Testimonials

“The beginning of a new month, the turn of a new leaf.  The air of learning; the time of transition and belief.”

In September 2021, German precision and excellence combined with Indian agility and innovation, marked the commencements of the two flagship programmes at IGTC.  Keeping all safety protocols in mind, the digitally and acoustically upgraded IGTC classrooms magnificently welcomed students in the physical mode, along with keeping an ongoing live-stream for the virtual audience.  

The Post-Graduate Programme in Business Administration, Batch 2021 – 2023 was inaugurated on 1st September 2021, while the Executive Business Management Programme, Batch 2021 – 2022 was inaugurated on 4th September 2021.  Both ceremonies commenced with the traditional lighting of the lamp followed by a short prayer to bless the learning journey. To ensure full participation from those on the virtual window, a provision was also instated to light the lamp virtually.  

As a part of the induction to the PGPBA Batch, faculty Dr. Anita Bandyopadhyay engaged the students to understand faculty expectations from the batch. The simple hand clasp exercise highlighted that life was about to change and that change makes one uncomfortable and uneasy. Acceptance and a vision of new order will enable the class to readily accept challenges. In the second exercise, she placed various images on the floor in a spiral form. Students had a look at all the cards and pick 1 that they resonated the most with, in terms of their current feeling. Post which students were asked to talk personally with their batch mates and share why they selected the picture, how they felt and what has worked out for them in their life till date? This helped the students to understand each other better.  

In the last activity, she explained the IGTC Spirit and Values though the concept of ‘when you flip two negatives, you get a positive’. Negative actions were to be deleted and final positive actions to be adopted were penned down by 12 groups on 24 colourful hexagonal cut-outs. The placement of these cut-outs resulted in the shape of a beautiful butterfly.  Dr. Anita explained that the process of change will result in a lot of struggle, challenges and transformation, much like a butterfly undergoing metamorphosis.  The IGTC journey is replete with ups and down, and constant pressure just like the larva in the cocoon.  But finally, the promise is that they will all emerge and transform into butterflies.

As a part of the welcome to the EBMP Batch, IGCC Director General Stefan Halusa emphasized on the seniority of the IGTC faculty and the richness of content that makes him long to be student again.  Faculty, Shuaib Fakih, Dr. Harkant Mankad, Dr. Suhas Rane and Rajeev Chawla also addressed the incoming managers and congratulated them on their decision to adopt a student life amid the bustling corporate life.  The inauguration was followed by the first Economics lecture delivered by Dr. Harkant Mankad, who took the batch through the history of global economics. 

With the hustle of students, managers and faculty back in class, the charm of IGTC is now back at its peak. With continuous learning and engagement, we hope that the nexus of knowledge, behaviour, skill and challenges fosters the educational environment further. We wish the new learners continued support and success during their journey at IGTC.

Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try. 

Between the end of 2019 and beginning of 2020, a group of 100 PGPBA students and 41 EBMP Pune managers took on the roles of learners at IGTC. An unrestrained journey; involving constant changes of various degrees at IGTC, collaborating with peers, exploring new perspectives and learning from their mistakes; they were really confronted with the precipice of life. However, with sheer resilience, they have truly evolved.

41 managers of EBMP Pune Batch 2020 scaled mountains to finally reach the academic summit on 3rd August 2021 at the Oxford Gold Resort, Pune. For the Certificate Awarding Ceremony, faculty Dr. Anita Bandyopadhyay engaged the graduating managers to reminisce their academic journey. She used a tree as a metaphor and symbol of growth and advancement to represent their experience with various dimensions encountered during the programme.

• The roots symbolise IGTC as an institute; the heart, soul and strength.
• The soil represents the IGTC Team; the anchors and nurturers.
• The trunk signifies the EBMP; the fortress and support system. 
• The leaves embody the Faculty; the builders and drivers.
• The flowers denote fellow IGTCians; the learners and troublemakers.

The other prominent messages coming out of this activity included transformation, challenges, friendship, lifelong learning to capture a few. The highlight of the ceremony was the Victory Drum Circle: a Drum – Strum – Hum session, where the rhythm of the beating drums, the metallic jingle of the tambourine and the roars of joys marked their triumphant voyage.

The Post-Graduate Programme in Business Administration

Close to 70 students gathered personally at the Hotel Intercontinental, Mumbai while the rest joined online on Saturday, 7th August 2021 to witness the culmination of their 18-month PGPBA journey.  With over 97% placed, every student’s face told a different story: stories of successes, triumphs, growth and hope for a brighter future.  While all of them were overjoyed to finally receive their graduation degrees, the greatest underlying emotion was euphoria to meet their peers, faculty and the IGTC team.

The ceremony included the distribution of awards to the various student recipients: 

• IGCC’s Dr. Günter Kruger Award for Excellence to Rashmi Rao and Yashashree Borse
• Siemens’s Excellence Award to Ronak Contractor and Yashashree Borse
• Bayer’s Championing Success Award to Mrunali Jadhav, Rashmi Rao and Vanalika Bhuta
• BASF’s Award for Business Ethics and Corporate Governance to Durgesh Kaushik

IGTC in its most personalized ceremonies invited the esteemed faculty to be Chief Guests, and give out the truly deserved certificates and trophies. The pride on the face of every PGPBA student and EBMP manager donning a cap and a gown was a sight to behold.  

From engaging presentations in class to asking whether their voices are audible on zoom, the two batches have come a long way. The journey of the two batches ended here on an emotional yet cheerful note. The bond, affection and love continues forever.  We wish all the students and mangers every success on their continued personal and corporate journeys.

The German Dual System of Education has been the cornerstone of the IGTC Post-Graduate Programme in Business Administration (PGPBA). Internships, whether physical or virtual, play a significant role in the PGPBA curriculum, as the joint educational responsibility is shouldered by our Partnering Training Organizations in grooming young management talent into Corporate-Ready Professionals. Students gain an exposure to the organizational culture as well as magnified learning and networking opportunities.

After 4 months of intense curriculum at IGTC, the students proceeded for their 1st Practical Training Term from January to March 2021. Here are some sharings of their experiences:

“Integrating lean principles into digital transformation helps achieve radical simplification of the process. As an intern in Bosch Automotive Electronics India Private Ltd, I worked in the Strategic Planning team to study Inventory Visualization, Capacity Planning and set up appropriate standards for the processes. The current analogue process was converted to digital solutions to reduce the man-hours required.

The daily routine at BOSCH, starting with GEMBA walks, helped me to observe the shop floor’s operational reality, and allowed me to raise the relevant questions and work with the team on process optimization. I learnt one prime principle of operation management: Of course, data is important, but place the greater emphasis on facts.”

Chetan Chaudhari, Bosch Automotive Electronics India Private Ltd

“In my first internship, I was tasked with data analysis and market research about sales productivity. With the help of Visual Analytics tools learnt at IGTC, I was able to analyse and present the data to my reporting manager in the most effective way. It helped me to know my organization more deeply especially in terms of its products, the various functions and the operational branches. It also helped me to strengthen my analytical skills. In return, it also benefited the organization as they could draw out the volume of sales according to regions from the data submitted by me.”

Rahul Nair, Bayer India Pvt Ltd.

“I had the privilege of working with a team of financial professionals in the Accounting Close department supporting Private Bank Clients for Germany Head Office. I gained a profound understanding of daily cash and bank Monitoring, external audit support for disclosures process in term of preparing a summary of disclosure under IFRS and HGB GAAP and sharing working file with auditors.
I was also responsible for preparing Master Key Operating Processes for various disclosures as per International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). This was a novel task and served as an interesting learning for me.”

Shriya Kansara, DBOI Global Services Private Ltd.

“In today’s marketing era, products are designed and manufactured based on customer’s feedback. Post marketing surveys help us understand the proper positioning of products. As an intern at B|Braun Ltd, I conducted a market survey for a comparatively newer concept in the IV Fluids market, Balanced Crystalloids. My learnings from B2B Marketing and Business Communication helped me to establish the right network with the organizations’ clients and vendors. My learnings from Research Methodology and Market Research came to test while collecting and presenting the data to my mentor. This helped the company to understand the scope of IV Fluids in the market and the perception of the product in the minds of the doctors.”

Kanira Patel, B|Braun Medical India Pvt. Ltd.

“At Siemens, I was entrusted with packaging supplier transformation, by connecting new packaging suppliers, searching different vendor bases and raising Requests for Quotations (RFQs). I could communicate professionally with the new and existing suppliers to enhance the business network. It built my confidence and also helped the organisation source new suppliers. The practical exposure of Supply Chain Management helped me to relate further to the subject at IGTC in Term II. The different concepts such as Kraljic Model, Quality, Price and Service ratings have further enriched my knowledge and experience.”

Shambhavi Chalke, Siemens Ltd.

“In the Sales and Product Development department, I had the opportunity to explore the North-Eastern market, spanning Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura and Meghalaya, for the road construction equipment of the organization. I learned how to approach the right audience, the art of selling, showcasing appropriate market information, building and valuing new connections. The expectation was to gain a sense of the market and the positioning of its competitors along with assimilating as much knowledge as possible without worrying about targets.”

Siddhesh Phulaware, Wirtgen India Pvt. Ltd.

With every Partnering Training Organization giving their respective trainee the best corporate exposure, the students learnt to make the most of their most valuable internship experience, despite the pandemic. By learning and training under business mentors, the German Dual Education System flourished to give great benefits to both, the students and the organizations.

Dr. Harkant Mankad, the senior most faculty at the Indo German Training Centre (IGTC) Mumbai, conducted a one day training workshop for corporate executives with the theme of “Making Sense out of Economics – National and Global”.

The workshop, with the expressed take away to understand the complexity of economic policy and assess the alternatives of scenario for the economy in near and medium term, focused on the post pandemic challenges for the economy of India and of the world.

Economic growth was the result of spending by the consumer, creation of new capacities by private investors and by the government. The pandemic has adversely affected earnings, i.e., purchasing power and had caused 7.5% negative growth of Indian economy, and nearly 5% negative growth of global economy. Drawing an analogy from the stalled car, Dr. Mankad indicated how monetary and fiscal authorities are pushing the economies with cheap money, deficit budgets and increasing debt.

Cheap money policies of the central banks, including RBI, has heralded the regime of low interest rates, excess global liquidity, asset price inflation, and expansive public dent. Bond markets, always having significant role in monetary economics have moved to center stage. Through bond buying programs, central banks keep the interest rates low, push liquidity in the economic system, encourage borrowing by state and private players alike. A significant part of the liquidity has found escape in speculation on stock, money and commodity markets.

A debt bubble was brewing, high probability that a burst of the dent bubble in medium term would have the derailing effect on economies, like that burst of housing bubble in 2008.

On fiscal side, the governments have gone for deficit funding. The US has already spent or is committed to spend $7 trillion, over 8.5% of global GDP. With the US $ as the global reserve and accounting currency, expansion of supply of the US dollars is the cause for global inflation in general and commodity and stock price inflation in particular. In India, for understandable reasons, the application of FRBM (Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management) Act discipline has been further moved to 2026 and may need to be moved to the end of the decade because of the fiscal needs of the second wave of pandemic.

In short and medium term, economies of the world, including that of India, will have to live with inflation and economic stagnation. Stagflation of 1970s may reappear nullifying the power of economic policies to have a positive impact on the direction of the economies. China by supply of cheap goods, provided inflation antidote for last 25 years. With Anti-China, pro-nationalist economic policies in the west and in India, disruption of China supply chain would put increasing pressures of inflation. It will hurt the other economies more than that of China. India will face both demand pull and cost push inflation.

In interaction with the participants, Dr. Mankad also discussed the prospect of select industries, of increased productivity and possible increase in unemployment by push that pandemic gave to IT and AI sectors, effects of policies of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, aspects of foreign exchange rates and of the US dollar, and of energy insecurity of China. He concluded with his favorite quote, “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.”

Culture hides more than it reveals and strangely enough what it hides, it hides most effectively from its own participants. Years of study have convinced me that the real job is not to understand foreign culture but to understand our own.

Edward T. Hall

The Indo-German Training Centre organized an Open Programme on ‘Intercultural Adaptors’, presented by faculty Mr. Jugal Choudhary on 2nd March 2021. An alumnus of Harvard Business School, Boston, he is accredited in Intercultural Management by The Hofstede Centre, Helsinki and, is a visiting faculty at IIM, Ahmedabad and Bangalore.

Our world is increasingly becoming interdependent on resources, services and products from far-away geographies. Differences in cultural values between nations have posed very significant challenges and have led to huge financial losses. These differences are hard to observe and are even harder to deal with. The traditional approach of providing ‘Cultural Sensitization’ to executives has major limitations.

Intercultural Adaptors are culture-specific tools, templates, structures and process changes that allow an effective connection across different cultures; much like an electrical plug-socket adaptor. These Adaptors are developed with the aid of well-researched cross-cultural frameworks and allow an individual to act in alignment with his/her native value system and yet communicate and collaborate seamlessly with individuals and systems from a different culture. Jugal’s unique approach of creating Adaptors to connect across cultures has been successfully applied by several global companies.

Two organizations ThyssenKrupp Materials IT Services India Pvt. Ltd. and Evolute Systems Pvt. Ltd. nominated managers to participate in the programme. These participants belonged to backgrounds as diverse as Information & Technology, Strategy and Software. Before the programme a pre-course survey was done with the participants; some of the key issues raised were:

• Communication gap between onsite and offsite teams
• Germans do not like our sugar-coated responses and instead ask for a lot of details
• Often behaviors are interpreted in unexpected ways
• It is hard to build trust with ‘them’

 
Through interactive games, role plays, case studies, videos, quizzes and presentations, participants learned about popular frameworks of cross-cultural differences and the concept of developing Adaptors. The participants couldn’t stop laughing at themselves when they learned about challenges westerners face when communicating with Indians.

The day-long cultural journey concluded with a presentation by the participants of actionable plans, for themselves individually and for their organizations.

BASF, the largest chemical giant in the world, took the PGPBA Batch of 2019 – 2021 on an unusual corporate expedition; one spanning 6 lectures. This journey familiarized us with the ethics and principles that are so firmly ingrained into the moral fabric of the organization.

Over the last 4 semesters, we had learnt in great detail the importance of corporate governance and values via our curriculum in various functional areas. The final milestone before graduation, was learning how to incorporate ethics in each of these functions from the BASF stalwarts.  BASF India brought to light the importance of ethics and values through live examples and numerous case studies in areas like Marketing & Communications, Procurement, Legal & Compliance, Finance and Human Resources. BASF has now set high benchmarks for us in our personal and professional lives.  Today, it is an undisputed fact that whenever every IGTCian thinks of Ethics, they will first think of BASF.

Opening lecture by Mr. Krishnamohan Narayan, Managing Director BASF India

The series commenced with an interactive session with Mr. Krishnamohan Narayan emphasizing the underlined principle that when a business is built on CORE values it tends to survive in the long run; as compared to companies that look for shortcuts and instant profitability.  As a man of his word, he stood for ethics over profitability when asked to choose between the two. Business Ethics are truly tested when the contract rightly favours both parties signing the contract. Companies today must have a futuristic view and with the present environmental crisis following the compliance norms would be the only way to survive.

Marketing & Communication Lecture

Mr. Bhavik Doshi and Ms. Deepti Shetty in their opening remarks added that in the online space how a person or a brand communicates, effects the audience perception. This was demonstrated through Hindustan Unilever’s response to the Green Peace onslaught on their brand Dove; for harming the environment. Hindustan Unilever was tactful by not responding immediately while simultaneously taking required steps to become a more sustainable brand. This taught us how fragile a brands image truly is and sometimes it is better not to react as any further communication could be detrimental to the company.  In contrast, today individuals prefer following faces associated with the brand rather than the brand itself; personal marketing is now taking precedence over brand marketing, and this is visible through the examples of Elon Musk, Vishal Sikka, Chanda Kochhar etc. 

Legal & Compliance Lecture

This session focused on SEBI Regulations and the Code of Conduct presented by Mr. Pankaj Bahl and Mr. Pradeep Chandan. It began with an explanation of corporate governance encompassing stakeholders, communities, transparency, values, processes and practices followed by the organization. It enhances customer centricity, partnerships, shareholder value & community and environment responsiveness; companies have severely neglected their responsibility towards the community and the environment.  CSR and corporate governance was brought into SEBI regulations; it remains a compliance as every individual has different integrity. This was demonstrated through the example of ENRON, where employees inflated financials and made fraud representations, resulting in bankruptcy in 4 years. Hence it is up to individual corporates to comply in order to sustain.

Procurement Lecture

The procurement session by Mr. Venkateswaran Srinivasan and his team made us introspect on our day-to-day behavior. The Kahoot activity gave us insights on how often we choose to be unethical when it comes to mundane tasks like following traffic laws or travelling in trains without a ticket.  The team pointed that it is more likely to be unethical in the procurement department, here is where ethics are put to the test. Procurement deals with suppliers on a daily basis where cost and quality manipulation is most likely; the role play highlighted the importance of buyer awareness in such a transaction. A discussion on compliances by both internal as well as external stakeholders revealed that no matter how big or small a part of BASF you are, ethics always takes priority.

Finance Lecture

Ms. Meenakshi Mishra began with an explanation on the increasing financial scams in the VUCA world; a small change in a numerical can drastically alter the image of an organization for the worst. The Code of Conduct is essential especially for senior management; this helps to keep a check on individual ethical practices. The Code of Conduct governs Financial Reporting at the organization with respect to forex volatility, incorrect practices, misreporting, unauthorized transactions, outsourcing risks and fraud processes; and its associated policies. The Approval Matrix ensures zero unauthorized transactions, with the accountability lying with multiple managers. 

Human Resources Lecture

The series concluded by Ms. Nalini Nutan and Mr. Samsundar Palaparthi addressing how the path to robust ethical culture begins with Human Resources. A company’s beliefs and values are truly tested in the face of pressure; this was explained using the Iceberg model which states that 80% of an individual’s behaviour is dependent on beliefs and values; 20% is based on skills acquired. They also highlighted the need for a whistle-blower policy for employee protection. We had the opportunity to analyze the mistakes that Jet Airways made and also learnt how the case would be different had the organization followed ethical corporate governance and cared for the staff that had displayed loyalty toward the organization for years.

Through this series we learned the importance of a detailed Code of Conduct which can answer questions that may arise amongst employees when faced with a dilemma. We also understood the importance of hiring individuals whose personal goals and values align with that of the company. It goes without saying, BASF left us with some unforgettable lessons that we will take ahead in our personal and corporate lives.

The end of the BASF lecture series marked the end of our time at IGTC and the start of our journey in the real world where these lessons will help us navigate our way to success.

The Indo-German Training Centre’s Post Graduate Programme in Business Administration (PGPBA) has been a confluence of young minds for 3 decades now. However, learning took an online detour in 2020. Students from diverse educational, cultural and professional backgrounds who came together during this difficult year, were by no means hampered in their enthusiasm to learn. Despite being at home and studying only in a virtual space, they learnt to collaborate as a team under the expertise of world class faculties at IGTC and stumbled on a gold-mine of learning. Enlisted below are their diverse learnings and assignments accomplished in the first four months.

Fundamentals of Management: The Whole Nine Yards

Knitting a beautiful tapestry with the available fabric; Fundamentals of Management essentially wove the entire curriculum into a work of art. Learning several managerial concepts and theories like Theory Z, McKinsey’s 7s model, core competencies of an organization, corporate level strategies, value chain analysis etc., and connecting them with every subject at IGTC in order to make informed decisions.

Managerial Economics: Imaginative learning at its best

Managerial Economics helped move beyond traditional economics, and build a rational solution to obstacles faced by organisations with a 360-degree view of micro and macroeconomic concepts.

• Suggesting ways to improve the livelihood of the elderly in Toyama, Japan; a country with a disproportionate age demographic.
• Understanding the role of smart technologies in shaping the global future.
• Curating a financial newspaper for the year 2025 and predicting the scenario considering several PESTLE factors (political, economic, social, technological & ecological).

Marketing: Fish where the fish are

Beginning with the 4P’s of marketing, this module took us on a journey covering service marketing, brand equity models, pricing strategies, new product development, marketing communication and promotion strategies, B2B marketing, advertising, sales promotions, CRM

• Collaborating on a project and understanding various dimensions of marketing keeping in mind both B2B and B2C scenarios. The project concluded with a presentation on the marketing plan, tactics & strategies, SWOT and situational analysis, financial projections and finally idea implementation.
• Solving a number of B2B Marketing case studies along with a classroom discussion on the same.
• Assessing decision making units for different B2B industries.

Operations Management: A well-oiled machine

The founding stone of every modern business irrespective of their nature of the operation. The course is designed to understand key concepts like Theory of Constraints, Lean Manufacturing Techniques, Total Quality Management, and Toyota Production System in most simplified way putting customer at center of Operation management principles.

• Interacting through Case studies like Birmingham Machines, Federal Express and Nuclear fizzle to understand key concepts of operation.
• Learning and understanding companies on the recovery road in the aftermath of the pandemic.

Organizational Behaviour: A case of Creative Classwork

Organizational behaviour involves steering an organisation in the right direction, understanding and predicting organisational life, nature and activities. It highlighted ways to increase employee morale and studying group dynamics in the organizational setting, classroom activities involved:

• Evaluating yourself with various personality tests to understand behavior and concepts.
• Creating a case study on an assigned topic, probing its different aspects this was followed by an enactment and presentation of the case.

Human Resource Management: People & Culture

The subject aimed to dive deep into various aspects of human resource management and how it influences overall growth of the organization. Hiring Process, Competency Mapping, Target and Goal Setting, Employee Value Proposition etc. are some of the keys concepts covered in the course.

• Using the Mural app students were to enlist various factors affecting the organizational structure. This being a group activity students were required to contact an alumnus or a senior working/ training with a German company and study the organization structure of that particular industry.
• Converting the goal statements of an organization into SMART goal statements, based on various criteria

Finance & Accounts: In for a Penny, In for a Pound

Finance plays a significant role in the value chain of the enterprise. It starts with accounting and ends with financial strategy. A 3 tiered course allows for an understanding of this journey by creating ledgers, trial balance and balance sheets. Finance enables individuals and organizations design a course of action to control the costs. Subjects were taught using Microsoft Excel thus enhancing the online teaching-learning experience.

• Determining the performance of a listed company through the calculation and analysis of various financial ratios.
• Conducting weekly MCQ based tests via ‘Testmoz’ to revise learnings and to test understanding of the subject.

IT for Mangers: Think Big, Think Data

IT for managers aims to gives a combination of two very dynamic aspects of any business: Management Expertise and IT. The course allows student to explore various tools like SAP ERP, Emerging technologies like block chain, AI and machine learning to deliver the intended value leveraging IT technologies.

• Improving productivity, automating data processing and enhancing business performance by studying process efficiency in business.
• Gaining insight on how mangers can leverage technologies like Block Chain, Machine Learning and Robotics for making better-quality decisions through an understanding of Wood Energy and Rolls Royce Case Study.

Quantitative Methods: The Number Game

Understand the implications of the numerical solutions derived from statistical tools like mean, median, mode, standard deviation, binomial and poison distributions, hypothesis testing and its application to business use.

• Enabling descriptive, predictive and prescriptive analytics which is critical for any organization by studying live data from different sources and statistically interpreting them.

Research Methodology and Market Research: From Ground Up

Mapping out the profile of a customer using a structured process and analysis techniques. It helps gain valuable insights into several demographical information essential in creating a tailored marketing campaigns.

• Emphasizing various stages involved in a structured and scientific market research.
• Conducting secondary research for gaining critical insights into different sectors and providing recommendations.
• Modelling and interpreting publically available data sets, interpreting results and making statistically sound decisions with the help of IBM SPSS.

Visual Analytics: The Art of Storytelling

The intermingling of data analytics and visualization of information is at the core of Visual Analytics. With the right methodologies and accurate data representation viewing high volume data is simplified thus leading to swifter decision making.

• Preparing business data according to target audience, using methods like Complaint Received vs Processed, Attributes of Service Provider and Tier wise breakdown of clients.

Business Communication: The Power of Words

The dependence of individuals and organizations on the virtual space today has further emphasised the importance of communication. It aids in planning and decision making, facilitates coordination and establishes effective leadership.

• Pitching a start-up idea to prospect investors and laying down the quarterly plan for a year.
• Writing a report to the investor of the start-up, including a brief update of milestones achieved in the particular time period.
• Building networks, both formal and informal through various groups and influencers to promote the start-up.

The pandemic has posed a number of challenges in the online learning sphere, and with the close of the first semester, students are now gearing up for internships at the various training companies. Banking on the curriculum learnt, they are now confident to embark with renewed spirits and excel at their organizations. With 2021 being the corner, the PGPBA student now turn a new leaf, a corporate leaf.

Article contributed by Chetan Chaudhari, Harshita Maru and Pratik Anand, PGPBA Batch 2020 – 2022

Exceptional beginnings happen under the most unusual circumstances. At a time, when normalcy is still a desired reality, IGTC Mumbai aspired to work on an ambitious project of expanding its high-impact Weekend Executive Business Management Programme (EBMP), which was confined to a local Mumbai and Pune reach, to an All-India Executive Business Management Programme (EBMP) with a more significant demographical reach. By no means, this was an easy proposition, but then being phenomenal has always been the mantra at IGTC!

Bringing together managers from across the country and facilitating learning and growth, the All India EBMP Batch borrows from the accepted international block or modular approach; the programme spans 16-months divided into 6 blocks of 9 days each to be held every 3 months at IGTC Mumbai.

On 9th January 2021, IGTC opened its doors to 23 seasoned managers from Gurgaon, Jaipur, Kolkata, Rajkot, Bangalore, Nashik, Pune and Mumbai. It is inevitable to say that we created a ‘Little India’ under one roof at IGTC. The inauguration began with the lighting of the lamp. The batch was warmly welcomed with an address by Radhieka Mehta, Director IGTC. In his opening remarks, Stephan Halusa, Director General, Indo-German Chamber of Commerce attested the credibility of the IGTC EBMP and congratulated the managers on surfing the learning wave. Other speakers at the inaugural ceremony included IGTC faculties Shuaib Fakih, Boman Moradian, Dr. Harkant Mankad and Dr. Anita Bandyopadhyay along with many of the HR and Business Heads across the sponsoring companies. All of them endorsed the spirit of being resilient and overcoming the tough year 2020 and congratulated the managers on positively embarking on this journey of lifelong learning.

Since 20 were attending in person at IGTC and 3 of them were attending online, IGTC faculty and team had to deal with the complexity of delivering the programme in a hybrid mode. The first quarter of 9 days introduced the managers to four fundamental modules. Here is what was covered and what they have to say:

Financial and Cost Management by Mr. Shuaib Fakih

Concepts explanation began with basic finance concepts such as Balance Sheet, Profit and Loss Statements, Valuation Ratios, Equity and liability, Performance Evaluation, Profitability, ROCE, understanding the Annual Report. The faculty explained concepts relating it to live examples of Reliance Retail. Concepts learnt in the classroom were then applied to the Joy and Kwality assignment to test conceptual clarity.

Mr. Fakih had the most difficult challenge at hand, of teaching finance to non-finance professionals. The hallmark of a great teacher is to keep it simple, and avoid using the ‘jargon’. And the way he explained the financial topics, from a Manager’s perspective, was astounding. He maintained a bird’s eye view and regularly explained the context and relevance of different approaches like ratios and costs. The examples and the exercises were designed to make us think and evaluate different scenarios to be able to make better financial decisions.

Gary Chandy, Deputy General Manager – Marketing, Minda Industries Limited

Emerging Leadership by Dr. Anita Bandyopadhyay

A highly interactive session with an immersion into several human and corporate themes such as Organization Design & Structure, Strategy, Career Planning, Goal Setting, Performance Evaluation and the Appraisal Process, STAR Technique, Talent Management and Interpersonal Interaction. The Johari Window, an evaluation tool provided them opportunities for self-introspection and insights. The module ended with an assignment on Career Planning, to be studied in light of their current work environments.

“I expected a session on HR topics but I didn’t know that Dr. Anita Bandyopadhyay is a rare breed; she effortlessly combines her core strength i.e. HR with business sense. She explained how our SMART goals should help businesses to grow. With her flair and anecdotes, she made us reflect on our own values, our goals, our communication styles. She singlehandedly raised the self-awareness quotient of the group by more than a few points.”

Subhendu Kusari, Associate Manager, Voith Paper Technology (India) Pvt. Ltd., Kolkata

Marketing Management by Mr. Sagar Narsian

The Marketing module dived deep into concepts such as the Product Life Cycle, New Product Development, Product Value Canvas and Marketing Segmentation. Marketing Strategies, were discussed at length covering Concentrated Marketing, Differentiated Marketing, Undifferentiated Marketing and Custom Marketing. Marketing concluded with assignments on Consumer Research, PESTEL and SWOT analysis.

“Marketing is about ‘meeting customer needs and wants profitably’. And Mr. Sagar Narsian, is excellent at conveying this mantra and ensuring that we imbibe it. From precipitated silica to SCADA systems to manufacturing auto components to fax machines to FMCG, his knowledge in different industries and products was dumbfounding. Apart from marketing strategies and segmentation and product value canvas, topics like Buying Centre were an eye opening and will probably help us in closing deals faster.”

Dharti Rathod, Founder and CEO, Imark Consulting and Training, Rajkot

Managerial Economics by Dr. Harkant Mankad

Dr. Mankad left the batch stunned not only with concepts in macroeconomics but the history behind world economics. The first 2 days of the module took the managers into the major drivers of the modern economy, demography, technology, foreign exchange, digital revolution, political and migration crisis and of course his favourite topics of the Oil-Dollar battle, Globalization and the VUCA world!

“Candid yet profound, Dr. Mankad seems to have the world history and economics at his fingertips. He aptly narrates how seemingly unconnected events and causes on one part of the world leads to impact another geographically apart. From him, one can visualize the shape of the world’s future far ahead from the present. I loved his style of being so grounded in his perspectives and had a great time learning from him. Undoubtedly, he had the entire class engrossed in rapt attention.”

Krishnan CL, Deputy General Manager, Bosch Limited, Bengaluru

After this intense classroom experience; the managers returned to their professional lives with new perspectives and learnings that they will continue to observe, practice and integrate in their workplace. This defines the duality of the German Education System, which is the cornerstone of this learning experience. IGTC looks forward to next 16 months journey with the All India 1st EBMP Batch!

The cornerstone of the program, the vastly experienced faculty, exceeded my expectations. They broke down complex topics into easy to understand concepts with practical applications and made the learning fun. Their diverse experience meant we had a plethora of relevant examples from the industry. The IGTC team offered amazing hospitality to what is an eclectic batch of professionals from different industries and domains. I couldn’t have asked for a better start to the program. I am happy that I made the decision to join this program and I am excited about the journey.

Abhishek Gupta, General Manager, SMS India Pvt. Ltd., Gurugram

The programme is very practical and interactive. The faculty and support staff are exceptional, the engagement they have maintained since Day 1 is something that I was not expecting with an executive programme.

Prasad Nawathe, AVP – Research, Decimal Point Innovative Research Solutions, Nashik

This has been by far one of the best courses I have ever attended. The data provided to us is immaculate, clear and in-depth. Faculties keep us more engaged with relevant and real life examples which indirectly attracted our interest towards each module. Thank you IGTC.

Dipika Gavankar, Senior Digital Media Strategist, Pressto Drycleaning and Laundry Services Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai

TYFBA….Thank you for being Awesome!! A BIG thank you for taking care of us as kids!!

Sachin Hon, Senior Manager, Glatt Systems Pvt. Ltd., Pune

Article contributed by Abhishek Gupta, General Manager, SMS India Pvt. Ltd., Gurugram, 1st All India EBMP Batch 2021-2022

The anecdote goes ‘One teaches; two learn’, however at the Indo-German Training Centre this equation is slightly modified; when brilliant industry professionals candidly engage with PGPBA students; we can only say ‘One teaches; a hundred learn’.

Our eminent guest speakers for the term included:

• Praveen Chandola, HR Head India and HR Business Partner, Sennheiser India
• Amit Kalra and Divya Kalra, Co-founders, Innovate4India
• Dr. Lakshmi Nadkarni, Ex. Director Human Resources, BASF India

Praveen Chandola: 20th October 2020

A human resource professional, Praveen Chandola has been a part of Sennheiser India for over 13 years. With expertise in training and coaching, he imparted his ideas and experiences on the subject to the students. The key discussion revolved around coaching; and its distinction from counselling, mentoring, consulting, training and athletic development.

Coaching is all about asking questions on a deeper level, it helps raise awareness around an issue and generates new thinking in order to arrive at a solution. The coach will only move you in the direction of your goal, and it is you that needs to find your path.

To make an impact to the IGTC students, Praveen Chandola offered to coach 5 students pro-bono for a span of 3 months.

Amit Kalra & Divya Kalra: 26th October 2020

Amit Kalra; member of the management team at Hilti and Divya Kalra, a change maker; together have co-founded Innovate4India.

With the aim of grooming conscious leaders, Innovate4India works around 4 ideologies that can change India:

Build Communities of Purpose, Frame 108 Questions by 2021, Create Challenge Contests, Build Communities of 200000 Innovators by 2025. The four areas that they wish to work in include Waste2Wealth, Jalvitran, Linking the Unlinked and Rural Connect.

In a move to promote various sustainable development goals among IGTC students, Innovate4India encouraged them to join the momentum and to submit proposals for a month long internship. 5 teams put forth their proposals on the topics – Scraping old cars and batteries, Safety of stray animals, Over-population, Plastic waste management, and Education in rural India. After review, the first two proposals have been shortlisted for the internship.

In a move to promote various sustainable development goals among IGTC students, Innovate4India encouraged them to join the momentum and to submit proposals for a month long internship. 5 teams put forth their proposals on the topics – Scraping old cars and batteries, Safety of stray animals, Over-population, Plastic waste management, and Education in rural India. After review, the first two proposals have been shortlisted for the internship.

Dr. Lakshmi Nadkarni: 1st December 2020

A stalwart in the field of Human Resources, Dr. Nadkarni has been closely associated with IGTC for over a decade.

The VUCA world in 2020 has been amplified leaps and bounds. The commencement of internships at several training companies has resulted in a shift from Paying to Learn to Paid to Perform & Learn. It will give the students an opportunity to launch themselves.

The key insights of the session included: observing and blending with the organizations culture, the importance of 5 C’s – Choice, Collaboration, Communication, Critical Thinking & Creativity, expected behavioural traits, ethics, anticipated challenges, the difference between policy and politics, the role of Values, Beliefs and Morals in the organization etc.

We are no stranger to the drastic changes that have surrounded us in the last couple of months, and we expect such changes to continue for the generations to come. These sessions have made us realize that a vision of the future is now crucial; and coaching conscientious future leaders must become an educator’s resolve.