final without pic

Is it a
fair

 game?
Special cover story: Assessing the Relevance of
Country-level Competitiveness Indexes in Asian Economies

Special Convocation Address by
Dr. C. Rangarajan

Former Governor of RBI

Issue: 1, Aug'17

CONTENTS 6 IFMR ANNOUNCES NEW LEADERSHIP
10 APPOINTMENTS
13
16  LEARN TO LEAD AS A BUSINESS ANALYST
18
20 COVER STORY: ASSESSING THE RELEVANCE OF
COUNTRY-LEVEL COMPETITIVENESS INDEXES

WHAT THE INDIAN POLICY LANDSCAPE HOLDS
FOR THE MSME SECTOR

TWO YEARS OF DIGITAL INDIA: NEED FOR
EVIDENCE BASED POLICY-MAKING

FLIP THROUGH FOR MORE INTERESTING AND
INFORMATIVE INSIGHTS... 

FO ELBAT Message from the
Director:

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FROM EDITOR'S DESK

THE IFMR B-SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

OTHER HELLO EVERYONE,
INFORMATIVE
INSIGHTS Mimeographing the smooth passage of sunny days
to this beautiful monsoon, we are launching The
VOICE ON BUDGET IFMR Digest, a brand new quarterly newsletter with
2017 more interesting features for you. The curiosity and
eagerness of students at IFMR to learn something
IT'S ALL ABOUT new has made them research on varied topics and
COLD WAR this research has resulted into some good articles
which we are publishing in this edition
ARTIFICIAL
INTELLIGENCE AN As said in a famous quote, “Good things come to those who
D ITS BUSINESS believe, Better things come to those who are patient and the best
PERSPECTIVE things come to those who don’t give up”.
We-the editorial team believes giving up on anything is the worst
AND MUCH MORE... failure of life, so work hard and cherish the fruits of your success.

Have a good reading ahead…

IFMR ANNOUNCES NEW LEADERSHIP
APPOINTMENTS

BY- N VAGHUL,CHAIRMAN IFMR

IFMR is pleased to announce the

appointment Mr.AKBaOpUTilSVHiUsTwTEaRnSaPtEhEaDn as

President on May 2, 2017, and
Dr. Sunder Ramaswamy as
Vice-Chancellor, with effect from

August 1, 2017.

CONCEPT Mr.Kapil Viswanathan is the founder of
Lumina Datamatics (LD), a global
Mr. Kapil Viswanathan, educational content development company
President of IFMR employing over 2,000 employees across
offices in Chennai, Mumbai, New York,
Boston and Frankfurt.  Prior to LD, Kapil led
global sales for a division of Tata
Consultancy Services, and served on the
company’s strategic think tank, working
closely with top management on strategy
formulation and customer-centricity.  Kapil
holds an MBA from Harvard Business School,
and MS degree in industrial engineering
from Stanford University

Dr. Sunder Ramaswamy,
Vice-Chancellor of IFMR

Dr. Sunder Ramaswamy was the Officiating Director and Visiting
Distinguished Professor at the Madras School of Economics (Chennai, India),
one of India’s premier higher education institutes for economics. He is
currently on leave from Middlebury College, one of the top 5 nationally
ranked liberal arts colleges in the U.S., where he holds the rank of
Distinguished College Professor of International Economics.
From January 1, 2009 through January 31, 2015 he served as the President

CONCEPTand Frederick C. Dirks Professor of International Economics at the Monterey

Institute of International Studies, A Graduate School of Middlebury College,
in Monterey, California.  At the Monterey Institute of International Studies
(MIIS), he led an ambitious academic reorganization, a successful
completion of the merger of MIIS with Middlebury College (June 30, 2010),
accelerated fund raising, scaling up the endowment, budgets in the black,
and increased Institutional visibility.  During his tenure, the Institute
successfully launched new graduate degree programs in nonproliferation
and terrorism studies (NPTS), international education management (IEM),
international Trade and Economic Diplomacy (ITED), as well as the creation
of three new research centers (the Center for the Blue Economy, the Center
for Conflict Studies, and the Center for Social Impact Learning), a Cyber
Security initiative, and a number of other innovative programs.

He received his Ph.D. in Economics from Purdue University (USA), an M.A. in
Economics from the Delhi School of Economics (India), and B.A. (Honors) in
Economics from St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi (India).

LEARN
TO LEAD 

AS
A BUSINESS
ANALYST

IFMR is launching a Post Graduate Certificate
Programme in Business Analytics and Big Data,
in association with IBM from October 2017. The
program shall be delivered by expert faculty
from IFMR and subject matter experts from
IBM.
The participants shall not only benefit by
having hands on experience on IBM suite of
tools and technologies but also on other latest
tools as well.

Apply Now

For more details on DS Certificate program,
Visit www.ifmr.ac.in/datascience.

COVER STORY

Assessing the
Relevance of Country-
level Competitiveness

Indexes in Asian
Economies

From Prof. Arindam Das (Institute for Financial
Management and Research, Chennai)

Introduction

Competitiveness, a multi-layered economic and these are considered seriously by the
concept linked to productivity, essentially governments, especially the governments of
implies the ability of using available developing economies, in order to initiate
resources to generate more with less. appropriate economic reforms in the country
Country-level competitiveness is normally and raise their respective country’s
defined through factors like: (a) the political competitiveness scores. However, there are
and socio-cultural environment, (b) access unanswered questions about the veracity
to resources, (c) human talent and social and appropriateness of these indexes. This
development, (d) financial competence and article reviews a few globally known
institutional ability to innovate and (e) competitiveness indexes, analyze structural
leadership and entrepreneurship. validity of the indexes and assess indexes’
Over the past two decades multiple country- ability to explain performance of economies
level competitiveness indexes have been and firms in key Asian countries.
developed by different organizations

Continuation...

Background

Quantitative, country-level indexes that Therefore, the critical questions that we

measure national competitiveness can must consider are, do these indexes reliably

facilitate comparison and benchmarking present the true state of business

among countries. However, researchers environment in Asian countries, and more

warn that international index rankings, while broadly, is it possible to depict the business

popular, are dangerous as they stimulate environment through a set of numbers and if

rank-seeking behavior. In addition, the weakyes, how valuable these numbers are for

theoretical and empirical foundations of the primary participants in economic

these indexes reduce their true value for activities – the firms? The following sections

analytical or political purposes and it may bediscuss the findings on author’s research

a risk to formulate policy measures based on: (a) structural validity of the indexes, (b)

on these indicators. comparative analyses of the indexes and (c)

Specific to Asian economies, literature the indexes’ ability to explain macro- and

shows that competitiveness of Asian firms micro-economic performances in the

could be derived from factors and sources nations.

that are different from the ones typically

recognized in Western economies. Asian

firms' competitiveness may come from their

unique nature of operations, their firm-

specific advantages (FSA), and the

mechanisms they develop to deal with

country-specific uniqueness.

Continuation...

Analysis Results

and Discussion registering property, getting credit, paying
taxes, protecting minority investors,
For the purpose of this study, three trading across borders, enforcing
indexes have been considered: World contracts and resolving insolvency. Each
Economic Forum’s Global of these components is evaluated through
Competitiveness Index (WEF GCI), World multiple factors, many of which are
Bank’s Doing Business Ranking (WB DB) subject to perception or lacks robust data.
and International Institute for
Management Development’s World IMD WCC 2016 has four highest-level
Competitiveness Centre Index (IMD components: (a) Economic Performance,
WCC). (b) Government Efficiency, (c) Business
Efficiency, and (d) Infrastructure. Under
Structural Validity each of these, there are a large number of
parameters, totaling to 341 parameters
of Indexes that constitute the IMD WCC Index,
several of which may not have robust
WEF GCI 2016 has three major input data.
components – (a) Basic Requirements, (b)
Efficiency Enhancers, and (c) Innovation
and Sophistication Factors. One of the
unique feature of WEF GCI is that the
weightage of each of the three major
components vary within a range depending
on the current parameters of the countries.
For example, a country with a low
competitiveness will have relatively higher
weightage on basic requirements whereas
an advanced country will have relatively
higher weightage on innovation and
sophistication.
WB DB 2016 has 10 key components
involving starting a new business, dealing
with construction permits, getting electricity,

Continuation...

Comparative Alignment of
Index Values

As the indexes essentially attempt to countries – China (mainland) and India. WEF

measure the same features of a country’s GCI data is available only from 2006

business and economic environment, it is onwards. WB DB is not charted, as the data

expected that for a country the index values is available for a few years only.

should correlate well with each other.

Figures 1 and 2 depict the trend of IMD WCC

Index and WEF GCI for three developed

Asian countries – Japan, South Korea and

Singapore and two developing Asian

Figure 1: Trend of IMD WCC Index and WEF GCI for China and India

Continuation...

Figure 2: Trend of IMD WCC Index and WEF GCI for China and India

Time series cross correlation output that these two indexes are not in
between IMD WCC Index and WEF GCI alignment, i.e., the indexes, though meant
with zero lag for 10 years’ data shows that to measure the same thing, do not
there is no positive correlation between correlate and thereby strengthens the
these two indexes for any of the five question on the construct of these indexes.
countries. In fact, for South Korea it shows
a negative correlation. The results
indicate

Continuation...

Explanatory Explaining the

Power of Index Key Issues

ValuesAdd a Our third question on the indexes The key issues with the indexes lie in
their structures, the way data points are
is about their ability to explain business gathered and aggregated, lack of
and economic performance in Asian correlation among indexes and indexes’
countries. Time series cross correlation inability to relate to firm-level
analysis between stock market performances. The reasons are
performance in three countries (Japan, explained below.
China and India) and corresponding
IMD WCC indexes indicate that in Interdependent input factors with high
almost all cases there is significant level of bivariate correlation: As large
cross correlation. Similarly, cross number of constituent factors that have
correlation between macroeconomic interrelationship, combination leads to a
factors and IMD WCC indexes in the value that conveys little. In addition,
five Asian countries indicate that except most of the indexes measure a large
for Inbound FDI in developed Asian number of parameters and combine
countries, all other parameters them to single index – leading to further
significantly correlate to the respective loss of meaning.
country’s index.
Investigating on microeconomic
performance, no time series cross
correlation is found between firm-level
financial performances with their
respective country index. A select 24
firms from the five countries who have
been listed in 2015 Forbes Asia Fav 50
have been chosen for this analysis.

Continuation...

Subjective assessment on nearly 60% of Characteristics of Asian businesses: Asian
input factors: More than half of the inputs businesses have several unique FSAs that
come from opinion polls conducted on outweigh or nullify the requirement of
questionable sample who may or may not country-specific advantages. Therefore,
have sufficient information to provide a firms with an adverse external
reliable input. While, it is true that we have environment may also achieve growth and
to look at subjective inputs, the survey profitability at par with international
methodology and parameter identification competitors. In other words, some
should be rigorous. disadvantages in Asian countries
perceived by Western analysts as
Assumption on growth trajectory of the bottlenecks may not be seen so by the
country: WEF GCI assigns different Asian firms. In such a situation, a
weightages on different segments, competitiveness index, designed by
depending on country’s current position on Western analysts has limited relevance for
growth trajectory. It is assumed that Asian firms.
countries first achieve basic requirements,
then move on to efficiency enhancers and
finally pursue innovation factors. However,
this can be questioned, as for example, it
may be possible for a country to achieve
higher R&D innovation even when there
are issues with basic requirements like
corporate ethics.

Indexes’ lack of relevance in the context of
individual firm performance: While
governments, policymakers and business
media accord high level of importance to
competitiveness indexes, for individual
firms, these indexes may not mean much.
The primary reason could be that many
components of an index are insignificant
for an individual firm’s business. This
supports some of the earlier research that
competitiveness is rooted most importantly
in microeconomic fundamentals.

Continuation...

Conclusion

Country-level competitiveness indexes draw significant amount of
attention from the governments, policymakers, businesses and media.
While organizations that develop and publish these indexes insist on
deploying appropriate methodology, research reveals serious questions
about the indexes’ robustness as well as their applicability, especially in
the Asian context, and these concerns need to be addressed
appropriately.

EXPERT INSIGHT By Ankur Gautam and Mridulya Narasimhan 
FROM
IFMR LEAD

INTERNATIONAL MSME campaigns of the central government and how they
DAY: WHAT THE INDIAN impact the MSME sector in India.In a recent
POLICY LANDSCAPE resolution of the UN General Assembly, June 27 was
HOLDS FOR THE MSME adopted as the International MSME Day in
SECTOR recognition of the role of Micro-, Small- and Medium
enterprises (MSMEs) in achieving the Sustainable
In a recent resolution of the UN General Development Goals (SDGs) and their contribution to
Assembly, June 27 was adopted as the the growth of economies worldwide – especially in
International MSME Day in recognition of the the context of developing countries. In India, with
role of Micro-, Small- and Medium enterprises over 51 million units, MSMEs account for more than
(MSMEs) in achieving the Sustainable 80 per cent of the total number of industrial
Development Goals (SDGs) and their enterprises and produce over 8000 value-added
contribution to the growth of economies products. These outputs account for 45 per cent of
worldwide – especially in the context of the total manufacturing output and 40
developing countries. In India, with over 51
million units, MSMEs account for more than MAKE IN INDIA
80 per cent of the total number of industrial
enterprises and produce over 8000 value- The ambitious ‘Make in India’ campaign is the
added products. These outputs account for 45 government of India’s flagship mission to
per cent of the total manufacturing output boost manufacturing output which certainly
and 40 per cent of the exports from India. does not ignore the sector. The campaign
Moreover, the MSME sector provides came with a range of policy initiatives and
employment to over 117 million people in the investments to tackle the challenges MSMEs
country. Increasingly, the Government of face. The Make in India Soft Loan Fund
India has acknowledged that MSMEs drive launched by Small Industries Development
the growth of the Indian economy and this Bank of India (SIBDI in 2015 offers loans in
acknowledgement has come in the form of the nature of quasi-equity and term loans on
policies directed towards achieving their full softer terms to meet the required debt-
potential. Policy and regulations are crucial in equity ratio for the establishment and
determining the nature and direction of any growth of MSMEs.The government’s Scheme
economic activity, therefore, as the world of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional
observes the International MSME day, we Industries (SFURTI) scheme that was
look at some of the recent policies and  launched in 2005 focuses on the cluster
approach, organising traditional industries
and artisans.These individuals are supported
to enhance marketability of their products 
with design interventions,improved 

packaging and infrastructure under this scheme. to forge B2B relationships with MSMEs through
800 clusters were proposed in the Twelfth Five digital transactions. Technology platforms have
Year Plan after 71 clusters were developed in the also found ways to connect MSMEs to buyers,
first phase with an outlay of Rs 149.44 crores The suppliers, financial institutions and other
National Manufacturing Policy has eased enabling agencies. Digital India, though not
regulatory norms as well. Among the special directly focusing on MSMEs, has been
benefits to SMEs, the notable ones include a tax instrumental in improving the business
pass-through status for venture capital funds with ecosystem – from the ease of filling up forms to
a focus on SMEs in the manufacturing sector, getting access to finance and markets.
liberalization of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and
Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority GOODS AND SERVICE TAX
IRDA guidelines for investments by banks and
insurance companies in SMEs. Perhaps the most talked about policy reform in the
recent terms, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is
SKILL INDIA about to roll out in July 2017 and there is an air of
uncertainty and apprehension around it. The
The Ministry of MSME which has been awarded reform will provide equal footing to the big
the quality system certification – ISO 9001-2008, enterprises and SMEs alike and will remove the tax
is engaged in skill development programmes differentiation on stock transfer. The GST may
besides providing support, market and fund turn out to be a mixed bag for MSMEs. It has been
assistance to entrepreneurs. The Ministry has set a proposed to bring down the threshold to around
target of training 15 million youth by 2022. To Rs 10 lakhs to increase the tax net. As a result,
achieve this goal, the Ministry has collaborated more MSMEs will come under GST coverage and
with Samsung Electronics to set up 10 MSME their working capital will be affected. Cost of
Samsung Technology Schools for skilling youth in production is supposed to increase under the new
repair and maintenance of electronics. In the year tax regime as the GST which will be levied on
2014-15, The Entrepreneurship Development supply will not be available for input credit.
Institutes (EDI) made 260,888 youth job-ready Further, tax neutrality of GST would mean same
through 9,142 programmes. The talent ‘melas’ taxation for large businesses as well as SMEs
organised in the same year provided jobs to 9,000 which will be a difficult position for an SME
youth in the MSME sector. The Central competing against a large business.
government has been pushing for linking skilling
initiatives like the DDU-GKY and EST&P to However, the GST also holds opportunities for the
employment outcomes. There is a symbiosis here MSME sector. Due to the standard processes
as the MSMEs absorb the skilled youth and in turn without slab discrimination for VAT as under the
benefit from it. current regime, MSMEs will find it easier to start
business. Further, the GST eradicating the burden
DIGITAL INDIA of tax on interstate sales, will make it easier for
MSMEs to expand to new markets. Transfer of tax
Another important initiative of the Government credit irrespective of the location of the buyer &
of India is the ‘Digital India’ movement that seller, elimination of border tax procedures and
focuses on digitization of the economy. With toll check posts will help in reducing logistical
increasing penetration of internet-enabled overheads. The GST is also supposed to enable
smartphones and a population that looks up to availing input credit, single-point tax, and
technology for solutions to problems big and eliminate the cascading tax system.
small, the MSME sector could become a
prominent beneficiary. Several technology
solution providers that have started with a boost
from the ‘Digital India’ movement are attempting 

CONCLUSION

Research indicates that the key aspects that drive

performance of MSMEs in any economy are

institutional & regulatory frameworks,

entrepreneurship, and access to markets and

resources. A strong focus on all these aspects is seen in

the policies that have shaped up over the past few

years. The main constraints for MSMEs have been lack

of access to credit and skilled labour. With the ever

changing landscape of the MSME sector, there is a

need for policies that are not just good in intent but are

also informed by the growing body of evidence in

development economics on the MSME sector. There is

hope that with the right infrastructure and the

business ecosystem for MSMEs getting attention from

policymakers and the world at large, MSMEs will

certainly go a long way in contributing to the economic

growth of the country and to achieving the UN

Sustainable Development Goals.

Sources:

MSME Sector-Achievement Report 2017. Make in

India

Annual Report 2015-16. Delhi: Ministry of MSME

National Manufacturing Policy 2017, Make in India

Impact of GST on MSME, 2017, Confederation of

Indian Industries (CII) Add subheading
 

Ankur and Mridulya are researchers at the MSME
and Entrepreneurship vertical at IFMR LEAD – a
development research organisation housed at the
Institute for Financial Management and Research,
Chennai.
Mridulya is a Research Manager at the MSME &
Entrepreneurship vertical at IFMR LEAD and
manages research projects in the MSME portfolio.
Mridulya has previously worked in Corporate

*The above article was featured in theindianeconomist.com

EXPERT INSIGHT By Arindam Banerjee
FROM
IFMR JPAL

Two years of Digital India: Need for evidence based
policy-making

It has been two years since the launch of the Rs Have digital technology based payments reduced
1.13 trillion Digital India initiative of the Central leakage in social sector programmes?
Government, aimed to transform India into a J-PAL affiliated researchers have collaborated
digitally empowered nation by 2018. Significant with the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and
reforms and investments including Public Distribution and Government of Jharkhand
demonetisation, JAM (Jan dhan, Aadhar and for a randomised evaluation to measure the impact
Mobile) for  Direct Benefit Transfer, connecting of biometric authentication of beneficiaries
50,000 Gram Panchayats with high- speed internet through Electronic Point of Sale (e-PoS) devices in
and digital citizen service centres in rural and semi- fair price shops of the Public Distribution System.
urban India, have generated a strong policy debate Does this step essentially reduce leakage, increase
on the impact of the government’s digital exclusion, or improve beneficiary experience of
initiative.  collecting subsidised food grains? In collaboration
Questions that matter: While the government’s with NITI Aayog, researchers affiliated to J-PAL
efforts have strongly focused on infrastructure have also been studying the impact of a pilot Direct
inputs and technology aided public service Benefit Transfer (DBT) programme in lieu of PDS
delivery, issues concerning internet security, food grains in Chandigarh, Puducherry and Dadra
breach of government data and citizen’s privacy Nagar Haveli. 
and poor last mile internet connectivity continue
to be critical to Digital India’s success. What
evidence should policymakers consider to
strengthen impact of digitization of public
services? What factors in implementation design
should be included based on scientific evidence for
last mile service delivery in technology based
welfare programmes? A collection of studies by
researchers affiliated to the Abdul Latif Jameel
Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) have measured impact
and examining the best processes for these
pressing policy questions.  

Two years of Digital India: Mobile technology for
Need for evidence based better health outcomes:
policy-making
The Haryana Immunization Project (HIM), led by J-
Between 2007-2010, the National Sample Size PAL affiliates in collaboration with the Government
Organisation (NSSO) estimated nearly 25% of Haryana, aims to increase child full immunization
leakage in wages distributed through Mahatma rates, with technology as an integral component.
Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Firstly, the intervention involves the provision of
Scheme (MGNREGS). In Bihar, J-PAL affiliated non-cash incentives (mobile recharge credit) to the
researchers tested the effect of an information immunized child’s guardian. Secondly, it leverages
technology (IT) reform in the that linked the flow mobile technology to send multiple types of text
of funds to actual scheme based expenditures and messages and interactive voice recordings (IVRs) to
reduced the number of officials involved in the guardians on the progress of immunisation course
overall process. The study found that the reform completion and targeted reminders before vaccines
reduced program expenditure by 24 percent are due. The project has also designed and created
without a concurrent decrease in MGNREGS its own mobile-health (m-health) application (in
employment or final wages received, suggesting collaboration with researchers at MIT). Over 1,000
that increased transparency reduced leakages.  Auxiliary Nurse and Midwives (ANMs) have been
trained on the usage of the tablet app to track
Leveraging technology immunization of children through the sessions. The
platforms to facilitate app’s real-time access to health data will inform
employment decisions of policy-makers, and replacing the paper
record storage may have cost-efficiency.
The expanding reach of mobile phones and internet As the Government of India invests to increase
connectivity in India is shaping ways through which digital transactions, boost enterprenuer driven
employers recruit potential hires and jobseekers innovations and introduces policy reforms to
search for potential opportunities. With an estimated strengthen the digital ecosystem, findings from
450 million youth having access to mobile phones and scientific research can inform Digital India with
ready to join India’s workforce by 2022, digital effective pathways for desired impact. 
connectivity and social networks have great potential
to improve information access and flow for job
matching. In Karnataka, J-PAL affiliated researchers
are testing strategies for how information on jobs is
disseminated within social networks and how
technology enabled platforms can improve job
searches by the pool of low-income job-seekers.

Affiliates: Nilesh Fernando (Faculty, University of
Notre Dame), Niharika Singh and Gabriel Tourek
(PhD Candidates, Harvard University) 

STUDENT ARTICLE

It’s Cold out there.. prevailed. It demanded 1 billion annually
from US for halting its missile exports,
Countless caveats, a United Nations which is construed as unfeasible in US
embargo on trade and nine missile tests in diplomatic parlance. In 1970 USSR worked
this year, the definition of “cold war” has jointly with this state in its first long range
changed with the soring relation between ballistic missile Programme. Enriched with
the United States and North Korea. With almost 200 types of mineral North Korea is
each defiant step of this recluse state’s considered as the peninsular mineral hub,
ballistic missile test, he temperature of this on the other hand the arid lands of the
cold war is rising. Global imperial capitalist state compels to it to depend upon imports
United States and the autocratic state to some extent for comestibles.
North Korea, it won’t be superfluous to say US has maintained a policy of ‘strategic
that universal peace or order is depending patience’ or ‘benevolent neglect policy’
upon these two nation’s calculations of towards the monarchy for last 7-8 years. In
Sharp ratio. practice, it meant US pretended that the
Though juxtaposing these nations name country does not exist. In this mean time
brews fresh pot boilers, let us turn towards the arsenal size of North Korea increased
a neutral ground to get a holistic to almost 20. The growth can’t be taken in
picture.1948 was a new start for Korea as absolute terms because a country with 20
Democratic people’s republic of Korea. It nuclear weapons is not 4 times more
ended with South Korea’s declaration of dangerous than a country with 5 nuclear
independence, which subsequently led to weapons. US’ terms of negotiation that is
North Korea’s invasion and the Korean ‘complete, verifiable and irreversible
war. Global forces acted decisively and in denuclearization’ is not achievable.
1953 armistice ends the war. In 1955 US
entered into war with Vietnam or more -Swarnendu Biswas
specifically Northern Vietnamese
communist forces which lasted for almost
20 years. Communist countries, though
unable to support straight-out their political
ally, were on the side of Northern
Vietnamese forces, the capture of the USS
Pueblo by North Korea on 1968 could also
be interpreted as an act of allies in this
context.
Though the evidences of hostility are
abundant, these nations tried to come to
an agreement in 1999, after 5 rounds of
bilateral talks North Korea’s obduracy

STUDENT ARTICLE

Budget 2017, A mendacious
propaganda or an echo of veracity

The Union budget for FY17/18 adopted to the middle and lower income groups.
a balanced approach. This budget The rebates on the Agriculture loan
caused a stir in the hearts of most would help the farmers to get easy and
bankers, analysts, rating agencies and quick loans which can also help in
policy makers as this budget was reducing the farmer suicidal rate. In the
pitched amidst various National and year 2015 -2016, 5650 farmers
International economic problems. It committed suicide due to lack of funds.
was also expected to be a blueprint for The government also said that they
the policies of the Modi government have increased the amount of money
after demonetization. In the FY16/17 allocated for NREGA. The government
interest payments casted central also promised to build 1crore houses in
government 46% of the net revenue. rural areas to provide them with
This year there is a totally different accommodation.
roadmap altogether. The fiscal deficit
target for the next year is 3.2% and the The situation seems to be aberrant as
revenue growth is expected to rise by the budget can easily bewilder anyone.
17%. This is not only helpful for growth The growth prospects from the budget
but, will also help to increase the rating seem to be equivocal. For the first time
of our country by different credit rating the railway budget is combined with the
agencies. union budget, this gave opportunity to
the government for concealment of
The expenditures are divided into three some basic facts.
parts
a. Growth accelerating expenditures This time government has allocated
b. Expenditures to increase Rs128000cr for transport facilities
consumption demand which was only Rs21000cr previous
c. Expenditures for social welfare. The year, however if we compare this
total amount allocated for expenditures budget to the combined railway and
is 21.47 lakh crores, out of which road transport previous year it turns out
revenue expenditures are estimated to to be Rs30000cr less than the previous
be Rs3.09 lakh crores year. Besides this it was also
This budget aims at providing benefits mentioned by our Finance minister that

STUDENT ARTICLE

there is a good amount of increment for The budget allocated only Rs10000cr to
the NREGA scheme from Rs37000crore the public banks, which seems quite less.
to 48000cr this year. This comes despite the fact that banks
Budget ignores indirect taxes, which can are jittery about lending money because
directly give a relief to people from lower of rising non-performing assets. This may
and middle income groups. There is also eventually lead to a credit crunch in the
a great distress for Micro, Small & economy. The chief economic advisor, in
Medium Enterprises as it was expected his report forecasted the economic
that in this budget some subsidy will be growth rate from 6.5 % to 6.75 %. The
provided to them because 80% of the further economic growth is also
MSME in on the verge of insolvency after dependent on crude oil prices as few
demonetization. The MSME annual years back it was 100$ which resulted in
growth rate is presumed to be muted due providing subsidy for Rs130000cr while
to the impact of demonetization on day to last year it was just Rs 27500cr.
day operations.
- Akarsh Agarwal

STUDENT ARTICLE

Advancement in AI (Artificial

Intelligence)- a Business Perspective

Back in 1800’s when industrial revolution Advancement in AI (Artificial Intelligence),
happened, many speculated of losing their in the present world, has got the similar
jobs due to automation, that is, the properties what the industrial revolution
assembly line. Yes, many lost their jobs, and computer revolution had back then.
but eventually many more jobs came up. People have already made a notion that
And it certainly gave businesses a chance their jobs are under threat due to AI. While
to flourish under this new bandwagon and it may take some jobs away, it also opens
so did our society. Fast forward to 1900’s, up the possibility for completely new jobs
when the computer revolution happened, that have not existed prior. Certainly AI
people again feared of losing their jobs has benefited businesses around the
because of the ease of computational work world; cutting their costs, driving innovation
a computer could do. What happened then in the services and so, in every field they
was we saw a whole new world of introduce AI.
opportunities where everyone contributed
as per his/her capabilities and thus we see
a connected world today. Again
businesses, using this shift, helped to
better our society.

STUDENT ARTICLE

Possibilities of AI in Business

Enterprises can employ AI for everything Drone delivery system are one of the few
from mining social data to driving examples where machines have already
engagement in customer relationship started replacing us. One should never
management (CRM) to optimizing forget that we are just witnessing, what
logistics and efficiency when it comes to we call as the nascent stage of AI. More
tracking and managing assets. AI is advanced stages of AI are Strong AI and
helping us to make our existing Super Intelligence AI and with this speed
technology smarter and unlocking the in the advancement of AI, we are not far
power of all the data that enterprises off achieving that and we could just
collect. Latest research in AI claims to imagine its impact on us.
accurately predict a person’s lifespan. The Magnitude of impact of AI in the next
decade is way beyond anything we could
AI versus Job Loss ever imagine.

Disruption Survey of nearly 11,000 -Ankitkumar DK
employees in India, by ET online, has
found that a large number of
employees see automation taking
away their jobs. Looking at this survey
results one may take out that people in
India see automation as a real threat
and they know about the tough
business scenario lying ahead of them
and how AI is going to affect their
lives.
These numbers scare the working
group of the people whose lives may
come under the radar unless a proper
upgrading of skills is not done on
time.

Advancements in the machine
language have made the machines
more responsive and more efficient
when compared to the regular human
workers. Personal care robots and

CONVOCATION 2015-2017 PGDM batch

IFMR held its convocation on April 22nd 2017, for the passing 2015-2017
PGDM batch.

Dr. C. Rangarajan, Former Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to Prime
Minister and Former Governor of RBI and Chairman of MSE honored as the
Chief Guest and delivered the convocation address. Addressing the
convocation, Dr. C. Rangarajan said, “The importance of higher education in
building up a nation is well recognized today. The agricultural, industrial and
scientific growth of this country depends upon creating a corps of well trained
professionals in these areas and this can happen only with good quality higher
education. It is here institutions like IFMR come in and play a crucial role.”

CONVOCATION

Dr P K Biswas, Director, IFMR was happy to announce that the students have
got 100 percent placements in top companies through campus recruitment and
the highest salary offered is Rs.18 lakhs by HSBC Capital and was confident
that IFMR graduates will be able to confront problems and find solutions.

“A total of 42 companies visited our campus for placements this year and the
average salary is 9 Lakhs per annum. Some of the major recruiters were
HSBC, J.P.Morgan, Deloitte, KPMG, Credit Suisse etc.”, he added. He also
said that, “IFMR is getting higher ranking and rating as a top class B-School for
last 3 years and Deakin University , Australia has come forward to sign MoU
with us for research collaboration.

"
The importance of
higher education in
building up a nation
is well recognized
today...It is here
institutions like
IFMR come in and
play a crucial role.

"

ACCOLADES

NIRF 2017 Ranking

IFMR has been ranked 38 (All
India management schools
category) in Government of
India- Ministry of Human

Resource Development's (MHRD)
National Institute Ranking

Framework (NIRF) for 2017.

The Hindu Business Line - MBAUniverse. com
Annual B-School Ranking 2017

IFMR has been ranked 22 (All India) in The Hindu Business Line-
MBAUniverse. com annual B-School Ranking 2017.

MBAUniverse.com, in partnership with The Hindu BusinessLine
newspaper, released the annual B-school Ranking 2017 on December
22. The Ranking, conducted in guidance of an eminent advisory body
chaired by Dr Bakul Dholakia, Former Director, IIM Ahmedabad, used

a comprehensive 360 degree evaluation framework built around
three criteria: Input, Process and Output. Complete Rankings are
available in this link www.mbauniverse.com/mba-ranking/2017/

INAUGURATION OF 2017-19 PROGRAM 

IFMR’s 18th batch of post graduate Prof G R Chandrasekar, PGP Chairman
program in management (and its first ever proposed the vote of thanks.
MBA batch) were inaugurated on
Thursday 1st June 2017 by its new The induction and orientation programme,
President Mr. Kapil Vishwanathan, who which involved interaction with alumni,
shared about his own MBA days at practicing managers, and faculty to get both
Havard Business School. This was functional and sectoral perspectives, was
followed by a lively interaction with IFMR’s done on a fast track basis and regular
largest batch till date – the incoming Batch classes commenced on Monday 12th June
with 240 students. Questions ranged from and the campus is already buzzing with
Macro-economic concerns (Trump effect), industry focused academic activities ranging
to Conflict between Founders and from case discussions to business dissection
Managers (Infy effect). of annual reports.

Director PK Biswas mentioned in his
welcome address that the admission
selection process was conducted over a
period of two months across 17 cities; this
batch has students from 97 towns/ cities
spread across 21 states of India. While
IFMR had traditionally enjoyed good
patronage from women applicants and
has a track record of having more than
30% women at all stages – application,
shortlisting, and selection, this year has
been a record with 36% women. “That it
has taken place without any quota or
bonus marks validates our belief that
given fair opportunity, women will
come to management” – said Director
Biswas. While there has been not much
change in the proportion of engineers
(70% +/- 2%) there has been a surge in
students with commerce background this
year (from the usual 17%-18% to 26%.
Prof Suresh Venkatraman, Chairman-
Admissions also shared his perspectives
on management education and

STUDENTS INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCE 

Having a previous work ex in IT Industry and then moving to capgemini- IT
again, was a wonderful and refurbishing experience. With the glam and
ardor of its name we learnt how consulting has evolved over time and
encountered with different interns from top notch B-Schools which helped
me in gathering the best as MBA teaches us, PEER Learning. To top this
we were assigned with great mentors who helped us in their best possible
way, which I appreciate the most. -Ayaskanta Swain

If you had told me I’d be attending a meeting along with presidents and
CEOs of one of the finest pathology specialist organisation of our country,
working under vice president of Finance department, or aligning them within
auditing process that was discussed in a board meeting, I never would have
believed you. How many people can say that they’ve accomplished that
within such a short amount of time, or even at all during an internship? Well,
I definitely had some of those moments; I also got the chance to participate
in real projects that had a real impact. And yes, talking about my experience
– It was really fascinating and a wonderful experience to work in the
healthcare industry with finance background. - Mitul Mehta

STUDENTS'S INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCE 

It is always beguiling for a fresher like me, when we enter the corporate
world for the first time. For us, it’s all about the shirts, trousers, ties,
blazer and WORK! The journey of my internship was filled with learning
ranging from life skills which are needed to settle in a new city for having
a knowhow of the workplace ethics. The learning from everyone who was
a part of the company was immense and it definitely paved the way for
me into a fruitful corporate life ahead.- Sahil Sheth

New Bee's Experience

Fresher's Experience at IFMR

I remember the day notification popped up on my phone and I saw the
email from IFMR confirming my admission. The reaction was a burst of
excitement and aflutter. The campus gives you a mix of both. You can
experience the B-school energy , but there are some less travelled roads in
the campus which gives you that much needed solitude when you are
looking for it.
Apart from the overuse of Curry Leaves and the need to shower right after
a shower, everything here makes you feel “I’m going to miss this after two
years!”. So, let’s make the best of it. Of this campus, teachers, students,
friends, gym, weather, location. Everything! We might never find a
concoction of serenity and madness. so well balanced.- Aishwarya Ranjan

STUDENTS  EXPERIENCE 

Fresher's Experience at IFMR

I have never been to south before but have always wanted to. Luckily,
IFMR has fulfilled my wish.
It’s been only 20 days here, but it feels like I know this place for years!!
Coming from north to south for the first time has been a unique experience
with completely different weather, food and language. But IFMR feels like
a home away from home, because I already knew many of my batch
mates through city meets and online IFMR group, thanks to genesis team.
Now, I am having my regular classes and i hope I’ll be able to gain
considerable amount of knowledge and experience. In the nutshell, my
overall experience till now is awesome.- Priti Mathur

ISSUE 5 2020

FOOD FOR THOUGHTS

THE STORY TIME

THINKING OUT OF THE THE LOAN-SHARK SAID
BOX (CREATIVE THAT HE WOULD PLACE
THINKING) TWO PEBBLES INTO A
BAG, ONE WHITE AND
In a small Italian town, hundreds of years ago, ONE BLACK.
a small business owner owed a large sum of
money to a loan-shark. The loan-shark was a The daughter would then have to reach into
very old, unattractive looking guy that just so the bag and pick out a pebble. If it was black,
happened to fancy the business owner’s the debt would be wiped, but the loan-shark
daughter. would then marry her. If it was white, the
He decided to offer the businessman a deal debt would also be wiped, but the daughter
that would completely wipe out the debt he wouldn’t have to marry the loan-shark.
owed him. However, the catch was that we Standing on a pebble strewn path in the
would only wipe out the debt if he could businessman’s garden, the loan-shark bent
marry the businessman’s daughter. Needless over and picked up two pebbles. Whilst he
to say, this proposal was met with a look of was picking them up, the daughter noticed  
disgust.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT MORAL
OF THE
that he’d picked up two black pebbles and STORY
placed them both into the bag. He then asked
the daughter to reach into the bag and pick It’s always possible to overcome a
one. tough situation through out of the
The daughter naturally had three choices as box thinking, and not give in to the
to what she could have done: only options you think you have to
1. Refuse to pick a pebble from the bag. pick from.
2. Take both pebbles out of the bag and
expose the loan-shark for cheating.
3. Pick a pebble from the bag fully well
knowing it was black and sacrifice herself for
her father’s freedom.
She drew out a pebble from the bag, and
before looking at it ‘accidentally’ dropped it
into the midst of the other pebbles. She said
to the loan-shark;
“Oh, how clumsy of me. Never mind, if you look
into the bag for the one that is left, you will be
able to tell which pebble I picked.”
The pebble left in the bag is obviously black,
and seeing as the loan-shark didn’t want to
be exposed, he had to play along as if the
pebble the daughter dropped was white, and
clear her father’s debt.

FUN SPOT

A lawyer runs a stop sign and gets pulled
over by a sheriff. He thinks he's smarter
being a big shot lawyer from New York
and has a better education than an sheriff
from West Virginia. The sheriff asks for
license and registration. The lawyer asks,
"What for?" The sheriff responds, "You
didn't come to a complete stop at the stop
sign." The lawyer says, "I slowed down
and no one was coming." "You still didn't
come to a complete stop. License and
registration please," say the sheriff
impatiently. The lawyer says, "If you can
show me the legal difference between
slow down and stop, I'll give you my
license and registration and you can give
me the ticket. If not, you let me go and
don't give me the ticket." The sheriff says,
"That sounds fair, please exit your
vehicle." The lawyer steps out and the
sheriff takes out his nightstick and starts
beating the lawyer with it. The sheriff
says, "Do you want me to stop or just
slow down?

HAPPENINGS @ IFMR

Abhyudaya Women In
Business (WIB)-
“Abhyudaya 2k17” the flagship event of IFMR,
was held on 10th, 11th & 12th Feb. The The speakers club in coalition
inauguration ceremony was held on 10th Feb with WIB club of IFMR organized
2017 with opening speech given by chief a “Debate Competition” between
guests Mr. T.S. Krishnamurthy, Former Chief the students and the professors on
Election Commissioner of India and Mr. Women’s day. An event which
Muthu Kumar Thanu, Head of HR at TAFE. attended and applauded by
The theme of this year’s abhyudaya was houseful audience in the Kothari
“Reminisce” It comprised of both managerial, Hall of IFMR was a huge success.
cultural events .Teams from all over the India To mark the women day in the
participated in the fest. Notably the colleges evening various gaming and eating
are XLRI, IIT Delhi, IIT Madras, IIM Trichy, stalls were setup by the WIB club
JBIM S, KJ Somiya, Great Lakes, and SIBM of IFMR.
etc. Stand-up comedian Mr. Baggy also
performed. Various other events such
Valuation, Insignis, Battle of Brains, Stunt
Biking, Rock band performance by Chennai
street band , DJ’s etc. where some of the main
highlights of the event.

International Yoga Day

International Yoga Day was celebrated at IFMR on 21st

of June 2017. A great greek philosopher Thales has

rightly quoted as” A sound mind in a sound body ”. So

better the health, better the mind and better the

decisions. Beinghealthy starts with us, IFMR on its

journey of making great future business leaders took a

Olympics step forward on this holistic approach this year.When
the clock ticked 6 in the morning ,all the students

As a tribute to the Senior Sportcom members of IFMR, gathered around for celebrating yoga day making it end
the junior batch organized an “Olympics” tournament on a good and powerful note

where each senior sportscom members were asked to

select players through an auction. Teams comprised of

seniors and juniors both. Many games like cricket,

volleyball, football, basketball were played over the

period of two days. Winner of the Olympics was decided

by the team winning maximum number of games.

Independence

DAY
CELEBRATION

Director Prof. P.K.Biswas Hoisting the
national flag

Dance and Mime performance by
students

The MDP Highlights:

IFMR and TAXMACS (a tax consultancy) have
conducted a 1 day workshop on GST for industry – 112
partipants from 28 companies participated. The chief
commissioner of GST Mr C P Rao delivered the key
note address.
. For India’s premier construction conglomerate;
we trained their 1st level of Senior Management –
DGMs on Financial Acumen for effective decision
making- we are looking at this program to be a
recurring one -on a monthly basis
For a Earthmoving equipment supplier – we trained
all functional heads across the organization on
Management in a 4 day offsite program in a
prominent resort.

Industry Institute
Interaction

Mr. Murali Krishna Kishore, General Manager Finance
Division - Vital Solutions, Singapore
shared his expertise on Cross-Border Trade & Trade
Finance. Students actively participated in the
interactive session after the guest lecture on the trade
practices followed nationally and internationally.

About IFMR:

The Institute for Financial Management & Research (IFMR) is a leading business school with
the objective of moulding ambitious young men and women into competent and socially
responsible organisational leaders in a global setting. IFMR’s curriculum offers a mix of theory
with simulated real life exposure and endeavours to shape global business practices through
inventive, sharp thinking and cutting-edge research. IFMR currently offers full-time and part-
time PGDM programmes, a Ph.D programme as well as both open and customised
management development programmes.

For More Information on this Address:
edition, Please Contact:

Prof. R. Sathyanarayanan- [email protected] Institute for Financial Research
Sivakumar- [email protected] No.24, Kothari Road
Priyanka Patil- [email protected] Nungambakkam, Chennai- 600004
Nitin Bellani- [email protected]

Creative Presentation by:

Dipanjan Bhattacharjee- [email protected]