Saturday, February 9, 2008

ISB in Top 20 (!)

Though I am not a firm believer in MBA rankings, I definitely welcome the Financial Times MBA rankings to place ISB (Indian School of Business) 20th best B-school in the world. ISB ought to receive recognition for its innovation, boldness and strategy. I reserve my judgment if it is really worth to be in the Top 20 and at the outset, it appears to be a bit premature. But, as is true with other rankings, there is no smoke without fire and FT has numbers to give this rank to ISB - which is great.

In recent times, the credibility of MBA rankings has surely taken a beating. Major reason is the mushrooming of sources that issue the rankings. It is surprising to see London Business School in #2, ahead the likes of Harvard and Stanford. But, FT is based in London and so may be they had other assessments too (?). Wharton leads the race for the umpteenth time.

Coming to India and ISB, I believe the diverse class profile, course delivery, cost of the program, duration and the return of investment worked in its favor. The average GMAT for the incoming class is high compared to most other schools in the FT list, which is largely driven by Indian applicants. It is an unprecedented and truly remarkable achievement for the six-year old school. One reason why the IIMs missed the bus, to me, is their over dependence on CAT for admission which eliminates any chance of diversity. I have high regards for CAT (it is the toughest entrance exam to crack) but I feel if IIMs reduce the weightage for CAT (and not compromise on the cut-offs and thus the quality of intake) and implement the currently non-existing requirements like admission essays, work experience in selecting the class, then they (A,B,C) would be on par with the best.

Anyways, it is great to have an Indian school in the list and it only increases ISB's responsibilities to maintain its standards and surge ahead.

Saturday, January 26, 2008

India Rising!

An excellent article on India - A Pakistan editor's perspective.

"The two Ambani brothers can buy 100 percent of every company listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) and would still be left with $30 billion to spare. The four richest Indians can buy up all goods and services produced over a year by 169 million Pakistanis and still be left with $60 billion to spare. The four richest Indians are now richer than the forty richest Chinese.
In November, Bombay Stock Exchange's benchmark Sensex flirted with 20,000 points. As a consequence, Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries became a $100 billion company (the entire KSE is capitalized at $65 billion). Mukesh owns 48 percent of Reliance.

In November, comes Neeta's birthday. Neeta turned forty-four three weeks ago. Look what she got from her husband as her birthday present: A sixty-million dollar jet with a custom fitted master bedroom, bathroom with mood lighting, a sky bar, entertainment cabins, satellite television, wireless communication and a separate cabin with game consoles. Neeta is Mukesh Ambani's wife, and Mukesh is not India 's richest but t he second richest.

Mukesh is now building his new home, Residence Antillia (after a mythical, phantom island somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean ). At a cost of $1 billion this would be the most expensive home on the face of the planet. At 173 meters tall Mukesh's new family residence, for a family of six, will be the equivalent of a 60-storeyed building. The first six floors are reserved for parking. The seventh floor is for car servicing and maintenance. The eighth floor houses a mini-theatre. Then there's a health club, a gym and a swimming pool. Two floors are reserved for Ambani family's guests. Four floors above the guest floors are family floors all with a superb view of the Arabian Sea . On top of everything are three helipads. A staff of 600 is expected to care for the family and their family home.

In 2004, India became the 3rd most attractive foreign direct investment destination. Pakistan wasn't even in the top 25 countries. In 2004, the United Nations, the representative body of 192 sovereign member states, had requested the Election Commission of India to assist the UN in the holding elections in Al Jumhuriyah al Iraqiyah and Dowlat-e Eslami-ye Afghanestan. Why the Election Commission of India and not the Election Commission of Pakistan? After all, Islamabad is closer to Kabul than is Delhi.

Imagine, 12 percent of all American scientists are of Indian origin; 38 percent of doctors in America are Indian; 36 percent of NASA scientists are Indians; 34 percent of Microsoft employees are Indians; and 28 percent of IBM employees are Indians.

For the record: Sabeer Bhatia created and founded Hotmail. Sun Microsystems was founded by Vinod Khosla. The Intel Pentium processor, that runs 90 percent of all computers, was fathered by Vinod Dham. Rajiv Gupta co-invented Hewlett Packard's E-speak project. Four out of ten Silicon Valley start-ups are run by Indians. Bollywood produces 800 movies per year and s ix Indian ladies have won Miss Universe/Miss World titles over the past 10 years.
For the record: Azim Premji, the richest Muslim entrepreneur on the face of the planet, was born in Bombay and now lives in Bangalore.India now has more than three dozen billionaires; Pakistan has none (not a single dollar billionaire).

The other amazing aspect is the rapid pace at which India is creating wealth. In 2002, Dhirubhai Ambani, Mukesh and Anil Ambani's father, left his two sons a fortune worth $2.8 billion. In 2007, their combined wealth stood at $94 billion. On 29 October 2007, as a result of the stock market rally and the appreciation of the Indian rupee, Mukesh became the richest person in the world, with net worth climbing to US$63.2 billion (Bill Gates, the richest American, stands at around $56 billion).

Indians and Pakistanis have the same Y-chromosome haplogroup. We have the same genetic sequence and the same genetic marker (namely: M124). We have the same DNA molecule, the same DNA sequence. Our culture, our traditions and our cuisine are all the same. We watch the same movies and sing the same songs. What is it that Indians have and we don't?

INDIANS ELECT THEIR LEADERS and here we are .......who keep cursing Indian democracy and deploring the situation!!!!!!!!! "