exporters under the umbrella of OPEC are consulting him on how much crude to produce; NATO member Turkey seeks his help to fight Kurdish separatists in Syria; India complains to him about Chinese border incursions; Germany pleads with him to solve Europe's energy shortage; Even the Taliban appeals for his support at the United Nations to get its government in Afghanistan recognized. What is Putin’s Great Game? And what does that mean for India? Read more here

INCLUSION & PARITY

Firms, allies & other minorities can learn from the struggle for gay rights

Aparajita (Opu) Bhattacharyya wrote this column in her Hustle Fuel series in honour of Pride Month in June. She reflects on how the lived experiences of openly gay leaders in the corporate sector can help us all prepare better for parity in the workplace. From her conversations, she draws lessons on how to drive true inclusion—and what can individuals, leaders, and firms do. Read more here

UNWIND
FF Recommends: Six wildlife documentaries

Conservationist Ramki Sreenivasan, who is a wildlife photographer and the co-founder of Conservation India, says, “If I ask movie lovers or book lovers among you to pick your all-time favourites, the list would be skewed towards the genre you are attracted to the most. That is exactly how it is with wildlife documentary films… each person has a different way of looking at it.” Ramki, an SPJIMR alumnus, class of 1995, points to nightlife in a jungle, what an octopus might teach us, Karnataka’s wildlife, a panther that stalks Kabini, the truth about fishing, and a heroic story of a valiant stance against poachers. His list includes where you can watch the trailer and the documentaries. Read more here

TECH IPOs

The IPO boom in internet stocks: How to separate the good from the bad

Does the slew of Indian internet companies looking to list on the stock market represent a new India rising? Or is this a mirage?

This conversation with Haresh Chawla, partner at True North, and Saurabh Mukherjea, founder of Marcellus Investment Managers, unpacks that question. The conversation was part of the Morningstar Investment Conference, 2021, held in November.

Here are two takeaways on where the Indian economy is headed:

• We are witnessing an epic consolidation of the Indian economy: As you network the economy (with roads, banking access, and more), crack-down on black money and bring low-cost capital to the table, the Indian economy will formalise and consolidate. Technology is the via medium.
• In every market—be it agri, health care, or interiors—it is not tech vs traditional, but a story of tech running traditional.

BIG PICTURE

Masterclass: The World in 2022

What is the global impact of the US-China tussle? Is Asia rising? What about global economic recovery and sustainability? Kanti Bajpai, Viral Acharya, Nicholas Parker, and Sundeep Waslekar—four fine minds from around the world—offer a multidisciplinary view on the key drivers of change

Here are five highlights from the 90-minute discussion:

• You now have a trilateral conflict between the US, China and Russia. Though Russia is often on China’s side.
  
• Yet the US is involved in strategic stability talks with both countries—to put a leash on deadly weapons.
  
• AI is often seen as an area of competition and conflict. Yet AI can be used for up to 10% of carbon emissions. China is reaching out to Canada, Singapore and other countries for cooperation on using AI and other new technologies.
• Is Asia indeed such an engine of growth? Note that the US and the EU’s combined GDP is $35 trillion. China + Japan are barely $20 trillion. The rest are relatively small beans.
  
• We are liquidating the asset (planet Earth) and calling it income. We are using 1.6x the Earth’s annual regenerative capacity.

         Disclaimer: Views expressed here may not reflect views of the institute.

Faculty Articles

A.  'CDS chopper crash: safety of men and machines a concern but irresponsible speculation unnecessary' by Prof. Jagdish Rattanani published in National Herald & other Press outlets, December 17, 2021.

B. 'Delivery is on: Can Pizza Hut grab a bigger slice?' by Dr. Ashita Aggarwal, published in Forbes India, December 8, 2021.

C. 'A path still to conquer for the NEP in Karnataka' by Dean Dr. Varun Nagaraj, published in The Soft Copy, November 30, 2021.

D. 'Center takes steps to increase investor returns; EPFO It will also invest in private bonds' by Prof. Ananth Narayan, published in TNG News, November 21, 2021.

E. 'How This B-school Is Redefining Mental Health & Its Importance' by Dr. Lata Dhir, published in InsideIIM November 19, 2021.

Disclaimer: Views in these articles may not reflect views of the institute.

To view more faculty published articles click here

From the Archives

SParc 2020 - A series of talks which brings alive tales of courage and heart.

Click here to view the entire event.

Alumni in News

Utham Gowda (PGDM, Class of 2012): His venture Captain Fresh has raised $40 million in a new round of funding co-led by Tiger Global and Prosus Ventures. Read more here

Amit Bedi (PGDM/MMS, Class of 1991), Harshitha S Kumar (PGDM, Class of 2010), Ashwini Ravindranath (PGDM, Class of 2012), Colin Nithin Nonis (PGEMP, Class of 2012) and Vijay Vittal (PGDM, Class of 2013) have been awarded the Great Managers Award 2021 presented by People Business, powered by The Economic Times. Read more here

Lokesh Kannaiyan (PGPM, Class of 2016) has co-authored a book "Product Management Simplified: Toolkit to Become a PM". Read more here

Swapnil Arun Gawande (PGPDM, Class of 2017) has been conferred with the Global Nagpur Award 2021. Read more here

Rolvin D'Mello (PGPDM, Class of 2018) has been awarded as a "COVID Warrior" for his contribution during Covid19 pandemic by AXA Business Services(Paris). Read more here

Pawan Kumar (PGEMP, Class of 2014) has joined the Board of Indraprastha Gas Ltd as Director (commercial). Read more here

Pradeep Rathi (PGPDM, Class of 2016) of 3i zone has been awarded and recognised for his Entrepreneurial Contribution in Building a Strong Business Ecosystem in the Start Up Sector by MUMBAI ENTREPRENEURS AWARD 2021. Read more here

Nidhi Mehta (PGDM, Class of 1999) has been featured in Dainik Bhaskar publication for her work and her entrepreneurial journey of 20 years. Read more here

Do share your success stories with the relevant hyperlinks.

Programmes & Events

Management Development Programmes (MDPs)

Online Merchandise

You can purchase SPJIMR merchandise online and have the products delivered  anywhere within India, through ‘Campus Mall’.

Click on the E-store - Campus Mall

Newsletter Depository

Read our previous newsletters here.

Stay Connected

Not there on official SPJIMR Alumni Portal & App yet?
 - Click here to register on the portal.

 - Click here to download the App for iOS and here for Android.

Changed your job, city or contact details?
 - Help us update your details here.

 Follow Alumni Relations on