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? We often talk of IIMs as centers of excellence -- which they are. But, then, how many such centres do we have? Six? Is that sufficient?’’
Further, he asked, “What is it that business schools can do to enhance the capacity and capability to turn out much larger numbers?”
These were queries, that many agreed, that were uncomfortable yet pertinent. Munjal said, “I sit on the board of the Indian School for Business (ISB) and it alone would have more alumni than all the IIMs put together very soon. So we need to realize the need to expand and expand dramatically at that. Can we think of having 50 IIMs? Scores of trained leaders, who are not just managers, are required to bring about a turnaround and perch the country on top. So, can we think of raising the number of IIM graduates to 30,000 a year?”
Arguing that the present environment required new rules to be crafted, he talked about the shortcomings and challenges that our management institutes are facing. He said, “The shortcomings that our institutes are facing are in the kind of intake that we have at our business schools. Most students have with no work experience.”
Besides students, faculties also need to “think global”, he said: “We need to be more open-minded, global-minded. We have the opportunity to mould them [students] into outstanding leaders for tomorrow. The more interaction we create, the more opportunity we get to open up their minds. We need to be global in attitude, in consistency, quality and service because that’s what the customer demands.”
To become leaders, students need to be given the best options. Munjal said, “There is too much information but how we get the best is the concern .We are not doing enough research in our B-Schools at present. I guess faculty-industry exchange at regular basis should be encouraged.”
Advocating the need for changing mindsets, he said the reason why companies prospered in the License Raj and faltered later was because they were unable to adjust to the changing environment. “Our PM talks of 10% growth. A few years ago, no one would have believed it. Now even 12 to 14 % growth can be made possible if only we believe in ourselves. It is here that B-Schools would have to make the difference.”
Stressing that people must be ready to bring about a change in mindset, he said, “Competition can come from unforeseen quarters.” He added, “Business schools in India have done a tremendous job but that’s not enough. We have to look forward to the new challenges. And I believe we will not discuss much the fear but we have to think for ourselves.”
