Amar Babu (89BMD), the new Managing Director of Lenova India

Nov 27th: Lenovo today announced the appointment of R K Amar Babu as Managing Director, Lenovo India. Amar will be responsible for the overall business and growth for Lenovo in India.

Amar Babu has more than 17 years of multi-functional experience of which over 10 years have been in leadership roles. He was most recently the Chief Service Delivery Officer of Idea Cellular Ltd., and a member of Idea Cellular’s Executive Committee.

Prior to this, Amar served as Managing Director (South Asia), Sales & Marketing Group, Intel Technology (I) Pvt. Ltd., and was in charge of Intel’s business in South Asia (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh), as well as all sales and marketing operations. As an integral part of the regional management team, Amar’s mandate included driving business growth and strengthening Intel’s brand and presence.

Before that, Amar was Vice President (Operations) for HCL Information Systems, where he was involved in all key strategic decisions and responsible for consumer, channel and retail business. Amar’s achievements at HCL include leading the marketing and operations resulting in significant business growth, and re-establishing HCL’s Toshiba business...

...Amar has also worked at Citibank NA and HCL Hewlett Packard Ltd. Amar is a Management Post Graduate from XLRI, Jamshedpur and has an Engineering degree in Electrical & Electronics from PSG Tech, Coimbatore.

XLRI Homecoming 07: The Idli Boy Steals the Show

Jamshedpur Nov 18th (The Telegraph): A packed Tata auditorium listened with rapt attention to Sarathababu Elumalai, who was here to share his rags-to-riches story during the XLRI annual Homecoming ceremony.

The other speakers on the topic "Entrepreneurs - Carpetbaggers or Nation-Builders" included, Mr S Sivakumar (Chief Executive, ITC Agri-Business), Mr Manish Sabharwal (CEO-Founder, Teamlease), Mr Gautam Mallick (CEO-Founder, LSI Financial Services).

The youth from Chennai, an IIM graduate who refused a brilliant job to start a catering service, said: “I was born in a family of five children in Chennai and my mother worked with the government’s mid-day meal schemes. The money was not sufficient to sustain the large family, so she set up a small idli shop near our home in one of the slum areas of Chennai.”

The founder of FoodKing Catering Services, which today serves home-made hygienic food to offices in Ahmedabad and Goa, recalled how in Class IX his teachers had to persuade him hard not to quit studies.

From selling idlis on the pavements of Chennai to binding books for students, Elumalai had done it all till he reached BITS, Pilani. “I had never heard of the institution as we never got such an exposure. Someone told me that if I study there I will get a job,” he said.

After the engineering degree and a three years’ stint in the corporate world, Elumalai moved to IIM (A).

“The kind of salary and position an IIM graduate is offered is very difficult to turn down. But if I had not taken such a decision, I would have never been able to start my business,” he said.

The business, which started with a mere Rs 5,000 and a small kiosk at Ahmedabad, has today spread to over six branches employing over 175 people whose only job is to supply nutritious home-made food to corporates.

“It was an idea that I chanced upon during my internship at Pilani when I learnt that 30 per cent of the country’s population go to bed without food,” he said.

“More than working for somebody I wanted to give jobs to people like me, who did not have other means of livelihood.”

Soon his company would venture into other cities and provide employment to at least 15,000 people.

And while Sarathababu surprised everybody with his stories, XLRI today too put its first step in the same direction. After almost three years of negotiations, the much talked about Social Entrepreneurship Trust (SET) was formed today.

Aimed at funding and supporting innovative social entrepreneurship ideas, the trust which is the first of its kind would also work for different tribal upliftment projects in Jharkhand and would provide scholarships to tribal youths for further studies....

XLRI alumni set for homecoming with ethical recharge

Jamshedpur, Nov 14 (Financial Express): In a world where alomost everyone wants to earn more profit by any means, the alumni of XLRI, spread all over the country and abroad, are set to gather here for the fourth 'homecoming' this Saturday. Amid fun and nostalgia, they will recharge themselves with ethics, values and care for the society at large--things they learned here during their student days.

"It's a homecoming where they touch trees and visit fond places of their student days…" said Bushen Raina, president of the National Alumni Association of XLRI.

Like the previous three occasions, this year too around 250 former students representing six decades of the B-School will be here. They will also be representing various famous groups and companies spread across the world.

"Focus on ethics, values and the society at large that the institute inculcated in us are very important tenets to become successful as managers," said Raina, himself an XLRI student of the 1973 batch.

During the first 'homecoming' in 2004, a debate on 'Ethics in business is an oxymoron!' was organised. Wipro CEO Azim Premji and ex-CEO of Indal/Haldia Petrochemicals Tapan Mitra were among the panelists. This year, the debate will be on 'Entrepreneurs: Carpetbaggers or Nation-Builders', and the four-member panel will include E Sarathbabu (founder of Food King Catering Services Pvt Ltd), Manish Sabharwal (founder & CEO of TeamLease Services), S Sivakumar (chief executive, ITC agribusiness/e-choupal) and Anjan Dutt (a social and cultural entrepreneur-cum-director/producer). Business World deputy editor Rajeev Dubey will act as the moderator.

According to Prof Madhukar Shukla, OB & strategic management teacher at the B-School, even today every batch is sent to interiors of Jharkhand/Orissa for a month to gather experience on rural economy and to help people residing there. These trips are arranged in association with NGOs.

An XLRI team had recently designed a model course for computer-illiterate young people of Jamshedpur to give them an idea of how to operate a computer.

"Priests used to play a major role in our education here by way of setting examples by offering their services to society," recalled Radhakrishnan Nair (a 1984 batch student), chief human resource officer of Tata Steel.

The National Alumni Association and its Jamshedpur Chapter have set up the XLRI Social Entrepreneurship Trust, a registered one, enabling the alumni to contribute for good causes.

The association is set to institute the Distinguished Alumni Award from next year, criterion for which will be laid down and announced during the November 17-18 meet.

4th XL Alumni Homecoming Invitation

XLRI Across Ages... Documentary

To all XL Alumni:

Invitation from K Pandiarajan (84BMD)

The following is the invitation from K Pandiarajan (84BMD),

...the Founder MD of Ma Foi Management Consulting, Director of Madras Stock Exchange, recepient of Eisenhower Fellowship for Leadership...

...among his many other achievements....

-------------------------------

Dear XLers

I have pleasure in enclosing a cordial invitation to attend the first Anniversary of our Ma Foi Foundation (MFF) in Chennai on the 26th Sept 2007.

We presently have adopted 1130 poor children from the Sivakasi and Chennai areas from 46 schools – they get scholarship, mentorship and career education from 5th standard to college completion ( Rs 1200 pa upto 10th std, Rs 1500 pa during higher secondary and Rs 5000 pa during college). All our Corporate Social Responsibility efforts have been integrated under MFF since last Sept.

We run a School for the underprivileged in Chennai with about 650 children.

We have taken micro-finance to about 8000 women through Self-Help Group and fostered about 450 tiny enterprises.

We also run a network of about 172 NGO’s under the CIOSA (Confederation of Indian Organisations for Service and Advocacy) banner.

We have also recognized 10 Young Achievers (unmined gems) every year during this function.

You can get more details about this in http://www.themafoifoundation.org/

The function will start at 6.30 pm and will see a creative expression by some of our Disha Scholars, recognition of achievements, performance by young artists led by Abhaswaram Ramji/Venky (Venky Monkey fame) and networking. I look forward to your support and wishes,

Regards,

Pondy
K Pandiarajan (84BMD)

Leena (Menon) Nair 92PMIR: among "25 Most Powerful Women in Indian Business"

HR High Priestess
FMCG giant Hindustan Unilever's first, and youngest, woman Executive Director is an HR ace.

Leena Nair
37/ Executive Director (HR), Hindustan Unilever
Education: BE Electronics and MBA from XLRI
Work Experience: 15 years
Career High: First woman ED at HUL
Hobbies: Bollywood movies, reading, outdoor sports and travelling
Success Mantra: Look for a win-win in every situation



It's a hat trick, in some sense. Leena Nair isn't just the first woman to make it to Hindustan Unilever's Management Committee (mc), but also the youngest Executive Director (ED) and that too one in charge of not a profit centre, but human resources. As the HR boss, Nair heads a team of 250 people who look into the well-being of about 15,000 employees across 70 different locations in the country, including 45 factories and four regional offices.

The 37-year-old Nair joined Hindustan Lever (as it was known until recently) straight out of XLRI, Jamshedpur, 15 years ago, and has risen quickly through the ranks. From being a factory personnel manager to management development planning manager to hr manager for the detergents business, Nair has been there, done that....

Jaspal Bindra (84BMD) as New StanChart Asia Head

Press Release (Sept 7, 2007): Standard Chartered Bank is pleased to announce today that Jaspal Bindra, currently Regional Chief Executive Officer for South and South East Asia, will take responsibility for growth and governance across the Asia region, excluding South Korea. He will oversee several of Standard Chartered’s key markets like China, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, among others.

Mr. Bindra succeeds former Group Executive Director Kai Nargolwala’s governance role who has resigned to pursue other career interests.

Mr. Bindra was in August appointed Director of Standard Chartered Bank, the main operating subsidiary of the Group, and is a key member of Standard Chartered Group’s senior management team. He is on the Boards of Standard Chartered Bank (Thai) PCL, Prime Financial Holdings Limited, Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Berhad and SCOPE International (M) Sdn Bhd. He is the Chairman of Standard Chartered Nepal Limited, Standard Chartered Bank (Mauritius) Limited and Scope International Private Limited, India.

.....Jaspal joined Standard Chartered Bank in 1998 as Chief Executive India and successfully led the acquisition of ANZ Grindlays. Prior to his current role Jaspal was Global Head of Client Relationships, Wholesale Banking where he was responsible for all client relationships and commercial banking products across all the 56 countries that the Bank operates in.

An Interview with Percy Siganporia (74BMD), MD Tata Tea

Signalling its intent to evolve as a complete ‘beverage solutions company’, the once conservative Tata Tea has been in the news lately for a couple of big-ticket acquisitions and aggressive business moves.

....In the domestic branded tea business, Tata Tea overtook market leader Hindustan Unilever in volumes for the first time in several years.

Read this exclusive interview with Percy Siganporia (74BMD), Tata Tea’s MD about how the company has changed its DNA to adopt a challenger mindset for growth.

Click to Read

Sutapa Banerjee (89 PMIR) - a First for India Inc.

Economic Times (Sept 2): In a first for India Inc., Abn Amro Bank’s Sutapa Banerjee (89PMIR) has been nominated among 20 most successful, rising wealth managers in the world by leading international business magazine, The Institutional Investor. For Banerjee, who heads the private banking department in Abn Amro Bank, the feat is even more noteworthy as there are only two nominations from Asia.

Banerjee.... will fly to New York on September 10 to take part in the award ceremony....

Banerjee, who has experience of 18 years in the banking business, also holds to her distinction setting up consumer banking division for ABN Amro in India from scratch in 1996. Prior to joining ABN Amro, she was working with ANZ Grindlays Bank plc for seven years from 1989 to 1996.

NV Krishna (93BMD) as VP & Chief Sales & Mktg Officer of EXL Holdings Inc.

Exl Service Holdings, Inc. has recruited Krishna Nacha (NV Krishna, 93BMD) as Vice President and Chief Sales and Marketing Officer effective 30 August 2007. Based out of EXL's New York office, Krishna will report to Vikram Talwar, vice chairman and CEO....

Prior to joining EXL, Krishna was working with iGate Global Solutions since 2004 and was a member of the executive leadership team. Prior to that, Krishna worked with Infosys for 4+ years in roles including group sales manager - insurance and healthcare and head, sales for Canada.

Rohit Kapoor, president and chief operating officer, ExlService, said, "Krishna will be a key asset for EXL as we execute on our strategic vision of becoming a trusted partner for our clients in transforming and outsourcing business processes. We are impressed with Krishna's strategic and systematic approach to client engagement and business development."

Sharat Dhall (93BMD) joins Expedia as India Head

Sharath Dhall (93BMD) has been appointed online travel portal Expedia.com as its head of India operations.

...Prior to joining Times Internet Ltd (TIL) as its Director (e-Commerce) about a year-and-a-half ago, Dhall was working for HLL (now, HUL) as business head of its rural venture, Project Shakti. He has 14 years of experience and has also worked with Asian Paints.

Expedia created buzz in October 2006 when it said it was looking for a person to head its imminent operations in India. The company now has an office in Gurgaon, but has not announced any other plans. Expedia offers the ‘Expedia Best Price Guarantee’ which guarantees customers the best rates for all types of travel -- it offers vacation packages, flights, hotels, car rentals, cruises and in-destination activities. Since Expedia is very strong globally on hotel bookings, the company is expected to follow the same route when it officially launches in India.

Madhukar Kamath (76BMD) is AAAI President

The Hindu (July 31): Mr Madhukar Kamath (76BMD), Managing Director & CEO of the Mudra Group, has been unanimously elected as the new President of Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) for the year 2007-2008.

The AAAI is the apex body of advertising agencies in the country and comprises 84 members who account for approximately 80 per cent of all the advertising business in the country.

Commenting on his appointment as the President of AAAI, Mr Kamath said, “The Indian advertising industry is undergoing tremendous change. I believe marketing communications play a valuable role in the economy. The task at hand is to improve the image of the industry and to promote the interests of the advertising agencies so that they continue to make an essential and ever-increasing contribution to the nation.”

XLer as a Poet

Sabyasachi Nag (92PMIR) published his first book of poems early this year with Writers' Workshop.

Sabyasachi Nag, Bloodlines, A Writer’s Workshop Redbird Book, ISBN 81-8157-571-7 hardback (100 Rupees), 50 pages, 2006, Available from Lake Gardens Press, 162/92 Lake Gardens, Kolkata 700 045, India.

The review reads:

Calcutta, India-born Sabyasachi Nag, now a resident of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, represents one of the new, refreshing voices writing poetry today. A poet sensitive to what is happening in the world around him, Sachi Nag writes vividly and strongly on themes that draw from his Indian background, on nature topics, and on current events. His writing is never dull but is full of fresh surprises that reward the reader.

The poet is unflinching in tackling difficult and brutal topics....
Read on...

PL Barua (70PMIR) the New IOC (Assam Oil Div) Chief

DIBRUGARH, April 30 – PL Barua today assumed charge as the executive director of the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (Assam Oil Division), which has its divisional headquarters at Digboi. Prior to taking over as executive director of Assam Oil Division, Barua was executive director (Human Resources) at Refineries Headquarters of Indian Oil Corporation Limited for the last one year. Earlier, he was on deputation from IOC to head the human resource function of Numaligarh Refinery Ltd as advisor (HR) from 1999 to 2006, where he established the organisational set-up of the newly formed company NRL and implemented many innovative HR policies and practices.

An alumnus of GUwahati’s Don Bosco High School and Shillong’s St. Edmund's College, Barua completed his post-graduation in Industrial Relations and Personnel Management from XLRI of Jamshedpur. He joined the erstwhile Assam Oil Company Limited as assistant labour welfare officer in August 1970....

Leena Nair (92PMIR) to head HR at Hind Lever

MUMBAI (Economic Times, March 5, 2007):
Leena Nair, general manager – HR (HPC, foods and leadership supply), Hindustan Unilever (HUL), has been promoted as vice-president, HR.

Ms Nair will be the first woman manager in HUL’s history to rise to vice-president level. Ms Nair has been with HUL ever since she joined the company as a management trainee from XLRI Jamshedpur in 1992.

Expressing delight over her appointment, Ms Nair said, “I feel excited about such a great opportunity. HR is an important function in HUL, and we have been thought leaders in the industry in terms of policies and planning to attract the best talent. I hope to take this forward and continue the good work.”

XL Alumni Achievement '06-'07: A Round-Up

Here is a compilation of the achievements by XL alumni during last one year (06-07).

Though the list is neither complete nor comprehensive, at least it is indicative of the diverse fields in which XLRI Alumni have been achieving excellence:

Aquil Busrai (72PMIR), Executive Director (HR), IBM India, was conferred the Life-Time Achievement Award for his work in the field of HR by the National HRD Network.

Sujit Baksi (72PMIR) took over as the President, Tech Mahindra.

Vikram Rao (75BMD), head of ABG’s Garment Business, joined the Board of Aditya Birla Group.

Prof Gerald Tellis (BMD 1977), the Director of the Center for Global Innovation, Neely Chair of American Enterprise and Professor of Marketing at the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California (LA), was awarded 2006 Mahajan Award for Lifetime Contributions to Marketing Strategy Research by 2006 American Marketing Association Educators' conference in Chicago.

Harsh Kumar (78BMD) was appointed the Managing Director of Mahindra Intertade.

Prakash Puram (78BMD), CEO, ixMatch, was inducted as a Member into US President’s Export Council (PEC), making him the first India-born MBA to take up an advisory role to the White House

Bijou Kurian (81BMD) joined Reliance Retail Venture’ Lifestyle Business as the CEO.

R Ramakrishnan (82BMD), President and COO of Bajaj Electricals was invited to address the 1000+ gathering of professionals at the Campus Symposium of Iselorn, Germany. The other speakers included Bill Clinton, Lord Chris Patton (frm Governer of Hong Kong), the German Finance Minister, and CEOs of Credit Suisse, Audi, Mushreq Bank, etc.

George Zacharias (82BMD) was appointed the Managing Director, Yahoo! India.

Suri Venkat (83PMIR) took over as the Chief Operating Officer of Sify.

Vinod Sawhney (83BMD) was appointed as the CEO of Bharti Retail (P) Ltd.

Rajan Krishnan (85BMD) took over as the Business Head of the Principal Mutual Fund, the Asset Management Group of PNB.

Vineet Nayar (85BMD), President, HCL Techologies Ltd., was featured in the Fortune magazine for creating, as the title of the article says, “The Most Modern Management – in India”.

Surajit Shome (86BMD) was appointed the Managing Director and Head of Investment Banking of Lehman Brothers India.

Gargi Banerji (86PMIR), Founder of Pragya, was given Sadguru Gnanananda National Award (2007) for her work on environmental conservation. She was felicitated by the Governer of Tamil Nadu, Mr Surjit Singh Barnala.

Vijay Nair (87PMIR) published his second book, and first novel, “Master of Life Skills”. The book was launched by Harper Collins India, and received very favourable reviews.

Vikas Gupta (88BMD) joined the Anand Bazar Patrika Ltd as the President, BusinessWorld magazine, and the Chief Marketing Officer.

Milind Chalisgaonkar (89BMD) took over as the CEO of the Bharti AXA General Insurance India.

Ashish Rajpal (92BMD), the co-founder & Managing Director of iDiscoveri, was featured among the “50 Leaders shaping the Indian Education in India” in Education World.

Rajiv Kaul (92BMD), the former Managing Director of Microsoft India, joined as Partner, Actis in London.

Anu Kumar (94PMIR), with Economic and Political Weekly, published her 2nd book “Letters for Paul” (Mapin Books). The book was released by Shyam Benegal at Crossword, Mumbai.

Mohit Nayyar (95PMIR), Director – HR, P&G India was awarded the “Young Achiever” award by the National HRD Network.

Brajesh Bajpai (96BMD) moved from Pepsi to take over as theCountry Manager, Marico - Egypt.

Dinu Poonacha (96BMD) was appointed the President – Corporate Stategy and Planning for the Rs. 2,300cr Yash Birla Group.

Anuradha Vijayakrishnan (98BMD), with Citibank, was selected by the renowned literary agent, David Godwin for her forthcoming novel, making her the 60th such author worldwide, and the 6th Indian (including Arundhati Roy).

S Ministhy (98PMIR), an IAS officer and rank-holder of her batch, published her first book of short stories “Unequal Equations.”

Ajay MK (99PMIR), Head - HR, Colgate Palmolive (Malaysia & Singapore), and the G-Sec of the batch, published his first book of short stories: “Drizzle of Yesteryears & Other Stories” (Frog Books, India).

Nandita de Cunha (01BMD), a consultant with KPMG, published her first book, “The Magic of Maya” (Rupa Publications). The book was released by Anil Dharkar at Crossword bookstore, Mumbai.

Kumar Anand (05BMD) and Lara Lobo (06PMIR), both in Standard Chartered Bank (India), won the Microsoft Corporate Challenge 2006 – an event involving cross country running & cycling, rowing, puzzle cracking, deciphering, map navigation, stock market simulation, etc, - and competing against 35 participating corporates included the likes of Barclays Bank, ICICI Securities, ICICI Bank, J P Morgan Stanley and a host of others like Unilever, Infosys and our formidable Indian Navy.

... the list, as mentioned ealier, is incomplete....

Lehman Brothers appoints Surojit Shome (86BMD) as New MD

Lehman Brothers, the global investment bank, today announced the appointment of Surojit Shome (86BMD) as managing director and head of Investment Banking, India, based in Mumbai.

Mr. Shome brings to the Firm a depth of experience in the Indian market covering the corporate banking, capital markets and investment banking product range. He is responsible for building the Firm’s investment banking franchise in that market and reports to Kunho Cho, head of Investment Banking, Asia Pacific, at Lehman Brothers, and Tarun Jotwani, chairman and chief executive officer, India, at Lehman Brothers.

Mr. Shome joins Lehman Brothers from Citigroup, where he was most recently a managing director and head of Corporate Banking for the Indian sub-continent overseeing corporate and financial institutions coverage teams for India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. He has a bachelors degree in Economics & Statistics from Presidency College, Kolkata and a postgraduate degree in business management from XLRI, Jamshedpur.