XL Celeb Watch

Ramchandra Rao (80PMIR) has joined the Hinduja group as Senior Vice President (HR). He was earlier the Vice President (HR), Wockhardt

Shantonu Aditya (84BMD) is joining Sahara One as its CEO. Shantonu was earlier the President, Alliance One (a JV between Discovery and SET) and the Head of Distribution of Sony Entertainment Television, India.

Gautam Sen (84BMD) will be the Editor of Top Gear, an auto magazine from the BBC stable, which is being launched in india by the Times of India group. Gautam ws earlier the Editor of Delhi-based "Auto Motor & Sport".

Dr Om Sitoula (84BMD) was decorated with Mahendra Vidya Bhusan Class 1 by His Majesty King Gyanendra of Nepal. Mahendra Vidya Bhusan Class 1 is the highest medal of Nepal for academic achievement

Abhijit Bhaduri's (84PMIR) forthcoming novel Mediocre But Arrogant ("a story of love and life in the fictitious Management Institute of Jamshedpur (MIJ)") was featured in the article "A Novel Pastime" in Business World (June 13th)

Ajay Bagga (90BMD) who was CEO, Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund has taken over as the new CEO of Sabre Capital. Sabre India is an AMC, promoted jointly by Sabre Capital (of former Stanchart CEO, Rana Talwar) and Tamasek Holdings.

Shantonu Aditya to join Sahara One as CEO

MUMBAI (June 10, 2005): SET Discovery president Shantonu Aditya has quit and is joining Sahara One as Chief Executive Officer. His responsiblity will extend to all Sahara's media and entertainment businesses (excluding news).


Shantonu Aditya (84BMD)

Aditya is likely to join Sahara One in the first week of July, a source said. SET India and Percept officials were not available for comment.

Sahara's media and entertainment businesses operate under Sahara One. Last year, Sahara entered into a joint venture management company with Percept. Aditya will replace Peter Isaac who was heading this company.

Sahara has ambitious movie plans with 40 projects on the floor. Aditya will drive this as well as the domestic and international distribution of movies. Sahara is also planning launch of a movie channel later this year.

...Aditya joined SET India in 2001 to lead Sony's distribution business. He went on to head the distribution joint venture company between SET India and Discovery Communications India set up in 2002.

SET Discovery expanded its bouquet and currently distributes not only the Sony and Discovery group of channels but also MTV, Nick, Animax, Ten Sports, Sab TV, NDTV 24x7, NDTV India and NDTV Profit.

A management graduate from XLRI Jamshedpur, Aditya had worked with UB group ( McDowell &Co ) in sales and marketing in Delhi and luggage major Blow Plast in various capacities.

Schedule of Alumni Meets (May 27-29, 2005)

The following is the schedule of the Alumni Meets this coming week-end. Most meets will start around 7:00pm.

If you are an XLRI alumnus, please confirm your participation (with/without spouse/family) with the contacts. Please also check the cover charges from them:

New Delhi (May 27th), Friday
India Habitat Centre
Contacts:
Mohit Raina - mohitspace [at] yahoo.co.in (9810943279)
Rajiv Chandran - rajiv.chandran [at] gmail.com (9334624641)
Nikhil Moorthy - nikhilm.06 [at] astra.xlri.ac.in

Bangalore (May 28th), Saturday
Royal Orchid Park Plaza
Contacts:
Desmond Nikhil D'Souza - desmondnikhil [at] yahoo.com (9880544623)
Dhananjay Misra - dhananjaym.06 [at] astra.xlri.ac.in

Kolkata (May 28th), Saturday
The Park, Park Street
Contacts:
Sujot Malhotra - sujotmalhotra [at] yahoo.com (09331213222)
Sivaram Yadavalli - yds_ram [at] rediffmail.com (9830846570)

Mumbai (May 28th), Saturday
The Hyatt Regency, Andheri East
Contacts:
Abhishek Tripathi - tripsabhishek [at] yahoo.co.in (9892123970)
Nitya Wakhlu - nitya_wakhlu [at] yahoo.co.uk

Hyderabad (May 29th), Sunday
The Taj Banjara
Contacts:
Ankush Kedia - ankush_kedia [at] yahoo.com (9848738202)
Piyush Sarode - piyushs.06 [at] astra.xlri.ac.in (9848467574)

From MD (India) to Head (Asia-Pacific)

CVL Srinivas, who is the managing director of Maxus India, will now also look after the agency's operations across the Asia-Pacific.


CVL Srinivas (93BMD - Maxi Secy, too!!)

Speaking to agencyfaqs! from Bangkok, where he is at the moment on a trip, Srinivas delineates his role. “My responsibilities would entail building the Maxus brand across the region. I will be working with the heads of the agency at various offices in APAC to further this objective.”

With blue chip clients such as Titan, Britannia, Hero Honda, Hutch, Walt Disney, Pidilite, Tata Motors (Maxus handles the SUV business) etc on its rolls, Maxus is a strong entity in India.

...“There are markets, however, where operations are not as large as in India, and I would concentrate my attention in these areas. Overall, growing the business in the region through new and existing clients is part of my responsibility,” says Srinivas, who will be based in India.

A mechanical engineer from BITS, Pilani with a management degree from XLRI, Srinivas took charge of Maxus India early 2004 after Bashab Sarkar, the erstwhile head of the agency, put in his papers the year before.

Prior to heading Maxus, Srinivas was the COO, north & south at Madison Media – an agency he joined in mid-1998.

He was part of the start-up team that set up Fulcrum in 1995, and spent a year before that at Lowe (then Lintas) working largely on brand Brooke Bond.

Alumni-in-Making: "Cerebrating" the Success

Well... these are not alumni - at least not so far. So one can say that this posting is about "alumni-in-making":0).

The news came this morning through a mail from National University of Singapore:


Sivaram Vadavalli & Rakesh Vyas

Amit Chitnis & Subramanian Raman
The Team that made it to the Finals
"It gives us immense pleasure to inform that a team from XLRI School of Management has made it to the Grand Finals of Cerebration: The Global Business Challenge organized by the National University of Singapore Business School.

Facing tough competition, starting with 323 team registrations, to 115 teams in Round One and 20 teams in Round Two, this team came out winning and has made it to the top 8 teams so far. The Grand Finals will be held in Singapore and the teams are being flown here on a fully sponsored trip for this event."

The Final run-up (out of 61 b-schools from 18 countries) is:

Instituto de Empresa (Spain)

Chicago Graduate School of Business (USA)

Richard Ivey School of Business (Canada)

Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (India)

XLRI School of Management (India)

Rotman School of Management (Canada)

NUS Business School (Singapore)

Graduate School of International Management, IUJ (Japan)

Go, man, go!!!

A New Director at Cadbury India

V Chandramouli (91BMD) is joining Cadbury as Director (Strategy, Innovation, and International Business). Economic Times Reports:

"The marketing and sales head of consumer durables company Mirc Electronics which operates under the brand Onida and Igo, V Chandramouli... is moving out to join confectionery major Cadbury as a director.

Chandramouli V (91BMD) on left
...Mr Chandramouli has been with Mirc Electronics for the past four years as vice president of marketing, sales and service... When contacted Mr Chandramouli confirmed the developments, “I have put in my papers and would move on by the end of next month. I will be positioned as director (strategy, innovations and international business). FMCG as a business is looking exciting again and so I have decided to move on."

In his previous jobs he has worked in the area of consumer marketing being associated with Asian Paints and the consumer finance arm of General Electric GE Countrywide...."

The New MD of The Carlyle Group (India)

Well, this not exactly a "news", since it happened a few months back - but I discovered it only today...

Global private equity firm The Carlyle Group today announced that Shankar Narayanan has joined as Managing Director in India to lead venture and growth capital investments there.


M Shankar Narayanan (89BMD)
Said Wayne Tsou, Carlyle Managing Director and Head of the Carlyle Asia Venture Group, "I am pleased to welcome Shankar to Carlyle. He has a very impressive track record in India having invested in a wide range of businesses spanning a variety of sectors in both traditional private equity and venture capital. Shankar’s rich experience in building and running private equity businesses will be a major asset to our expanding investment activities in India.... Shankar’s appointment in India is a reflection of Carlyle’s strong commitment to enlarging our Indian private equity business and funding the growth and vibrancy of the private sector in India."

....
Mr. Narayanan, 42, has more than ten years of private equity experience in India. He started his career with Citibank, was Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Hathway Investments in India, and was then based in Hong Kong covering India for Deutsche Bank Capital Partners. He has served on the Board of Directors of Johnson Tiles, Exide Industries, Hathway Cable, Asianet Satellite Communications, Prism Cement, Tata Infomedia, Kirloskar Systems, AFL Limted and Pushpa Polymers, all were private equity investments with which he was associated.

Mediocre But Arrogant - Abhijit Bhaduri's Forthcoming Novel

Abhijit Bhaduri's (84PMIR) debut novel "Mediocre But Arrogant" is getting published in June'05.



The announcement reads:

"Mediocre But Arrogant is the debut novel of Abhijit Bhaduri. Set against the backdrop of a fictitious business school in the steel city of Jamshedpur, India, this is a story of how the two years of doing an MBA transforms Abbey's life, perspective and relationships. Anyone who has lived in a school or college hostel will be able to identify with the characters of this funny but insightful novel.

Abbey - the narrator and protagonist is in MIJ - the coveted Management Institute of Jamshedpur, as an act of "serendipity". That is where he meets several classmates in the Boys Hostel - Harpal Singh alias Hairy, David Chummanoor - Chumma for short, Arunesh Nanda - the guitarist who sings Dylan songs and the mysterious, enigmatic Rascal Rusty. And then there are girls ... Ayesha for one.

There is Dadus Dhaba. Basanto, the Mess Bearer who doles out pieces of chicken to the select few as if it was a state secret. Ganauri - the dhobi who comes to pick up the laundry on his moped.


Will Abbey find the love of his life? In a Darwinian microcosm of the corporate world, MIJ has taught Abbey to hone his survival instincts and shave off jagged edges of his character. Is this what he wants to be?"

Here is a shade of Abbey's Micro-Economics class-notes:


So Folks!... Watch out for the release

...and for more info, check:
http://mediocrebutarrogant.blogspot.com

[As the EBC Radio (NJ & Eastern Pennsylvania, USA), on which Abhijit hosts the popular show called "Movie Magic" which is on the air every Sunday (1:00-2:00pm) describes him: "Abhijit is a versatile cartoonist, singer and mimic who works in Human Resources for a large Fortune 500 company"]

Vineet Nayar takes over as President of HCL Tech

The Economic Times (April 6th, 2005) reports this news about Vineet Nayar (85BMD):



"NEW DELHI: HCL Technologies has appointed Vineet Nayar as President. He will be responsible for HCL's Software & Infrastructure business accounting for 86% of HCL's $750 million revenue run rate global services business.

Nayar started his career with HCL in 1985 as a management trainee and has held diverse portfolios in Sales and Strategic Marketing and has been an integral part of building HCL's business to its global scale and stature. He pioneered HCL's foray into the Remote Infrastructure Management business.

"Vineet has demonstrated strong leadership skills during his 20 years with HCL. I feel confident that his global outlook, leadership skills and demonstrated track record of building new businesses will take HCL's Software & Infrastructure business to the next trajectory of growth,’’ says Shiv Nadar, Founder HCL, and Chairman & CEO HCL Technologies.

Nayar takes over the reins from Mr. S Raman, Co Founder of HCL and President and COO of HCL's software business.. "

Self Worth over Net Worth

Sanjay Anand (80PMIR), earlier Head-HR for Amex, is featured in Business World (April 4, 2005) issue:



"It's a dilemma that also strikes many a man at some point in his career; but it is much harder to resolve than for a woman!

After 15 years in the business, Sanjay Anand knew corporate life wasn't giving him a buzz anymore. "Something was nagging away inside," he says. "I realised what I really wanted to do was to be closely involved with young minds, because that's where you can really make a difference."

Today, Anand is doing just that - teaching business and economics at Pathways World school in Gurgaon. But the leap from Amex to education took 10 agonising years. "My goal was to move out by age 50," says Anand. It finally happened in 2004, with a couple of years to spare.

Anand is thoroughly enjoying himself. Every day there is a sense of achievement. In a reversal of gender stereotypes, the 1980 batch XLRI graduate says he can "afford" to teach because he has the luxury of having a wife who's earning well (spouse Smita is head of consulting at Hewitt Associates). "She enjoys the corporate world much more than I did," he admits."