Leaders from top companies share insights on ‘Economic & Financial Reforms’ and ‘Global Marketing for Emerging Economies’ at the seminar

Department of Management Studies, IIT-Delhi became a melting pot for corporate thought leaders and aspiring managers as part of ‘Confluence -The idea Series’, a business seminar organised with MBAuniverse.com as the official management portal. Eminent speakers from different industrial background shared their thoughtful insights on ‘Economic & Financial Reforms’ and ‘Global Marketing for Emerging Economies’ at the seminar.

 Dr. D.K. Banwet, senior faculty DMS, kick started the finance event by stressing upon how India, being a part of the global economy, could not shirk the negative impact of the economic meltdown, even as it sees a significant rise in its global prominence. Dr. Banwet said, “The systematic inefficiencies such as, the conflicting inflationary picture presented by WPI and CPI, should be corrected urgently.”

 The founder of Unicon Investments, Gajendra Nagpal, emphasized the growth opportunity that the next 15-20 years are going to throw open for the Indian youth. However he added, “But massive government investments are required to make people better employable.” He also talked about the opportunity at the bottom of the pyramid, in tier II and III cities and rural areas. He also suggesting the need for MBA students to invest greatly in themselves by increasing general awareness through extensive reading.

 BNS Ratnakar, GM Central Bank of India, while acknowledging the emergent private sector, laid stress on how the public sector still remained a salient growth driver through its unmatched reach. He emphasized on the need for productive co-existence. He also highlighted the unique opportunity the PSUs had landed in the ongoing recessionary climate to capture the best brains from MBA schools across the country.

 Towards the end of the MBA school’s finance seminar, CFO of Fullerton Securities Manoj Naik explained how the next big thing lay in retailing and differentiating financial product offerings, where the suitability and appropriateness analysis based on customer profile was crucial in educating and involving prospective customers.

 The marketing session, was initiated by Prof. Harish Chaudhary, who talked about marketing being less about theory and more about practice and creativity. Adding to this he said, “A firm can add value by doing things which a better organisation does but eventually the firm will have to cross the benchmark to realize its full potential.” Advising student community he ended on the note, “Be selective in what you want and go deep into it.”

 Co-founder of Digiqom group Jai Vikram Bakshi, begun on a high-note of ‘Being and becoming the change that you want to be’. Clearing the mists surrounding World 2.0 he begun by obviating the shift in consumer perception, from conventional media like newspapers and billboards to interactions over internet blogosphere, facebook, twitter, youtube and the entire range of disruptive media: the next frontier for marketing. He said, “Free is the business model of today, with exploring, engaging and expressing the mantra in this age of social news networks and crowd sourcing.”

 Others who were present at the marketing seminar organised by the MBA school include Vivek A. Munshi, marketing head Ranbaxy; Ms Svetleena Choudhary, SM marketing, Adidas; Vivek Menon, Head marketing Jones Lang Lassale Meghraj; and Sudarshan Majumdar, director marketing and corporate communication, Fortis.