the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has expressed confidence and optimism that this year too we will be able to sustain 9% growth and hold the price line at acceptable levels, even in face of global slowdown. The Finance and Commerce Ministries are seized of the concerns over the global slowdown, the Prime Minister said while inaugurating the 80th Annual General Meeting of FICCI on February 15. He added that the domestic economy has the potential to sustain growth.

GBSs EMBA is worlds first executive MBA programme, first offered in 1943, and is targeted at mid-level executives. The programme is currently being run in three locations Chicago, London and Singapore, with about 90 seats in each location.

GSB held two information sessions in India earlier this week. The first session was held in Bangalore on February 12 and the second session was held in New Delhi on February 14. These sessions were attended by over hundred working executives.

Noticing this fact, SP Jain Institute of Management & Research (SPJIMR), Mumbai organized the Marketing Effectiveness Conclave on February 9. Mr. S. Sivakumar, Chief Executive of ITC agro-business was the keynote speaker on the occasion. The event also hosted the SP Jain Marketing Impact Awards, a competition in which companies presented their marketing initiatives which were judged for the return on marketing investment.

Mr. Azim Premji, Chairman, WIPRO will lay the foundation stone ofthe S.P Kapur Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship on February 19. The governing board members of the centre will include industry heavy-weights like Mr. Azim Premji, Mr. Devinder Brar, Mr. Analjit Singh, Mr. Rajiv Gupta (Carlyle), Mr. H.K.Mittal (Deptt. of Science & Technology), Mr. Sarkar (MSME), Mr. S. Ghosh (NRDC), Dr. Surinder Kapur and Dr. Sujit Basu, Director, MDI.

This year, the average stipend on campus has increased 20% from last year. According to SIBIM Pune, This years average salary was Rs. 10.38 lakhs p.a. and median salary stood at Rs 9.62 lakhs p.a. The highest international offer was made by Olam International at $85,000, while the highest domestic offer stood at Rs14 lakhs p.a., which was up by nearly 35% from last years level. According to SIBM, The lowest accepted salary was Rs 7 lakhs p.a. The number of offers above Rs10 lakhs p.a. touched an figure of 53.

In the first Regional Final on February 17, the city champions from Punjab and Haryana will compete in the Chandigarh leg. The Lucknow final will see the champs from rest of North India, while the Mumbai leg will be for all champs from the city itself. On February 21, the east zone champs will compete in the Kolkata Regional Final. The Delhi, Ahmedabad and Jaipur finals are scheduled for February 23. The last of the Regional Finals are scheduled for February 24 at Pune and Bangalore.

The award ceremony was held in the capital on February 12. The young leader award in the field of business was conferred to Mr R Subramanian, Founder of Retail company Subhiksha.

An annual feature, Indian Institute of Management Lucknow confers two awards one to a Leader and another to a Young achiever. These awards are given in three categories including Business, Science &Technology, and Community Service & Social Upliftment.

Topnotch companies from diverse sectors are making lucrative offers to the students well before the start of the final placement season. According to SJMSOM, corporates have made PPOs to almost 40% of the batch.

These are the buzzwords in management literature today. But most books see events through the India Vs China paradigm, and not see them as collaborators. However, a new book Billions of Entrepreneurs, written by Harvard Business Schools professor Tarun Khanna, looks at how entrepreneurs from China and India can collaborate to reshape the world economy. The premise doesnt seem far fetched, as around 300 years back India and China accounted for as much as 50 % of world trade.

Mr. Ghosh, ex-partner of McKinsey & Co., will be delivering a lecture series at VGSOM, IIT Kharagpur from 14 to 17 February. He has also conducted the same lecture series at Harvard University and MIT on the issues of strategic problem solving, leadership and globalization.