DoMS IIT Madras launches MSME incubation initiative

The Department of Management Studies at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and the Cell for Technology Innovation, Development and Entrepreneurship Support (C-TIDES) have launched the IIT Madras- MSME incubation initiative. This initiative has been set up with the assistance of the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Government of India. Dr.Thillai Rajan, Assistant Professor, Department of Management Studies, is the Coordinator of the Incubation initiative.

The incubation initiative was recently launched by Prof. M. S. Ananth, Director, IIT Madras. Speaking on the occasion, Prof. M.S. Ananth, Director, IIT Madras, said that, “In India, the small and medium scale industries account for the maximum number of employment opportunities. Studies indicate that the small scale industries provide ten times the employment opportunities per unit of investment as compared to large scale industries. Thus, a new initiative like this would not only mean economic growth of the nation but also increase in employment opportunity rates as innovations happen predominantly in several small companies. Innovation cannot be a result of a science or a social push as in many cases it is a non-linear development. With huge investments, effective managerial skills, decentralization, and good implementation skills the innovators should be able to carve a favorable niche for themselves”

Speaking on the occasion, Prof. Job Kurian, Dean of IC&SR at IIT Madras said, “Since 1983, after the initial start of the masters degree program in Entrepreneurship, about 30% of the students have emerged as successful entrepreneurs, their ventures ranging from micro processors, process control to polymers. With IITM’s excellent IPR, any entrepreneur should be able to make it big in the society.”

Prof. L.S.Ganesh, Professor-in-Charge, C-TIDES, said, “IIT Madras has been a good breeding ground for entrepreneurship. We have a Masters’ program in entrepreneurship. Of the total 47 students who have graduated from this program, 26 have now emerged as successful entrepreneurs. Three of the successful entrepreneurs have won Govt. of India awards from President of India. ”

Describing the salient features of the incubation initiative, Assistant Professor Thillai Rajan said that, “The proposed incubation centre would be sector agnostic, broad based and inclusive. It will support ventures in any sector such as biotechnology, information technology, engineering, business management, etc.  The funding support for each incubatee would be up to Rs. 0.8 million. This can be used for variety of requirements such as purchase of equipment, technology, and support infrastructure. In addition, the incubation would leverage the extensive contacts and alumni network of IIT Madras to offer mentoring services to the incubatees and assist in the next round of funding. The incubation centre would also provide a platform to the ventures that provides visibility to a much larger audience.” 

Team DoMS Interface
Batch of 2011

NCDEX AVP Mr. VV Ganesan teaches a lesson on Commodity Futures and Derivatives

Mid November saw a flurry of educational lectures. The address by NCDEX's Mr. Ganesan was one that perfectly complemented the course material. He began introducing NCDEX as an electronic exchange dealing with over 900 commodities and having warehouses at all strategic locations. He established the fundamental definition of a market and the demand/supply forces that operate within it. He briefly touched upon the history and the FCREA act that enabled establishment of exchanges like NCDEX, NCX, NMC and the new ICE.

The students seemed to be charged up at the mention of "futures" or the "vayda bazaar". It was surprising for many to know that India had futures trade till the 1960s when it was banned after world war when hoarding was rampant. It made us proud to know that India was the first country to have e-trade for commodities.

He brought out the differences between the commodities market and the stock market with the main difference being the seasonality of goods and the quality/grade assurance one gets. NCDEX is useful in hedging as the payment of the future tranaction amount and quality is guaranteed by the exchange. Unlike the equity market, options are banned in commodity trade in India. He explained how commodity derivates are linked to these future transactions and how they are traded worldwide.

The current initiatives of NCDEX include price discovery for 'mandis' and price risk management for farmers so that they get proper prices for their produce. Mr. Ganesan continues to be passionate about spreading the word in a market where only 1% of transactions are routed through the exchange. He is an associate of the Indian Institute of Bankers and holds a Law degree from the Madras Law College.

The students were definitely left asking for more in the end of the session. The address ended with a enthusiastic question and answers session and Mr. Ganesan providing his personal contact in case of any more doubts.

Team DoMS Interface
Batch of 2011

CEO CONNECT presents Mr. Sanjeev Sinha, MD of Siemens Information Systems Limited

Department of Management Studies (DoMS), IIT-Madras hosted Mr. Sanjeev Sinha, MD of Siemens Information Systems Limited for the CEO CONNECT session “The Role of Corporate Strategies “on 26^th October 2009. In CEO CONNECT, eminent business leaders are invited to the campus by the department to share their experiences and lessons of excellence. The essence of the event is to provide the students an opportunity to get the perspective of the captains of the industry.

Mr. Sinha comes with a rich and an extensive experience of 28 years from the manufacturing industry to his current position, amassed over his entire professional career with steel producers, consulting firms, and plant engineering companies.  After having completed his education in Electrical Engineering from UVCE, Bangalore University, he began his career in 1980 at Tata Steel in India. He started his career with Siemens as a project manager for steel and aluminium plants and has worked in most European countries, U.S.A., South Africa, Southeast Asian countries and in Brazil.  Mr. Sinha has held various positions within Siemens playing significant roles in sales and marketing, project management, engineering, strategic planning, mergers & acquisitions and other corporate functions. Mr. Sinha largely worked in an international environment on varied and complex portfolios. Before returning to India after having stayed in Germany for 25 years, he was on the Executive Board of Metals Technologies (MT) at Siemens AG and also on the Boards of Siemens VAI GmbH & Co, in Linz (Austria), France, Spain and UK.

 Mr. Sinha started the presentation with an introduction about Siemens and its long journey o f 162 years. He pointed out the role of the “value system” of Siemens as an organisation in its sustainability against many odds. He emphasized that the value system is the guiding spirit of the Vision of any organisation which in turn decides the strategies to be followed in the long run. He elaborated on how Siemens aligned their strategies by focussing on the emerging “Megatrends” and their significance.

Siemens is well perceived as a benchmark of “Innovation” and Mr.Sinha provided some valuable insights into what Siemens does differently. He stressed the importance of a long term strategy rather than using tactics for short term benefits. He also defined this often “misunderstood” term innovation as small steps at a time towards excellence. He concluded with these very valuable words of wisdom – “Compare yourself with the best and benchmark yourself against their strengths”.

The audience engaged Mr.Sinha with their questions regarding Siemens as an organisation, Innovations, factors affecting Innovation and the intricacies of Strategic Management. The hour long interaction with Mr.Sinha was a rare opportunity for the students of DoMS, IIT-Madras to closely read a MD’s mind. The session ended with a hope of yet another association in the future.

Team DoMS Interface
Batch of 2011

THE AWE-SAMPARK 2009

Sampark-the first Business Conclave organized by the Department of Management Studies (DoMS), IIT-Madras lived up to the buzz it had created over the last week. The theme for the event was “Innovation” and it was sponsored by Business Line Club and Karur Vysya Bank. The highlight of the event was the eminent speakers who came from diverse backgrounds but bonded by the common thread-“Innovation”.

The event began with the Head of the Department, Dr. C.Rajendran delivering the opening address.Dr.M.S.Ananth, the Director of IIT-Madras, lauded the selection of the theme for the first conclave and stressed on the fact that the passion towards success supersedes any failure in the process.

The session began with the keynote address by Mr.Naveen Kulkarni, Director (Business Development) - Philips Research Asia. He shared his experiences as an Entrepreneur before joining Philips and had the audience glued as he articulated how “entrepreneurship” was a gene and not just a trait. He described how the anatomy of “entrepreneurship” works with knowledge in the brain, passion in the heart and fire in the belly. He then moved on to share what they do differently in Philips. He underlined the importance of creating a fine balance between exploration and exploitation for meaningful innovation. He also gave a deep insight on the broad approach towards innovation followed in Philips. He ended his address with his philosophy for future entrepreneurs-“Think big, Start small, and Scale fast”.

The second speaker for the day was Mr. Rajaram Venkataraman, Principal Innovation Architect - Infosys Technologies Ltd.He set the tempo for the day with his opening words- “Innovate or Die”. He started off with some startling statistics regarding the decline of some major companies which substantiated his earlier words. He then moved on to discuss more about “Process Innovation and the role of IT”. He drew similarities between 2 very successful companies, Toyota and Infosys, which conscientiously lived with the philosophy of “The best never rest”.

The post lunch saw the most interactive session with the highly energetic CEO of Consim Info (BharatMatrimony Group), Mr. Murugavel Janakiraman. He also happened to be the youngest speaker and struck an instant rapport with the audience. The audience listened to him as he shared the journey of “Bharatmatrimony” from an idea and how it has become the second name for “online matrimonial services”. He was quick to point out that he too found his soul mate through the site. He emphasized on the importance of “incremental innovation” for sustainable success in this competitive and demanding business scenario. He ended his speech with the words which reverberated in the hall along with the applause he received from the overwhelmed audience-“Do not wait for any breakthrough idea for innovation. Your passion can create and drive innovation”.

The stage was set for Dr.Ravinder David Koilpillai who is a Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Madras to take the session forward. He spoke about “Technology Evolution and Innovation-A Telecom Perspective”. He engaged the audience with some insights into the history and development in the field of Wireless Technology. He elaborated on the basic flowchart of Innovation process and also spoke about the importance of patents. He ended the address on a positive note expressing his optimism and excitement about the immense potential in the field of Telecom.

As the session moved towards the last lap with everyone engrossed in reflecting on the various speeches on innovation, Mr. N.K Subramaniyam, Executive Director Saksoft limited took the stage. He introduced the topic “Business Intelligence and Innovation” and elaborated on the reasons for choosing the topic. He started with the concepts of Data warehouse and Data Mart and their commercial viability in current business scenario. These techniques have found immense applicability in the banking, manufacturing and marketing sector for Data mining, for making business decisions and for helping in coming up with newer business strategies. Mr.Subramaniyam ended his lecture stressing on the fact that business intelligence would be the top priority requirement in the near future.

The day long intellectually stimulating interaction with all the speakers lived up to its promise of delivering the 3 Es-engage, exchange and empower through this event-SAMPARK. The speakers spent time answering queries of the students even after their respective sessions. The event concluded with a hope that the coming years would take this initiative to a new level altogether. 


Team DoMS Interface,
Batch of 2011

DoMS IITM organizes Sampark '09: A business summit

Sampark is a business summit conceptualized by the Department of Management Studies, IIT Madras. The summit would deal with a wide range of issues that matter to the success of businesses and would act as a unique forum to meet thought leaders, present path-breaking ideas, establish new networks, and showcase managerial talent.

The core objectives of Sampark are:

• To invite top managers from companies operating in diverse domains to engage with the students .
• To provide a common platform for exchange of ideas on contemporary management issues.
• To empower students to become productive citizens

Date and Venue:

24th October 2009 at DoMS, IIT Madras 0930 onwards.

Sampark Blog: http://samparkdomsiitm.blogspot.com

Team DoMS Interface
Batch of 2011