14th July, 2014, Kolkata: The third edition of the annual post-budget analysis session, Budget Plus 3.0, was organized at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) Kolkata. The esteemed discussion panel included Dr. Ranajoy Bhattacharyya, Professor of Economics, IIFT; Dr. Saikat Sinha Roy, Associate Professor of Economics, Jadavpur University; Mr. Akash Mansinka, Manager-Tax and Regulatory Services, EY and Mr. Pankaj Agarwal, Manager-Indirect Tax, EY. The discussion was moderated by Dr. Bibek Ray Chaudhuri, Assistant Professor of Economics, IIFT. 

Dr. K. Rangarajan, Professor of Strategy and Centre Head, IIFT Kolkata welcomed all dignitaries and stated how the budget is indicative of the direction of the Indian economy. He added that IIFT has invited academicians, faculty and industry experts to have a diverse discussion on the budget. 

Members of InFINeeti, the quarterly finance and business magazine, IIFT gave an enlightening presentation on the key highlights of the budget. It was a succinct overview, throwing light on the various schemes and initiatives taken by the Government. Dr. Chaudhuri started the proceedings and spoke on how he looked forward to the economy getting back on track with “higher growth, stable inflation and prudent policy system”, although the double-digit Consumer Price Index was still a major concern. 

Dr. Saikat Sinha Roy stated the economy has not been performing well for the past few years. The trust of the investors in the economy needs to be restored. According to him, the budget “is a document of intent”. The current government manifesto included the need for an overhaul of infrastructure. Conception of ‘100 smart cities’ is a step in this direction. According to him, the implementation of the flagship scheme of the previous government, MNREGA, needs to be relooked. 

Mr. Akash Mansinka discussed about direct tax and said that subsidies should be phased out “for the Indian economy to compete with other economies”. Although the current government is perceived to be industry friendly, yet retrospective taxes have not been removed. Mr. Pankaj Agarwal spoke on indirect taxes and enlightened the gathering on how Service Tax, though introduced only in 1994, garners the highest tax revenues for the Government. He also pointed out the initiatives taken to incentivize the use of renewable energy resources. 

Dr. Ranajoy Bhattacharyya took a different stance from the other panelists and remarked the Government had missed the huge opportunity. Having been elected with an overwhelming mandate, it was time to take few hard measures. According to him, the budget was “pure eyewash”. He questioned the transparency of the Government and its attempt to “surreptitiously reduce expenditure behind the scenes”, referring to the reduction in the expenditure in Agriculture, Rural Development and Social Sector. 

Dr. Chaudhari succinctly summarized key points of each speaker and connected them in context of the entire discussion. After all speakers had spoken, the floor was thrown open to the audience which comprised of students from IIFT. 

The soon-to-be-managers proved to be able listeners and had various questions ranging from the duration of the long term capital gains to increase in FDI in the defence sector. Panelists stated that such an increase would not have a significant impact due to the highly capital intensive nature of the industry. 

The discussion was concluded with the consensus that the budget did fall short of certain expectations but it presents an optimistic state of the economy. The impact of the budget can be fully gauged when we meet next year for Budget Plus 4.0!

By Mohd Zeeshan

‘But monument themselves memorials need’: George Crabbe

Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Kolkata was fortunate to have as a visitor Ms Birgit Dulski on Wednesday, 20^th November thanks to our faculty Dr P.K.Das. Ms Birgit is a senior researcher in sustainable building from the Nyenrode Center for Sustainability in the Netherlands. Since 2001 she has led various projects, initiatives and research surrounding the sustainable preservation of historic and characteristic buildings. She is also involved in other research projects of the Center for Sustainability and in architectural contests where sustainability plays an important role. She combines her position at Nyenrode with a career as senior consultant at the Dutch Institute for Building Biology and Ecology (NIBE).

She gave an interesting presentation on ‘Changing Conditions for Local Architectural Heritage Management’. The presentation started with the changing scenario of the Dutch construction sector due to the European debt crisis, as a result of which all stakeholders are looking at alternative and more effective business models in order to preserve heritage sites and their sustainable renovation. Ms Birgit with the help of her team has set up a ‘Network Sustainable Architectural Heritage Management for Governmental Bodies’  which has resulted in significant changes with both private players and the government coming forward. This also shows the importance of cultural entrepreneurship and is a good lesson for counterparts in India which has a rich history when it comes to monuments.

The presentation was followed by an extensive interactive session with the students with Ms Birgit obliging the students with convincing answers and sharing her views on how she looked at the management of Indian heritage sites. It was a pleasant experience for the students with insights on cultural entrepreneurship and lessons on management and research from an experienced professional from abroad.

I KEEP six honest serving-men (They taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When And How and Where and Who

                                              - Rudyard Kipling

Business Strategy formulation needs these honest serving men to reach a clear cut plan. Socrates, the consulting club of IIFT organized guest lecture by Mr. Subhajit Mazumder on 16th August,2013 in Kolkata campus for second year students. Mr. Subhajit is currently associated with Infosys consulting division and has previously worked with Ernst & Young, KPMG and PwC. The topic of discussion revolved around formulation of Business Strategy and how to approach business case study.

He gave industry insights and practical approach on business strategy. Having attended courses in Strategic Management and International Business Strategy, students were able to relate to the session better and could apply frameworks to real case study.

He walked through the right approach for a business problem; starting from internal company assessment, mapping firm in industry scenario to competitor analysis, potential market identification, and feasible road map for future, sustainable financial projections. Live industrial experience sharing helped students to build upon their academic knowledge. Students were given a real case study to brainstorm and come up with a clear cut thought process to approach a problem.

Session summed up with Q&A around consulting profiles in industry and getting more insights from Mr.Mazumder. Such sessions along with academics help students to get the best of both and make learning more meaningful.

Mr. Rituraaj Juneja, the esteemed alumnus of IIFT took a session on “How to build your network” to build and leverage human networks. It was a highly interactive session where, through the medium of role-plays, he demonstrated the techniques to be employed in order to make a lasting impression in the minds of other people and how to get more and more business cards to grow one’s professional network. In his words, it is imperative that one must “Get rid of 10 business cards and get 10 new business cards every-day “. The session witnessed massive participation from the students and they were able to take home beneficial pointers regarding Business Networking.

By: Vibhor Aggarwal

IIFT Kolkata was privileged by the visit of its esteemed alumnus Mr. Rituraaj Juneja on 23^rd September, 2012.



Mr. Juneja works in the facility of Chief Operating Officer at CORPORATE ACCESS. He is also the brains behind IIFTian.com which is India’s first ever “Student-Alumni-Faculty” highly interactive platform. At the campus, he conducted various knowledge imparting and placement preparatory sessions. He also interacted with the

students, both senior and junior batches on a myriad of topics ranging from stock-market trading to group discussions.

The day began with a session on “Technical Analysis of Stock Markets”. Via the aid of the analysis tool named Iris, he demonstrated how changes in the stock markets are an indicator of events yet to occur. Through the medium of his personal experiences, he drove home the point that diversity in a portfolio is essential when investing. He also provided valuable insights into stock market trading and removed the misconception from the minds of the listeners that trading in stock market is not gambling, rather, it is taking calculated risks using reliable tools to take informed decisions.

By: Vibhor Aggarwal

The IIFT Kolkata campus went up in unison to say “Korbo Lorbo Jeetbo” when Mr. Joy Bhattacharjya, Team Director of Kolkata Knight Riders, came down to address the students on Sports Marketing and Team Building. Mr. Bhattacharjya’s association with IIFT is quite well known as he has been hosting its official quiz “inQUIZition” for the past two years. Speaking on the occasion, he started off by describing how leagues across the globe function and how they run their businesses. He gave the students a brief overview of the operations that go into running a professional sports team. In view of the various allegations of fixing hitting the IPL, he said that any league would be ardently followed by the fans only if there is a fair game on display. Sustainability of the business, according to him, is one of the major factors which the owners keep in mind when investing in a team. To further drive home this point, he detailed the working revenue model of an IPL team.



Moving onto the story behind the amazing turnaround of KKR, he shared with the students, snippets on how the team had to face a difficult time when it wasn’t performing well. He next told the students as to how the entire management team at KKR came up with strategies and policies that would make them a champion team. Defining the objective, empowering the team, finding the right leader and getting all the finer details right are indispensable when it comes to building a successful team. Clearly defined roles, clarity of communication and trust are essential for a team to work as a highly cohesive unit. The challenges one faces while interacting with players of international repute and paying attention to every need of theirs was also dwelt upon by him. Finally, he signed off by stating that having fun too is important as happy players are the key to a winning team.

By: Vibhor Aggarwal & Amar Budati