MBA-RM CAREER ADVISORY SERVICES COMMITTEE

XIM University’s flagship programme MBA-Rural Management is a unique mix of specialized courses and field experiences which prepares future change-makers to bring sustainable development to society. Because of the excellent curriculum and illustrious faculty guidance, our alumni have accepted challenges and left a distinctive mark in the corporate and development sectors.

Dean, School of Rural Management

Chairperson, Career Advisory Services, Rural Management

Dr. Niraj Kumar
E-Mail ID: niraj@xim.edu.in

Contact: +91-9437012962

Dean's Message

Since its inception in XIMB, the Rural Management programme (MBA-RM) has established an outstanding record of academic delivery and social service. MBA-RM aspires to be among the top sectoral management programmes creating social change makers of global influence. Excellent faculty members have been able to mould young graduates into true professionals who bring desirable changes and nurture a culture of inclusive and sustainable growth. Our exceptional alumni are our core strength and have brought laurel because of their selfless and remarkable contributions. Following the principle of Jesuit education, we are committed to serving our society, our country, and humanity.

FACULTY MEMBERS

Prof. Pradeep Kumar Mishra

Mail ID: pkmishra@xim.edu.in

Prof. T Kumar

Mail ID: tkumar@xim.edu.in

CAREER ADVISORY SERVICES COMMITTEE OFFICIALS

Jigisha Das

Mail ID: jigisha@xim.edu.in

Seetara Rath

Mail ID: seetara@xim.edu.in

Student Team Members

Coordinator: Rahul Shinde

E-Mail ID: srm_cas@xim.edu.in

Name	Roll No	Contact Number	Email
Rahul Shinde	UR21039	7016111520	ur21039@stu.xim.edu.in
Abhinav Kumar	UR21001	9123149218	ur210001@stu.xim.edu.in
Alisa Anil	UR21005	8130371768	ur210005@stu.xim.edu.in
Harish Ayakar	UR21015	9930295625	ur21015@stu.xim.edu.in
Ishika Kumar	UR21024	7999894625	ur21024@stu.xim.edu.in
Sri Harshitha	UR21027	6300296249	ur21027@stu.xim.edu.in
Siddharth Hota	UR21055	7896232770	ur21055@stu.xim.edu.in

ABOUT RM CAS

Career Advisory Services (CAS) of the School of Rural Management (RM CAS) is the apex body in charge of all activities related to placements. Industry Relations of the School of Rural Management, XIM University is also managed by the CAS team, thereby forming a nexus between the student fraternity of School of Rural Management and the industry. The core competency of the CAS team is in building corporate relationships, corporate communications, marketing of the school to the industry and, carrying out the annual placement process of the final year management batch as well as the Summer Internship Placements for the first-year students.

SUMMER INTERNSHIP PLACEMENT

The Summer Internship Programme forms an integral component of the MBA course with an attempt to bridge the gap in student’s perception between academics and the corporate world. Under this programme, students undergo an 8-week internship at organizations where they are encouraged to take up time bound multi-disciplinary and goal-oriented assignments. During this period, the students seek to learn the various dimensions and their operations in their respective organisations. This not only enhances their analytical and decision-making abilities but with hands on experience further grooms them to be future managers.

XUBERANCE - FINAL PLACEMENT

The placements witnessed a multitude of roles from BFSI, consultancy, development, financial inclusion, healthcare and marketing and sales, amongst others, offered by the 31 companies participating in the process. The present trend of placements highlighted a special focus on financial inclusion and revival of the microfinance sector. The BFSI and the Consulting sector fetched the maximum package. Along with the RM program’s regular recruiters in XIM University such as AMUL, ICICI Bank, Satin Creditcare Network Limited and PRADAN, several new companies showed a keen interest in the batch. Some of the new recruiters were Optimus Pharma, IFFCO, Mordor Intelligence, Parle, RBL Bank, Corteva, Sinochem, Anmol Feeds and AISECT, among others.

LEADERSHIP TALKS

The Leadership Talks organized by RM CAS facilitates industry Leaders to deliver corporate insights to budding Rural Managers on different fields existing in, and on different practices adapted by the Industry. These Talks provide an opportunity for the students to sensitize and brainstorm themselves with current trends followed by the Industry.

EVENTS

2021

Mr. Guruprasad Choudhury, Co-Founder & Secretary, Odisha Corporate Foundation (OCF), delivered a Leadership talk on 17th January 2020. He initiated the session by drawing experiences from his life while working with a corporation, sharing its insights with the students. He touched upon the idea of Odisha evolving over the years in terms of the Odia Community working the world over now.
Mr. Sanjiv Kanwar, Country Manager at Yara International, delivered a Leadership Talk on 22nd February 2021. The topic for the session was “Challenges and Solutions - Indian Agriculture.” Mr. Kanwar started the session by throwing light on the challenges faced in the realm of Indian Agriculture and the role of FPO in mitigating the challenges now faced. He emphasized on the importance of FPO’s in empowering the farmers and its dynamism giving them a competitive advantage in the market.
Mr. Siddhartha Bhattacharyya, Vice President & Head - Retail Advisory Services & Internal Sales Franklin Templeton delivered a Talk on 11 April, 2021 on the topic, “Kal Aaj Aur Kal – PPF”. He threw light on the need to make investing a part of our everyday lives. He also emphasised the importance of beginning investment early to reap maximum benefits.
Mr. Vidyasagar Patnaik, Director at The Reserve Bank of India delivered a Talk on 18 April, 2021 on the topic "International Relations from a central bank perspective". highlighted the importance of central banks in maintaining international relations, which directly affects trade partnerships globally. He gave a brief account of the history of evolvement of the significant monetary institutions in the world as IMF and the World Bank.
Mr. Surender Makhija, Strategic Advisor & Sr. Vice President, Jain Irrigation delivered a talk on 20 April, 2021 on the topic “Sustainable Water Distribution for AtmaNirbhar Bharat". He highlighted the need for water conservation and efficient irrigation facilities for sustainable agricultural progress. The session concluded with his insights on alternative means to water storage and harvesting to cater to the needs of future generations.
Mr. Shyamal Chatterjee, Director and India Head of Operations, Tupperware India Pvt. Ltd delivered a Talk on 24th April, 2021 on the topic "Changing landscape of Indian Rural market and how businesses are aligning to gain from it". He emphasized the importance of Rural India as India resides majorly in its villages. The income and consumption patterns of Rural India holds the key to boost consumption demand making its importance grow manifold for the growth of the economy as a whole.
Mr. Siddharth Dasgupta, "Associate Director, Government and Public Sector for Europe, Middle-East, India, and Africa (EMEIA)" at Ernst & Young delivered a Talk on 25th April, 2021 on the topic "How to get certain during uncertain times". He started the session with his insights on the skills sets needed today and the need to invest in ourselves to prepare for any uncertainty that lies ahead of us. The world is dynamic, and so are the challenges. The solution lies in inculcating habits like reading and exploring avenues outside our comfort zone that invariably would help us in widening our knowledge base, which in turn will bolster our confidence.
Mr. Anuj Agarwal, Chief Operating Officer,Skill Development for Sustainable Livelihood and Inclusive Growth, ICICI Foundation delivered a talk for Udhayam, a corporate Lockdown series of talks on 12th June, 2021 on the topic "Socio Economic Development and Sustainability for Rural India". He threw light on the methods to be adopted by the organizations for being relevant amidst the ongoing pandemic. He also emphasized how to balance the pillars of sustainability in line with the organization’s philosophy while designing projects to be growth-oriented and viable.

June - July 2020

Mr. Sanjay Panigrahi, Former Chief Customer Officer, Pidilite Industries Limited delivered a Leadership Talk webinar on 11th June 2020. He shared his thoughts on Remodeling Rural Market- Customers and Market behavior post COVID. Rural India being the new center of discussion and an aspiration for a post-COVID India, we as management graduates need to assess the shortcomings first and then formulate the solutions with suitable technologies. COVID-19 has changed the pace of digital penetration at every level be it rural or urban. Working from home has been accepted as the new normal given the fact that it has become an indispensable necessity. As management graduates, our terminal goal would always be the profitability of our organization but the process of achieving so has to change in a way that we are empathetic and sympathetic for the producers. Hence, the goal is not just profitability but sustainable profitability.
Mr. Nixon Joseph, President & Chief Operating Officer of SBI Foundation, delivered a leadership Talk webinar on 24th June 2020. He shared his thoughts by highlighting the necessity for a Management student to have basic knowledge about the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, ISO 28000, etc. A major roadblock that the industry faces in CSR activities is the lack of real-time information on the grassroots level in the communities. One of the verticals of rural management is to explore the areas where development can be carried out in an efficient manner. Considering the aftermath of COVID-19 on the CSR Sector, the corporates will have to follow short term relief funds with long term community upliftment plans to efficiently turn the scenario of the truly distressed communities around. The 'Atma Nirbhar Bharat' initiative can only be strengthened when the rural areas become self-sustainable and are able to become a part of nation-building.
Mr. Debasis Mohapatra, State Project Manager, Odisha Livelihood Mission (OLM), and Mr. Keshaw Jha, Dy. CEO of Odisha Rural Development and Marketing Society (ORMAS) delivered a Leadership Talk webinar on 27th June 2020. Mr. Mohapatra and Mr. Jha shared their thoughts on Agricultural Value Chain Management. The current need for an increase of producer share in consumer money can be fulfilled by a holistic value chain and supply chain management. The importance of studying the livelihood pattern, activities of every actor involved within is a key to a successful study and establishing a value chain analysis. Understanding Consumers, market demand is important for successful commodity selling. The flow of information and feedback is essential for a complete and continuous supply chain. The sector and subsector, primary and secondary analysis are the keys to building a chain that our Rural community needs today.
Mr. Kartik Gangwani, Global Brand Manager, Hero MotoCorp Ltd delivered a Leadership Talk webinar on 2nd July 2020. He gave in-depth insights into how marketers are coping up with the ongoing Pandemic situation. He also spoke about the Top-of-Mind technique and how disruption is bothering the consumer more rather than their health risk. He further spoke about the category drivers and the new shopping baskets present in the current scenario. The online interaction helped the students get an idea about the change in the media viewership and the required optimization technique in terms of TV and Digital Media. The students were enlightened by his personal experiences and recommendations on how Strategic Brand Management will help products to survive the forces of the market in the long run. Considering prevailing slowdown, candidly quoted by Mr. Gangwani for Batch of 2021 that "Saving money from Summer Internship for an MBA student was unprecedented."
Mr. Rahul Mullick, Deputy Director, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation delivered a Leadership Talk webinar on 3rd July 2020. He shared his thoughts on the Scope and Expectations in the Development sector in India. The session was a dynamic dialogue between the industry stalwart and the final year MBA students. He emphasized the need for a constant and radical transformation in the health care sector wherein lies the core competency of the Gates Foundation. What really comes up as a challenge is the last-mile delivery of the essential services such as immunization and sanitation facilities to the communities. It is important to note that the foundation continually strives to integrate cutting edge technology and innovation in order to achieve scalability in terms of impact and outreach to the communities. As an institution of learning imparting management education in the field of rural management for the last 25 years, it is an honor for us to be associated with such people and organizations who are a part of the nation-building.
Mr. Pratyush Kumar Panda, Head CSR, ACC Limited delivered his thoughts on the first-ever Alumni Leadership Talk organized by XIMB-Rural Management Alumni Committee and the Corporate Relations – RM Career Advisory Services on July 4, 2020. Mr. Panda highlighted the paradigm shift in the development sector especially in terms of funding. The radical shifts in the financial vertical of the development sector are mainly due to the change in the nature of the development sector over the years. What used to be ground-level development activities for providing essential services has today been subsumed under the umbrella of overall community development in terms of services as well as a better standard of living. Digitization and integration of technology have brought tectonic expansion in the scope and capacity of organizations to change people's lives across the country. The key takeaway from this talk was that digital transformation of financial services is the new norm for sustainable development.
Mr. Sashidhar Thumuluri, MD and CEO, Sub-K IMPACT Solutions Ltd. delivered a Leadership Talk webinar on 18th July 2020. He shared his thoughts on the integration of technology in financial services. The focus was on the financial services that the industry has undergone a paradigm shift in terms of operations and customer interface. Fintech is being integrated into customer interface and risk assessment returning higher customer involvement and better feedback in terms of service quality to customers. The organization strives to integrate cutting edge technology and innovation in order to achieve scalability in terms of impact and outreach to the communities. They bridge the gap between the communities and the financial service providers by connecting them with financial institutions across India.
Mr. Eugene Koshy, Chief Purpose Officer, Muthoot Fincorp delivered a Leadership Talk webinar on 25th July 2020. He stressed on the integration of technology in the NBFC industry. Muthoot is one of the leading organizations in the gold loan markets as well as small to medium lending groups which is a huge consumer group but with a significant lending risk. He stressed on the importance of customer relationship and trust which is one of the hallmarks of conversation marketing. One of the best takeaways from this talk was the fact that the conventional brick and mortar model of banking systems is fast disappearing and what matters today is the ease of doing business and higher mobility in terms of last-mile delivery and customer satisfaction.
Mr. Nitin Chaudhary, Founding Member and Director, Samunnati Financial Intermediation & Services Private Limited, delivered a Leadership Talk webinar on 1st August 2020. He discussed the challenges that are going to appear in the post COVID era. Mr. Chaudhary focused on the fragmented landholding size and Information asymmetry existing in the farming community is a major challenge for the present system i.e., be it government or private entities to tackle. Samunnati Agro Solutions has come up especially with models to deal with agriculture lending and product designs. The need for tech support is costly. The future lies with linking to FPOs, Cooperatives, Contract farming, and local Agri entrepreneurs. India is moving towards building a sustainable farming economy and organizations like Samunnati is always an asset.
Mr. Rahul Jha, National Head Sales, Nearby Technologies Private Limited, delivered a Leadership Talk Webinar on 2nd August 2020. He has shared his insights on the concept of open banking, which is a suitable way to reach every retailer which is nearly 2.5 crores in India. The Bank Mitras/Open bankers can be a great tool to connect customers and retailers. This system provides the customer with a hassle-free system for money transfer and withdrawal while the retailer gets incentive and opportunity to grow customer relationships and business. Nearby Technologies which have been working with open banking has built up digital infrastructure and has emphasized on two important strategies to penetrate the FMCG market, i.e Low-cost margin and Digital Financial service. In the developing scenario, Rural still has a long way to go in building digital infrastructure in a sustainable way.
Mr. Sankar Sastri, Head - Retail and Rural Business at Adani Capital delivered a Leadership Talk webinar on 9th August 2020. He has shared his learning from his personal and professional experience focused on the importance of having patience in these tough pandemic situations. He encouraged students in pursuing new skills to overcome challenges/failures and stressed the importance of having constructive attitude towards it.
Mr. Vinay Kushwaha, Vice President - Supply Chain, Britannia Industries Limited, delivered a Leadership Talk Webinar on 15th August 2020. He expressed his thoughts on the supply chain in an FMCG company that is analogous to the circulatory system in the human body. Britannia has a very large and strong supply and distribution channel which were affected by COVID-19 but the VUCA scenario was perfectly managed by various dynamically molded strategies. He said that the world’s biggest lockdown in India resulted in a shortened supply chain, a sudden increase in demand, and fast cash flow. The low margin high volume product industry faced mobility and staff restrictions and yet, cutting edge innovation was applied in the product distribution strategies and a slew of digital innovations were enacted for dynamic services.
Mr. Nand Kishore Chaudhary, Chairman and Managing Director, Jaipur Rugs, delivered a Leadership Talk Webinar on 22nd August 20. He shared his journey of life and how he overcame human hypocrisy, societal discomforts, and defying orthodox traditions, the love of weaving has him to build up the strongest pillars for Jaipur Rugs. He expressed his love towards his work with different Indian cultures. Mr. Chaudhary says the future of business lies in the decentralization of power. He said that the co-creation of his product with technology and understanding of community mobilization has weaved sound business processes into cutting edge marketing strategies that have brought sustainability and new opportunities ahead for him.

SUMMER INTERNSHIP PROGRAM

Ms Sai Samyukta Vaddadi

The School of Rural Management congratulates Ms Sai Samyukta Vaddadi for being selected for Caspian Debt Summer Internship Program ’22. The efforts put into this work are deserving of every bit of praise. We congratulate you on your devotion and hard work. We hope you continue improving your skills and shining brighter.

We wish Ms. Sai Samyukta Vaddadi all the best for her Summer Internship Program.

Ms Sumedha Saxena and Ms Idaa Prateechee

The School of Rural Management congratulates Ms Sumedha Saxena and Ms Idaa Prateechee for being selected for ICICI Foundation Summer Internship Program ’22. The efforts put into this work deserves every bit of praise. Congratulations to both of them for their devotion, and continue improving your skills and shining brighter.

We wish both of you all the best for your Summer Internship Program.