Going by the number of Common Admission Test (CAT) application forms sold this time, the organizers of CAT say that CAT takers will increase by more than 20 per cent compared to last year.

Prof Ashish K Bhattacharyya, chairman of admissions, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta and spokesperson of CAT group, shared this information with MBAUniverse.com. Said Prof Bhattacharyya: In total, 2.4 lakh forms have been sold this year and about 2.3 lakh applicants have filled up forms and sent them back to us.

It will be conducted by the Finance Society at FMS in association with Motilal Oswal Investment Advisors and CITI Group as conclaves title sponsor.

According to FMS, The Investment Bankers Conclave will be an amalgamation of investment banks, private equity players, bankers and venture capitalist firms.

Leading three Indian Institute of Managements (IIMs) have decided to launch their own magazine titled The Money Manager to cater to wide interest.The Money Manager will focus on all issues and topics related to Finance. Finance Clubs of IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Calcutta and IIM Bangalore have come together for this initiative. According to IIMs, the magazine has already got sponsorship from global investment giant Merrill Lynch. The first edition of the magazine will be released in September itself. Magazine will invite articles and research from leading Indian B-schools and corporate sector.

After getting a good response, NIIT Imperia is now ready to expand nationwide and is planning to double its centers by March 2008. Currently, NIIT Imperia offers the program at 10 centers in eight cities. It plans to expand to 20 centers in 16 cities by March 2008. It recently added two new centers in Bhubaneshwar and Nagpur as part of the expansion plan.

NIIT Imperia was launched in September last year with academic support from three leading management institutes: Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), IIM Calcutta (IIM-C) and IIM Indore (IIM-I).

Secunderabad-based TIME (Triumphant Institute of Management Education), one of the leading MBA training institutes, organized a seminar on MBA as a career option on September 16 at its different study centers including Delhi, Ghaziabad and Gurgaon. The theme of the seminar was Chak De! CAT 2008.

The first MDP program began on September 3. Several MDPs in areas like finance, operations, quality management and HR practices are scheduled in September, October and November 2007.

NIIT Imperia says that these MDPs are created to meet specific skill-gaps amongst corporate executives. Speaking to MBAUniverse.com, Dr Smarajit Dey, president, NIIT Ltd. said, The long term executive programs are more comprehensive knowledge oriented. MDPs deal with specialized skills that executives desire.

The workshop, titled Beyond Voice, provided an opportunity to the students learn about marketing realities and interact with the industry leaders.
The key speakers at the workshop were Mr Raghuvesh Swarup, Head of Product Marketing at Nokia and Mr Manish Sabnis, National Operator Accounts Manager at Nokia. Mr Raghuvesh Swarup is a post-graduate from XLRI Jamshedpur from 1993 batch while Mr Manish Sabnis is a JBIMS alumnus from 1993 batch.

Confirming the news to MBAUniverse.com, FMS Dean, Prof J K Mitra said, Dr Kalam has accepted our invitation in principle to join us as honorary adjunct professors which mean he will join us as a full-time professor. His joining will take some time as we are working on the modalities. However, Prof Mitra refused to divulge further details, saying more specifics would be forthcoming by the end of November.

addressed students at the Great Lakes Institute of Management in Chennai.He delivered talk on consulting as a career option and gave a holistic view of the challenges and opportunities in consulting and the thumb rules to follow when one gets into it.

Kumari Selja, Union Minister of State (independent charge) for housing and urban poverty allevation, was also present.

FOSTIIMA is an intiative of seven IIM alumni including noted entrepreneur Mr Jerry Rao. Speaking to MBAUniverse.com Mr Anil Somani, Founder Trustee & Executive Chairman, FOSTIIMA, said, We imbibe a lot from IIMs and through this initiative we would like to contribute in some way toward society by developing a talent pool and inculcating in them leadership and managerial skills.