IMT Ghaziabad Grooms Managers Not Just For The Good Times, But The Uncertain Times As Well

In a world where business uncertainity is no longer a traditional concept seen once in a while, but a business reality, premier B-schools like IMT Ghaziabad are progressively grooming their students to be 'managers of uncertainity'.

In a world where business uncertainity is no longer a traditional concept seen once in a while, but a business reality, premier B-schools like IMT Ghaziabad are progressively grooming their students to be 'managers of uncertainity'. With the troubles of Eurozone, and yet another economic meltdown looming large, IMT Ghaziabad's 'RISCON 2012' could not be more appropriately timed. Organised by FinNiche (Financial Club of IMT Ghaziabad), this annual Risk Management conclave brought together experts from various sectors on one platform, with the sole purpose of alligning IMT Ghaziabad's budding managers to 'seeking opportunity in uncertainity'.

'RISCON 2012 - The Risk Management Conclave' was a two-day conclave held on 20th-21st of October this year in association with Kotak Mahindra Bank and Safexpress. The technical sessions on the 20th of October focussed on topics like 'Policies in Insurance Sector', with Mr. S.C.Jain (Former CEO - LIC Housing), 'Risk Management in Banks' by Mr G.S.Chilwal (Faculty in-charge, Staff Training, Indian Bank), and 'Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds' by Dr Narinder Bhasin (VP, Axis Bank). Day 1 of the conclave also had a powerful panel discussion on the highly contentious topic, 'Are auctions the best route for allocating natural resources". The panel discussion moderated by Mr R.J.Masilamani (Ex-CEO, Timex) had panelists of the stature of Mr Priyank Verma (Specialist, BMW Finance), Mr Jagannadham Thunuguntla (Equity Head, SMC Capital Ltd.), Mr Naveen Goel (VP, IndusInd Bank), Mr Sharad Jain (VP, GE Capital) and Dr Narinder Bhasin (VP, Axis Bank). The students of IMT Ghaziabad witnessed some excellent debates emerge both for and against the topic. Numerous infamous episodes like the 2G Spectrum allocation,and Coalgate scams were discussed threadbare.

"The best thing was that by the end of the panel discussion, I had complete clarity on the resource allocation process of the country," remarked a First Year PGDM student at IMT Ghaziabad. "What's more, I now have a fair idea on best practices in allocating national natural resources, globally."

The second day of the conclave, started with 'Konkurrence 2012', the Inter B-School Case Study Competition on Structured Products, the aim being to creatively engage management students to bring out pre-packaged investment strategy which is increasingly gaining popularity. Participants included students from IIM Indore, KJ Somaiya- Mumbai, and ofcourse the host B-school IMT Ghaziabad, amongst others. But what really was the toast of the conclave was a brilliantly compiled session on 'GAAR' by Mr Amit Agarwal (Tax Director, Ernst & Young Pvt. Ltd.).

"Knowing facts and interpreting it are two different things," observed Mrinalini Sinha, another First Year PGDM student. "Most of us know that the General Anti Avoidance Rule, or GAAR, was proposed in mid-March as part of the budget for fiscal 2013, aimed to target tax evaders, partly by stopping Indian companies and investors from routing investments through Mauritius and other tax havens for the sole purpose of avoiding taxes. We know that there was a lot of ambiguity in the language used, and contentious stuff like onus of proof lying with the taxpayer, which was agreed to be shifted to the revenue departments. But Mr. Agarwal was able to picture-paint the consequences of GAAR in its current form."