AFTER THE inaugural was over, several events started happening simultaneously at IIM-L on day one of Manfest.
There was this video conference with Sam Pitroda, father of IT revolution in India, talk by Arvind Singhal chairman and managing director, Technopak on ‘Indian Retail Sector, Myths and Realities’, release of Gravitas, an IIM-L Manfest publication in which top leaders, policy-makers, economists and industrialists have written articles which coincide with Manfest theme, the business quiz with famous commentator Gautam Bhimani, a special round of Biz Quiz with famous Billiards player, Geet Sethi, a debate, play and then to round it off, a rocking performance by IIM-L’s 3.4 Kilometre Band.
In his two-hour talk, Arvind Singhal identified certain myths about Indian retail sector, which have hindered the growth of modern retail in India and then forecasted that by 2011 traditional and modern retail would exist side by side. As soon as the talk was over one found an online simulation ‘treasury game’ held by SIGFI, the Special Interest Group in Finance of IIM-L drawing a lot of attention. One found out that Treasury is based on real time data of the Indian market.
The participants trade in shares, bonds, commodities, mutual funds and Forex based on the real time news flashes of the relevant time period.
The participants are required to analyse the news flashes and market trends to spot what they said was the ‘winning horse’. Over 55 teams from various top B schools of the country participated in the event.
Of these only 20 were finally screened to compete in the final round. During the videoconference, Sam Pitroda lamented the fact that in India the work culture was nothing great to write home about. Niharika Mittal, PGP I student of IIM who coordinated the debate held on topics like “should men get paternity leave and reservations be allowed in private sector as well or whether sting operations were an encroachment in one’s privacy” too was very well received.
{{/usCountry}}Of these only 20 were finally screened to compete in the final round. During the videoconference, Sam Pitroda lamented the fact that in India the work culture was nothing great to write home about. Niharika Mittal, PGP I student of IIM who coordinated the debate held on topics like “should men get paternity leave and reservations be allowed in private sector as well or whether sting operations were an encroachment in one’s privacy” too was very well received.
{{/usCountry}}On Saturday the momentum is going to pick up even further with more top names in various fields coming to IIM-L.