Sunil Kant Munjal, MD and CEO of Hero Corporate Services Limited, the service business arm of the $ 2.8 billion Hero Group, pointed out the inappropriate ratio of Indian Management Institutes and aspirants. At the AIMS convention, he told a gathering of management teachers, deans and directors, that IIM-L, for instance, has a brilliant infrastructure, faculty and library. It is one of the leading IIMs of the country, he said. And I hear that its student intake is among the highest. But is the student intake of 300-odd (per batch) sufficient for a country as big as ours?

The test consisted of 300 marks, with three sections (English usage, Quantitative Ability, and Logic and Data Interpretation) of 100 marks each. Like earlier this year too, CAT brought many surprises and changes. If English has the lowest percentile score, it is because it was the most challenging section. Sheweta Bajpai, MBA aspirant, said, I think the verbal section was the surprise element. The RCs in the verbal section were hard to be comprehended. DI was easy and Maths was easy. The other expected elements were the flat 4 makers in the entire paper.

The overall highest percentile is 67.95. But among all the three sections Quantitative Ability, Logic and Data Interpretation, and English Usage, Quantitative Ability secured the highest percentile of 100. While the highest percentile in Logic and Data Interpretation was 86, in English Usage it was 60.

All the IIMs have released their list of shortlisted students. Each IIM has shortlisted more than 820 students for the next stage of Group Discussion (GD) and Personal Interview (PL). IIM Ahmedabad has shortlisted 820 students, while IIM Calcutta has 988.

The panel, however, kept evading queries on the politically volatile issue of excluding the creamy layer among OBCs from the job quota coverage.

The committee, formed to chalk out a road map for the implementation of 27 per cent OBC quota in central educational institutions, has sought a review of the reservation policy every five or 10 years.

Harvard Business Review South Asia is the 12th edition of the business magazine and the first English edition besides the original American one. The other 10 editions are translated versions of the original edition. The contents of HBR are largely the same as the original US edition, although advertising is regional.

HBR South Asia is priced Rs 750 on the stands; internationally, it is priced at $16.95 (approximately Rs 1,075). However, plans are afoot to launch several subscription offers and special schemes for academics.

The institute was formally launched in Mumbai by K V Kamath, Managing Director and CEO of ICICI Bank, and Rajendra S Pawar, chairman of NIIT.

IFBI commenced admissions in October 2006, and its first offering, a 6-month full-time Post Graduate Diploma in Banking Operations (PGDBO), will focus on grooming entry-level professionals for the banking industry. ICICI Bank has offered to recruit all the students of the first batch as officers upon successful completion of the program.

Harness the power of our youth, was the central message that resonated through the convention. India must focus on its youth and adopt a youth-centric growth model.

Addressing a CII meet on Globalization in New Delhi recently, Tarun Khanna, Strategy Professor at the Harvard Business School, said, Indian companies shouldnt follow a GE or a Nokia. They need not copy globalization strategy from any of the established global players. Instead, they should create their own model. He added, to be a global company, you have to bring something new to the party.

Addressing a gathering of business leaders in Mumbai at the launch of the South Asian edition of Harvard Business Review, Finance Minister P Chidambaram went down memory lane, and spoke of his days in Harvard: Those were the best days of my life. Harvard Business School was a special place. Yes, I gained immensely!

It was part of IIM-Ks annual 3-day cultural festival Backwater 2007, sponsored by Reliance Industries. White Knight invited aspiring business leaders to bring forward their vision and entrepreneurship spirit for the cause of inclusive growth in our country.

Indian School of Business (ISB) Hyderabad won the top honors for coming out with the best social business plan for inclusive growth, while S P Jain Institute of Management and Research Mumbai (SPJIMR) came second.