Prameya issue 14

Success HR Strategy PMS Teamwork

HR Management

HR

Talent Management

STRATEGY

L&D

s gres ProProgress

Issue 14

Foreword At WeSchool, education is not limited to classroom learning. WeSchool believes in adopting global practices of experiential, prototyping, learner-centric pedagogies for an enhanced learning experience so as to produce Globally Responsible Leaders of Tomorrow. This has been validated by the industry professionals as WeSchool won the “Best Practice in Innovation in Management Education” award for its ‘Global Citizen Leaders Pedagogy Program’ at the 5th NHRDN National Conference & HR Showcase 2016. Another award that followed was the BMA Academic Excellence of the Year 2016’ conferred by Bangalore Management Association.

Our theme article in this issue titled ‘HR Role Redefined – Strategize to Survive in VUCA Times’ dwells on evolution of the HR industry over the decades. The Leadership at the helm and people employed need to adapt to these emerging HR trends.

WeSchool faculty and volunteer student participation in the NHRDN – HR Conference & Showcase 2016 provided them an opportunity to interact with various HR leaders, understand the new HR practices and future trends of this industry.

The Guruspeak article offers an interesting analysis on the opportunities and challenges of implementing the widely debated Goods and Services Tax (GST).

The article on the Global Leadership Program for the Australian Delegation, conducted by our Management Development Cell will provide you a glance into a 5 day-workshop designed to showcase business opportunities in India. Arthakul - the Finance Club hosted the ‘Pre-Union Budget Session 2017’ that provided insights on the forthcoming Budget 2017. Our WeSchool alumnus has shared his perspective on HR Role in Modern Times and how the students should prepare themselves to become future successful HR professionals.

The Awards and Achievement section captures our student winners at various inter B-school competitions along with achievements of our faculty members.

An interesting corner ‘The Talent Corner’ highlights the passionate and myriad interests of some of our students. The Rotaract Club, WeSchool shares the Rotary Youth Exchange experience where students from Denmark visited the campus. Christmas-the year end celebrations at campus energized the students to look forward to New Beginnings—2017.

Happy Reading!!

Signing off till we meet again with the next Issue

Faculty Editorial Team Editor

Prof. Dr. Sonia Mehrotra

Assistant Editor Ms. Shilpa Pathak

Editorial Team Member Ms. Ishani Chakraborty

Student Contributors Team Student Team Ms. Ishita Agarwal Ms. Priyanka Bajaj Ms. Somya Mitra Ms. Akshada Nakhate Ms. Neha Kalbande

Magazine Design

Mr. William Dayabaran

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Contents 01

Foreword

03

Group Director and Senior Dean & Director

Institutional Achievement

04

-Innovative Pedagogy Award: NHRDN Showcase 2016

Articles 11

GST Implementation in India: – Opportunities and Challenges – By Prof. Dr. Hema Doreswamy Associate Professor, Finance

-Bangalore Management Association Award

HR Role Redefined

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- Strategies to Survive in VUCA Times

HR’s Role in Modern Times - A Perspective – By V Ramlakhan Annavarpu an Alumnus (2013-15) WeSchool Bangalore Sr. Executive – HR, Godrej Industries Limited & Associate Companies

- Ms. Shilpa Pathak

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Assistant Editor – Prameya - Prof. Jyoti Joshi Pant Assistant Professor – HR Specialization - Ms. Ishani Chakraborty Research Associate – CECD

Events 14

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Pre- Budget Session 2017

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Achievements — Faculty & Student Achievements

- Arthakul (The Finance Club)

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- WeSchool at NHRDN Conference & HR Showcase 2016

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WeSchool MDC

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Rotary Youth Exchange Programme

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Celebrations

— Global Leadership Practices Programme

— Denmark Students’ visit at WeSchool

— Christmas Eve 2016

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Talent Corner

Prof. Dr. UDAY SALUNKHE GROUP DIRECTOR, WeSchool

“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire” – William Butler Yeats

Prof. Dr. ANIL RAO PAILA

SENIOR DEAN & DIRECTOR, WeSchool, Bangalore Campus

“Great Vision Without Great People Is Irrelevant” – Jim Collins

At WeSchool, we believe in igniting the minds. As our future leaders there is a dire need for this young generation students to develop global mindset, foster greater awareness of self and context and develop a holistic problem solving attitude. WeSchool believes in imparting a learning experience that can help students cope with the changing needs of the business world. The education imparted using multiple methodologies of concept based and experiential pedagogy helps in developing responsible, socially connected individuals ready to take on the challenges of the real world.

At WeSchool we are deeply inspired by these words.

An organization achieves success not only by proposing a great vision, but by the relentless persuasion of it by its human resource. Today, the emerging unarticulated needs and realities need a new approach both in terms of thought as well as action.

The future leaders have to be agile to understand the changing business environment, sound in their technical skills, efficient motivators to rear committed followers with firmly grounded in reality of life.

WeSchool curriculum focuses on providing a holistic education to the students to excel as future leaders.

Our attempt is to become inspirational teachers. Our approach emphasizes that students learn by doing i.e. through application of acquired knowledge. The campuses are the learning hubs with data, science and design all unified to provide a series of inspiration.

The state-of art infrastructure and facilities such as innovation lab/ prototype lab, learning resource centres, discipline clubs, an intensive curriculum and peer learning opportunities contribute to the students’ overall learning experience. The students are encouraged to participate in various international and national competitions/programs under the guidance of faculty mentors. Our strong industry interaction often translates in fruitful opportunities for our students.

It’s my pleasure to share that WeSchool received the “Best Industry Linked Emerging Management Institute” award conferred by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), besides the “Best Practice in Innovation in Management Education” award at the 5th NHRDN & HR Showcase 2016 and the “BMA Academic Excellence of the Year 2016” award. The Bangalore campus has grown leaps and bounds under the directional leadership of our Group Director Prof. Dr. Uday Salunkhe. Our strength lies in our ability to adopt a balanced approach towards education that has the optimal mix of theory and practical applications that helps nurture ‘complete’ individuals in the two years of their tenure with us.

I believe the learning expedition at WeSchool will help students transform as ardent learners in life with an analytical mind and empathetic heart. It will help them transform into competent and successful professionals leaders.

Prameya –the campus magazine captures the details of our events, activities conducted, maps the latest industry trends as well applauds the achievements of both students and faculty members.

Best wishes Prof. Dr. Uday Salunkhe Group Director, WeSchool

I welcome all to read our Prameya issue 14 Best wishes Prof. Dr. Anil Rao Paila Senior Dean & Director, WeSchool, Bangalore Campus

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Institutional Achievement

National Human Resource Development Network (NHRDN) HR Showcase 2016 Awards

WeSchool Bangalore was the winner of the “Best Practice in Innovation in Management Education” category at the 5th NHRDN HR Showcase 2016, held on 8th and 9th December at Bangalore. The event provided both industry and academia to showcase their best practices in the field of Human Resources.

Five competition categories of: i) Corporate HR Best Practices; ii) Best HR Research Papers; iii), Best Practice in Innovation in Management Education; iv) Corporate CSR Best Practices; and v) Most Promising HR Startups were showcased at the event. The participant audience number ran up to 2000 over the period of two days. The practices showcased included HR topics such as Recruitment, Hiring, Talent Acquisition, Talent Management, Learning & Development, Assessment, HR Analytics, Career Management, Employee Engagement, Coaching & Mentoring, Employee Safety & Wellness, Leadership, HRMS, Payroll & Compliance, Diversity & Inclusion, Orientation & Induction Programs, HR Technologies, Total Rewards (Compensation & Benefits), Values etc.

In the category of ‘Best Practice in Innovation in Management Education, 22 Management Institutes participated in the preliminary rounds and 9 Management Institutes were shortlisted as the finalists. WeSchool Bangalore emerged as the winner in this category with their ‘Global Citizen Leadership Pedagogy program’ that offers an opportunity towards holistic development of students, nurturing them to become responsible leaders of tomorrow. A cash prize award of INR 1 lakh was received by the Institute.

Bangalore Management Association (BMA) 2016 Awards

WeSchool Bangalore was awarded the “BMA Academic Excellence of the Year 2016” on the occasion of BMA’s 63rd Anniversary Award Ceremony. The event was held on December 27th, 2016 and the award was conferred by the Chief Guest for the occasion Honourable Justice Sri S. Rajendra Babu, former Chief Justice of India.

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Theme Article

HR

Role Redefined – Strategize to Survive in VUCA Times

Strategy finds its roots in military warfare. It is defined as a plan to reach a goal under uncertain conditions. Strategy in the management discipline refers to the long term goals of an organization. Organizations achieve their desired goal as a result of competitive advantage built on amalgamation of resource allocation, brand positioning, consumer base and market share. Good strategy allows a company to do better than their competitors. The Human Resource (HR) Management provides a coherent approach to the management of an organization’s most valued asset – the employees; it is the employees of an organization that individually and collectively contribute towards its goal achievement. Consequently, HR is considered as the function of an organization that intends to maximize employee performance in line with the employer’s strategic objectives.

People or Employee Management today has become one of the key differentiators of an organization. All the other technological advancements can be replicated but not the inherent quality of employees their functioning and management. Leadership has a crucial role to play to recruit, nurture, and uphold talents. There is a symbiotic relationship between leadership at the helm of the organization, Human Resource Policies of the company and the employees. Leadership plays a defining role which cannot be underscored or ignored in driving strategic role of HR in a business or situation.

History provides us with numerous insights as to how leaders addressed human resource challenges when confronted with a daunting task to achieve their political dreams or business goals. For example on January 18th 1803, America’s President Thomas Jefferson requested $2500 authorization from Congress to fund an exploration of the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean. It led to the formation of ‘Corps of Discovery’ - a team led by the then US Army, captain Meriwether Lewis and his fellow soldier William Clark for an expedition up the Missouri river. The team comprised of unique men having a diverse background: races and nationality - American, Irish, German.

Both the leaders understood the importance of diversity which brings complementary skills to solve complex problems. The leaders had an uphill task of leading a group of men through an unchartered tough terrain never explored by any American and a region that belonged to Shoshone Indians. Clark in his journal wrote “The expeditions depend on a judicious selection of our men; their qualifications should be such as fit them for service; otherwise they rather clog than further objects in view…they will not answer our purpose”. Merit was the sole criterion to select the team for the expedition.

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Theme Article

Talent management and its significance were understood by Clark and Lewis 200 years ago. The captains looked outside the Military Ranks to build upon their team - Joseph Whitehouse was a tailor, Silas Goodrich a talented fisherman, John Colter and the Field Brothers were excellent hunters. The unique competency each individual bought on expedition was valued by both the leaders. Sacagawea – an Indian Tribe woman was one of the most valued members and the only woman hired in the team. Clark and Lewis understood the importance and the value Sacagawea would bring to the expedition team. This 16 year old teenager was knowledgeable and understood the realities that could be encountered in expedition to the Western harsh plains owing to her Indian origin.

Sacagawea knew how to construct shelters, make and repair clothing, and most significantly how to find and preserve food in the harsh terrain of Western plains.

Also, she played the role of a diplomat and a communicator between the Corps of Discovery and the Shoshone Indians and helped to establish peaceful relations. By having a woman on board for the expedition, Sacagawea, and her Indian origin helped to nullify the tensions that existed between Americans and Shoshone Indians. She expressed and communicated to her Indian tribes of the peaceful intention of expedition which made the Indian tribes to be more accommodating to Corps of Discovery and helped the expedition team in sourcing horses which was a necessity to traverse the next phase of the journey.

Surprisingly, those leaders of the 19th century understood the importance of diversity and felt that it must be cultivated. Diversity helps to bring creativity and innovations to solve problems. Multiple voices lead to new ideas, new services, and encourage ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking.

Diversity has become a paramount in leading across the organizations today as there is an urgency to increase the talent pool. Companies no longer view diversity and inclusion efforts as separate from their other business practices and recognize that a diverse workforce can differentiate them from their competitors by attracting top talent and capturing new clients.

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Theme Article

“For us to be successful, our men and women must reflect the diversity of the communities and cultures in which we operate. That means we must attract, retain and motivate people from many backgrounds and perspectives. Being diverse is not optional; it is what we must be.” – Lloyd Blankfein, CEO, Goldman Sachs Companies are contemplating hiring people with disabilities, rural youth, and veterans into mainstream employment.

In India organizations such as Robert Bosch and Titan Industries are skilling them on a large scale under their corporate social responsibility initiatives. Gitanjali Jewels, Titan Industries, Lemon Tree hotels etc., are few company names that are on forefront of reaping benefits of a diverse workforce. Global giants like Ford, Xerox, DuPont, Citigroup, IBM, Motorola, Proctor and Gamble, Eastman Kodak, Price Waterhouse Cooper, American Express and AOL Time Warner have gone beyond hiring a diverse workforce. They are today using hard measures from the Balanced Score Card framework to assess the benefits of diversity. There is need for the HR community to build a strong economic case for workforce diversity. While industrial sectors such as IT and Business Process Management are mature in their Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) practices, there are, however, many other industries where these initiatives are non-existent.

“Apple is open. Open to everyone. No matter where they come from, which language they speak, who they love or how they worship....in the words of Dr Martin Luther King, ‘We may have all come on different ships, but we are in the same boat now’.” – Tim Cook, CEO, Apple It has been noticed that gender-diverse teams perform better than single-gender teams. Men and women have different view-points, ideas, and market insights, which enables better problem solving; leading to superior performance at the business unit level. Also, it provides wider access to resources, information and industry knowledge.

Gender diversity helps companies attract and retain talented women.

This especially becomes relevant in today’s time as more women join the labour force around the world. Companies cannot afford to ignore 50% of the potential workforce and expect to be competitive in the global economy.

In the year 1991, Deloitte & Touché was grappling with a problem as how to retain the highly qualified women professionals. Despite hiring a large number of women from leading business schools, the higher turnover rate for women employees was a source of concern to the CEO Mike Cook, who took initiatives to resolve the issue with a firm determination along with the HR team. The firm announced new policies aimed at offering more work- life balance for women. It was quite intriguing to know that women were not leaving work to raise families; but because in a male dominated culture at Deloitte consulting firm; as the prestigious work intricate assignments were being handed over to the male counterparts. Yet another significant finding was that women got evaluated on their performance; men got evaluated on their potential.

A consulting profile requires traveling across the globe when working on prestigious assignments. To overcome challenge of work fatigue and family issues, Deloitte launched a new program 3-4-5. Consultants working on out-of-town projects were to be away from home three nights a week, at the client site four days a week and in their local Deloitte offices on the fifth day.

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Theme Article

In today’s Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) world, business have changed into warfare for survival. The challenges are mapped into opportunities for HR professionals based on Dave Ulrich’s framework of HR champions. People function can play a strategic role the in today’s business scenario.

One of such recent developments that pose a challenge as well as opportunity for HR is technology and automation. Organizations in manufacturing and services domains are using artificial intelligence to automate many work flows. Many companies are using automation in recruiting and selection. HR will grapple with many of its processes automated and therefore redundancy of some jobs.

This also means that with some entry level jobs becoming redundant, the HR will need to reanalyze and redesign the jobs at the entry level with the line functions. The HR can take a proactive role to identify new competencies expected of the fresh college graduates, redefine their campus selection criteria and redesign the skilling programs.

HR can become change agents to create future job roles and use more sophisticated hiring and selection methods.

Many data driven assessment companies like Aspiring Minds, Wheebox are using which is using analytics to measure talent thereby enabling prudence in talent acquisition.

Another challenge is managing the millennial workforce. Gen Y born between 1980 -2000 is the latest entrant to the workforce with the youngest still in college. They constitute 25% of world population and roughly 50% of the Indian population. From the above statistics, it is evident that Gen-Y is going to form the largest part of the workforce in the future and the HR managers cannot ignore their presence. Research indicates that Gen-Y is the most diverse generation. Unlike previous generations, Gen-Y has different preferences and expectations from their employers.

The expectations of Gen-Y are also very high than previous generations.Their critical expectations revolve around high salary and benefits, unfortunately companies are unable to meet their most critical expectations. This may explain the high attrition rates of 40-60% which exist in the IT industry. Therefore, HR can proactively make attempt to understand the needs of this generation. Being the voice of the Gen-Y employees, HR can recommend the top management to fine tune organizational policies.

Mark Elliot Zuckerberg He is the chairman, chief executive officer, and co-founder of Facebook

TCS has proactively captured the digital habits of Gen-Z who are born after 2000 and typically are less than 15 years of age. They will become employees of the future. Capturing their preferences now can help HR to create a workplace in the future which caters to the need of this upcoming generation.

Last but not the least is increased globalization that has exposed companies to both domestic and global uncertainty. The US election in 2016 was a testimony to this. The stock prices of many Indian IT companies fell between 2-5% in the month of Jan-Feb 2017 due to speculation of tight visa regulations and the Immigration policy of the new US President Mr. Donald Trump. Edelweiss report indicates that major IT giants have already been hiring locally because the H1b visa quota is fixed at $85,000.

There is an opportunity for HR to partner with the business and come up with new hiring models for this scenario.

HR managers will have to look at innovative local hiring, and staffing of projects and greater collaboration among employees across locations to ensure minimum impact on the business.

These business challenges are opportunities for HR professionals to shed their supportive role and become voice of their employees, strategic partners and change agents. Proactive people practices can become the core competence of an organization. Diverse talent can help organizations gain access to wide markets. Good people practices create happy employees who in turn create customer delight. People practices are also not easy to emulate by the competitors. Therefore there is a huge potential for people/ employee friendly practices to become core competence of an organization, define its strategy and help it thrive in the VUCA world.

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Theme Article

HR Initiatives at a Nilgiris Retail Store....

It is understood that HR’s strategic role in driving a business is not restricted to large organizations only. Even smaller organizations such as a Nilgiris retail store (a franchisee of the Future Group) at Electronic City Phase 1, Bangalore promotes certain employee friendly policies to retain their workforce. It is a known fact that the attrition rate in the retail industry is high and there are umpteen challenges the players encounter.

We met Mr.Prabhakar, the owner of the store to understand his perspective on people management to drive his business. The employees in his store are young boys and girls in the age group of 18 to 27 and who have completed high school education (12 standards). These 24 employees come to the city from nearby villages seeking employment. When questioned on HR policies he has rolled out for his employees, he mentioned that understanding the mindset of his employees was important before forming any policies.

Mr. Prabhakar assumed that accommodation was a concern for his employees as most of them came from outside Bangalore. He decided to offer free accommodation and food to all the employees. It is a win-win situation. For blue collared employees who are working at the Nilgiris store – the high cost of rent and food is nullified. For the company it ensured less absenteeism. He has also implemented a ‘Rewards and Recognition Policy’ for his employees.

One of his senior staff at the store is Mr. Dushyanth Kumar, who is a resident of Bangalore. With knowledge of Computer Training he joined the store in the year 2010 as staff and now works as a store manager. When questioned on what aspect of work environment he likes at the company? He commented that the firm provides all facilities and cited that since he is married, he has separate accommodation, which is a privilege’. There is a culture of help, support, respect and appreciation overall.

Mr. Prabhakar also experimented with employee engagement in the form of tours which are organized after taking into consideration their favoured choice of destination. In 2016 the employees were taken to Mysore & Ooty, in 2017 to Tirupathi– Balaji Temple. Even the movie outings are sponsored by the employer.

Mr. Prabhakar has understood that ‘Human centric & Empathy’ approach is the key to retain employees. Ms. Sowmya R, who is a resident of Mysore, joined the store in the year 2010. She was facing the problem of commuting and had to be dependent on local transport which was not that efficient.

Mr. Prabhakar, ensured the problem was resolved by hiring a Scooty and ensured that his female staff “learnt to drive’ .Today she commutes to her workplace on a Scooty owned by her. Employers know how a happy and engaged employee can drive the business in a retail industry where the staffs encounter different consumers every day. An engaged and motivated employee will strive to achieve his employer’s dream.

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Theme Article

HR Initiatives at IT4U Services India Pvt Ltd.

Learning and Development plays a crucial role in developing, nurturing and retaining an employee. The L&D training programs and budgets are not just confined to large organization, it is a becoming a necessity even in small firms. IT4U Services India is an IT training academy in Bangalore and is run by a dynamic IT professional, Ms.Anjali Vaishal, the Director of the company.

Sometimes small and growing organizations don’t lay much emphasis on L &D because they fear the employees would leave the organization to seek better pastures.

However, Ms. Anjali Vaishal has a different perspective and she firmly believes in Learning and Development Curve and says “ You need to spend on yourself” It is reflected in the L& D policy implemented at her company wherein a sum of INR15,000 per annum is budgeted for training. It enables employees to be abreast while working in an industry which is changing at a faster pace. She also mentioned that she follows a ‘Reward and Recognition Policy’ – Rolling Trophy for the Employee of the Month.

While speaking on Diversity aspect, she is of the opinion that hiring women employees make a business sense because of stickiness factor and hence low attrition. She also follows an open-door policy which enables her to understand the personal issues that may affect the work environment and it has impacted the retention rate which is 60% in last 3 years.

According to Ms. Vaishal, “In today’s dynamic environment leadership and HR are two sides of the same coin.

Leadership enables effective HR practices through their strategic vision and HR enables transformational leadership through consistent employee engagement.

Building the competitive advantage is becoming a major concern which is not just confined business leaders but to political leadership across the global countries”.

Contributors: Ms. Shilpa Pathak, Prof. Jyoti Pant and Ms. Ishani Chakraborty

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Guruspeak

Prof. Dr. Hema Doreswami Associate Professor, Finance

The constitution amendment bill for Goods and Service Tax (GST) has been approved by the President of India on 8th September, 2016. The bill was passed in the lower house and upper house of the parliament on 8th August and 3rd August, 2016 respectively. The bill has already been ratified by more than 50% of the state legislatures. The Government of India is committed to implement GST in 2017. This will replace all the direct and indirect taxes levied by the centre and state governments on goods and services.

GST Implementation in India-Opportunities and Challenges

What is GST? GST is an indirect tax reform which aims to remove tax barriers between states and create one single unified market. With GST implementation, tax base will be much more comprehensive as exemptions under GST are minimal. It will be a game changing reform for the Indian economy as it creates one single market with reduced cascading effect of tax on goods and services.

Existing Indirect Tax Structure in India and its Limitations:

Entry Tax

Custom Duty

Service Tax

CENVAT/ Excise Duty

Indirect Taxes

State VAT*

(VAT=Value Added Tax) Cascading Effect: Apart from the above mentioned classification of indirect taxes, there are various other taxes like luxury tax, entertainment tax, etc. levied by the state governments. This whole structure has made indirect taxes very complex. The big disadvantage in the current indirect tax structure is that most of these taxes are not mutually exclusive. When goods are manufactured and sold, both central excise duty (CENVAT) and VAT from states is levied.

Both are essentially value added taxes. Seting off of one against the credit of another is not permissible as excise duty is a central tax where as state level VAT is a state levy. This results in cascading effect which means tax on tax.

This makes the industries less competitive and hurts the overall growth of economy and industry.

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Guruspeak Illustration: ABC Company Limited is a manufacturing unit located in Chennai. It transfers goods worth INR 500000 to its dealer in Bengaluru. Assume the applicable CENVAT rate on this is 14.22%. The manufacturer has to charge CENVAT at 14.22% which comes to INR 71700. The total cost payable by the dealer in Bengaluru is INR 571700.

(500000+71700). On the total amount 2% sales tax is payable when the goods are sold to the end user which comes to INR 11434. Out of INR 11434, INR 1434 is tax on tax, which is a cascading effect. The end user has to pay INR 571700+profit % charged by the dealer. So the end user will end up paying INR 1434 more.

Various Exemptions and Concessions: In the present indirect tax structure in India, various exemptions and concessions are allowed to businesses. This will not keep VAT chain continuous. This will also not provide à level playing field for the industries as there are different rates of taxes at different jurisdictions and different exemptions/concessions.

Numerous points of Taxation: When the manufacturer removes goods from the factory (whether for sales or otherwise), CENVAT is levied, when goods are sold, sales tax is levied and when goods enter different states, entry tax is levied. It is a tedious task for the businesses to follow up this multiple points of taxation which requires investment of lot of resources.

Goods Vs Services Dilemma in Complex Transactions: When goods and services are bundled together and offered to clients, there are no clear cut rules in Indian taxation law currently to tax such services. Each government can tax such bundles in parts and this leads to overlap in taxation.

Important milestones in Passage of GST Bill in India: The background work on implementation of GST was started way back in 2000. Vajpayee government started the discussion on GST by setting up an empowered committee headed by Asim Dasgupta, Finance Minister, West Bengal. Kelkar task force (2002-2004) suggested detailed and comprehensive goods and services tax. In the budget speech for the financial year 2006-07, the government expressed its intention to introduce national level GST from 1st April, 2010. In the year 2008, an empowered committee of state finance ministers (formed in the year 2007) finalized a report on GST based on the inputs submitted by the joint working group. The report was titled 'Á model and Roadmap for Goods and Service Tax in India'.

In 2009, the first discussion paper on GST was released. In March 2011, a constitution amendment bill (115th) was introduced in Loksabha for the implementation of GST. Few goods and services were shown as exceptions which will not be included under the purview of GST. In 2013, a standing committee submitted its report on GST. However, it rejected the government's proposal to include petroleum products under GST. In December 2014, 122nd constitutional bill was passed. In 2016 August, the GST bill was passed both in upper house and lower house of the parliament. The bill was approved by the President of India in September 2016. The government of India is firm on GST implementation in the year 2017.

GST Implementation and its Aftermath: GST is going to replace numerous indirect taxes that is in place now. Indirect taxes like central excise duty, service tax, countervailing and special countervailing duty, value added tax (VAT), central sales tax, Octroi, entry tax, enter tainment tax, purchase tax, luxury tax, tax on advertisements, tax on lotteries will be subsumed to GST. Implementation of GST will fuel inflation in the short term as service tax is going to be high.

Depending on the applicable rates, some products/services will be costlier (cigarettes, commercial vehicles, mobile phones, textile and branded jewellery etc.) and some products/services will be cheaper. (entry level cars, two wheelers, SUVs, movie tickets, cement and paint, electronic items like fans, lighting, water heaters, coolers etc.)

GST and Federal Structure: Some political parties were vocal in expressing their displeasure with the GST implementation and they argued that it can sound the death knell for federalism in India. Parties like AIADMK and CPI (M) were apprehensive about revenue sharing of taxes collected between centre and state as GST is going to subsume most of the existing indirect taxes (including taxes currently being collected by the state governments). Secondly, states were also concerned about who will be the decision makers with reference to GST rules and regulations, tax rates etc. Will there be monopoly of central government in decision making process? Government of India has taken adequate measures in addressing these issues raised by the state governments.

Revenue Sharing Model between Centre and State in GST: GST collection is broadly classified into: SGST: State goods and services tax, collected by state government.

CGST: Central goods and services tax, collected by central government IGST: Integrated goods and services tax, collected by the central government.

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Guruspeak Case 1: If both sale and resale is happening in the same state, both SGST and CGST will be levied at the applicable rates and the revenues will go to state and centre respectively. When resale happens, since it is within the state, again SGST and CGST will be levied. In case of resale, sale price increases and hence the tax amount also increases. The input credit is claimed respectively from state and central government and balance amount of taxes will be paid.

Illustration: Mr.A from Bengaluru sells goods to Mr.B who is from Mysore for INR 100. The applicable GST rate is 16% (equally split between centre and state).

GST will be levied on the sale and INR 16 will be collected, INR 8 each in the form of central and state GST. Mr.B sells these goods to his client in Hubli for INR 200. Since it is a transaction within the state, GST of INR 32 (16% on INR 200) will be levied. Out of this INR 16 is in the form of SGST and INR 16 is the form of CGST. Input credit of INR 8 each will be claimed (Which is already paid in the first transaction) and the rest INR 8 each will be paid towards SGST and CGST. Case 2: If the sale is in the same state and resale is in the other state, IGST comes into picture. When interstate resale happens, IGST is levied and entire tax is collected by the central government. But the problem here is that against IGST, input credit of both CGST and SGST will be claimed but SGST never goes to the centre. In these kinds of transactions, state government has to compensate the revenue that the centre is losing due to the claim of input credit.

Illustration: Continuing with the above illustration, suppose say Mr.B sells the goods he bought from Mr.A to a client in Chennai for INR 200. Assume the GST rate is 16%. Since it is a interstate transaction, IGST becomes applicable. 16% on INR 200 i.e. INR 32 will be collected against which input credit of INR 16 (8+8 which is paid in the first transaction in the form of CGST and SGST). But SGST collection never goes to the centre and hence states have to compensate INR 8 to the central government.

In September 2016, cabinet approved the creation of GST council and its secretariat. The council consists of members from both central governments and state governments. The council will make recommendations on various issues like exemptions under GST, model GST laws, implementation of GST, GST rates and provisions, etc. So now there is reasonable clarity to believe that there are proper checks and balances in place to maintain a harmonious relationship between centre and state in the matters related to GST. Exempted Goods and Services under GST: Petroleum products such as diesel, petrol, aviation fuel, crude oil and natural gas are kept out of GST purview for the initial years. Apart from this, 80 items are likely to make it to the exemption list under GST. Grains, non-mineral water, poha, etc are in the list. Items like bread, egg, vegetables, cereals, books, salt, etc which were exempted by centre and state before will continue to be exempted.

GST Rates: A four-tier GST rates of 5%, 12%, 18% and 28% with lower for essential items and highest rates for luxury items which will also attract additional cess was decided by the GST council in November 2016.

Implementation Challenges of GST: Though GST will be a landmark reform which can transform the Indian economy, there are few implementation challenges.

Firstly, integrating centre and state indirect tax departments and unifying the administrative network is a challenge. Rolling out requires IT platform for the implementation of GST is another challenge. There are still a few legal processes with reference to GST council which needs to be fixed.

GST is going to be a path breaking reform for Indian economy. Currently, businesses have to struggle with multiple tax points, different rates at different locations, no clarity between goods and services in few cases and so on. With GST in place, India will be one unified common market place with uniform tax rates across locations.

This is going to be a great advantage for a business to penetrate their operations to multiple states without much hassle. Though there may be initial hiccups in the form of implementation issues, once systems are in place, GST is going to be a great boost to the Indian economy. With GST implementation, we can say India will be a one nation, one tax destination.

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Pre-Union Budget Session, 2017

Mr. Deepak P Jain Director, Pozitiv Advisors Pvt. Ltd. Arthakul the Finance club of WeSchool Bangalore organized a Pre-budget talk on 28, January 2017.The guest speaker for the session was Mr. Deepak P Jain-Director, Pozitiv Advisors Pvt. Ltd. The session was insight to the forthcoming union budget. Apart from the finance specialization students from other specializations as well attended the session. The session began with brief explanation on few basic questions such as of ‘What is a budget?’ ‘How is it presented by our country Finance Minister? How it is debated in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha?. And its final implementation on President of India’s approvals. It was followed by a discussion on Mr. Jain’s expectations from the upcoming Union Budget.

Mr. Deepak P Jain, also spoke in detail about different Direct and Indirect Tax Proposals. Exemption limit to corporate and individuals, deductions under 80C and 80D, MAT provisions and investment boosting were some of the topics discussed under the Direct Tax Proposals. In the Indirect Tax Proposals Mr. Jain discussed about the importance and effects of GST, Small and Medium sector development and the Service Tax Law. The presentation followed a Q&A session making it an interactive and engaging session for students.

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Event | NHRDN National Conference & HR Showcase

WeSchool – Silver Category Sponsor at National Human Resource Development Network

Delegates at the 2016 NHRDN National Conference, Bangalore

We School was the Silver category sponsor for NHRDN National Conference & HR Showcase held on 8- 9 December 2016, Palace Grounds, Bangalore. The theme for this year’s conference was ‘Spirit of Entrepreneurship’. I, as the representative of WeSchool was one among the NHRDN core committee members and was involved in conceptualization of various events held during this conference. My involvement as core committee member started 6 months ahead in June 2016.

The Conference had Entrepreneurship week celebrations starting 2nd December comprising of several plenary sessions, discussion forums, simulations games and workshops on various HR topics at multiple locations across the city. The organizations, professionals, student fraternity all were encouraged to participate in these events. The prelims of various competitions were held in early November 2016 and the finalists were shortlisted to participate and showcase their HR practices at the Conference finale.

THE CONFERENCE – 8-9 December 2016

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Event | NHRDN National Conference & HR Showcase

WeSchool student (Mumbai) being felicitated with Ram Charan award

The conference inauguration featured a welcome address by Mr. Balachandar N and Mr. S.V. Nathan. This was followed by the keynote address by Prof. Ram Charan, a world renowned author and speaker of Human Resource Management. The morning session concluded with award ceremony for young achievers of Business Schools.

They were felicitated with the Prof. Ram Charan award.

The afternoon session featured a talk by Mr. Gaur Gopala Das, Life Coach and disciple of His Holiness Radanath Swami. He spoke on the power of purpose, value based conscious capitalism, sensitivity based human asset motivation and spirituality based life handling mechanisms. He spoke extensively on employer’s responsibility towards creating conducive environment for employees to prosper. His talk ended with an emphasis on the importance of cultivating spiritual values in an organization that can lead to the propagation of integral humanism.

Mr. Gaur Gopala Das session in progress

The other speakers for the afternoon session included the founders of InMobi and Quess Corp Limited (QCL).

They spoke on challenges of Human Resource Management in start-ups and the importance of acquisitions that can help accelerate growth of a start-up. A panel discussion featuring HR heads from companies such as Paperboat, Shopclues, Accel and Airtel shared their view-point of HRM in start-ups. Some of the points discussed were: In startups, the founders are usually busy with business plans and marketing their products so HR takes a backseat. Thus, it is important for the HR heads to communicate effectively with the top management.

HR is often seen as a barrier, most startups do not understand the importance of hiring the right HR head. They often do not hire a HR head and instead rely on non-HR professionals for recruitment which can in the long run turn into a costly mistake.

HR is often the backbone of a successful startup and founders would do well to focus on this function.

HR is not just about hiring. About 50% of HR is concerned with hiring while the remaining 50% is about retaining talent, motivating employees and communicating business goals regularly.

Every startup wants to hire smart people. Too much focus on just skill sets can lead to lop-sized growth. You need all kinds of people to make an organization work.

Most Startup CEO’s are averse to lengthy processes. Hence HR Mangers should reinvent processes and ensure they comply with the startup culture.

The next panel discussion was on the role of HR heads for startups and featured conversations with founder entrepreneurs such as Mr. Ravi Gururaj (CEO, Qikpod), Mr. Anand Bhaskar (CEO, Planet Ganges) and Mr. Hari T.N (Head HR, Big Basket).

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Event | NHRDN National Conference & HR Showcase

Industry/Academia Exhibition stalls at NHRD Conference & HR Showcase 2016

The 2-day event also provided an exhibition platform for the HR products and service providers. This exhibition was held parallel to the main conference and featured stalls by organizations, researchers, B-schools all showcasing their innovative HR practices. During the HR showcase many HR professionals were recognized for their signiďŹ cant contributions to the industry.

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Event | NHRDN National Conference & HR Showcase The various competition categories of this conference were: Competition Categories

Entries

Finalists

Corporate HR Best Practices

104

43

Best HR Research Papers

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07

Best Practices in Innovation in Management Education

22

09

Corporate CSR Best Practices

20

10

Most Promising HR Start Ups

42

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The event had participants from all across India - from Bangalore, Mysore, Goa, Coimbatore, Pudukottai, Chennai, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, Noida, Gurgaon, Faridabad, New Delhi, Pune, Ahmedabad, Mumbai etc. There were more than 2000 visitors over the two days of the event from among the Business & HR fraternity. WeSchool had three shortlisted entries for the ďŹ nale rounds, two under the category of Best practices in Innovation in Education and one under the category of Best HR Research

Our WeSchool bagged two awards one for the Global Citizen Leader innovative pedagogy and second for the Best Research Paper category.

(L-R) Ms. Shilpa Pathak, Assistant Editor – Prameya, Prof. Dr. Sonia Mehrotra, Associate Prof & Head-Center of Excellence for Case Development, Prof. Dr. Savitha GR-Associate Professor-HR, Prof.

Aparna Krishnamoorthy, Assistant Prof - Economics, Prof. Dr. Madhavi Lokhande-Dean, WeSchool Bangalore, at NHRD National Conference 2016.

Competence

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For me the event was an opportunity to understand and analyze the best HR practices across the corporate and start-ups. It was a huge responsibility to lead the team of WeSchool student volunteers as well contribute to the various event co-ordination activities pre and on the conference days. Above all it was a gratifying and satisfying experience to work along the distinguished core committee members such as Ramesh Ranjan (Human Engineers), Prakrithi Shetty (Gen Pact), Vivek S (Aboven Beyond), Aarti Mohan (Saatva), Bhasker Bhandary (Acer), Prof Vasanthi (IIM B) and Sapna (Project Coordinator), Charles H (NHRD Manager) and the entire team of the NHRD National Conference organising team and with the backing of Balachandar Natarajan (President of NHRD Bangalore).

The event that involved 6 months pre-planning, lot of chai meetings mapped as an event of was HR excellence and was well appreciated both by the industry and academia delegates.

Prof. Dr. Savitha GR Associate Professor-HR

Event | Management Development Centre

“Global Leadership Practices Programme” November 14th 2016 to November 18th 2016

MDC, WeSchool Bangalore conducted a 5 day workshop to few Australian delegates at the campus under “Global Leadership Practices in association with Yellow edge, Australia. This was the second program in the series (first one having taken place in November 2015).

Prof.AKN Prasad – Head, MDC & Executive Education, with the Australian Delegates

The 5 day workshop was designed to provide an overview of India as a developing economy and showcase business opportunities and the unique leadership model being practiced.

The workshop was delivered with sessions on: India business landscape - covering History, culture, economy and industrial sectors – Prof. AKN Prasad.

Overview on Hinduism by Mr. R K Srinivas Murthy.

Legal aspects of doing business in India - covering company formats, IPR and consumer rights - Prof.

Pratima Narayan.

Government initiatives by Mr. M N Vidyashankar, President IESA, Former Additional Chief Secretary for Govt of Karnataka.

Global Leadership Practices (GLP) Workshop in Progress

Panel discussion – GLP & the Indian Leadership Model with Mr. Surya Prakash Mohapatra, Global Head- Talent Transformation at Wipro BPS, Ms. Suma Krishnaswamy, Mr. Piyush Kumar Chowhan, Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Arvind Brands, Bangalore, Mr. Neeraj Vaddadi, Head, Implementations, FIS, Mr. Lakshmi Prasad J, Associate Director, Capital Financing, HSBC, Dr. Madhavi Lokhande, Dean, and Prof AKN Prasad, Head, MDC & Executive Education, WeSchool Bangalore.

Feedback and take away session with the delegates.

In addition to the above, visits were organized to Infosys BPO (IT sector), Radel Electronics (MSME sector), Titan Industries (manufacturing sector), Akshay Patra - Not for Profit Organization and a Government school (social sector).

The program concluded with participants showcasing their culinary skills at the Hobby kitchen initiative along with our students. In the evening enjoyed a cultural program was hosted which showcased classical & fusion music and dance forms of India, presented by the students. The program was coordinated by Prof . Kalpana Garde.

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Event | Management Development Centre

Mr. Bharath Vikram, Ms. Archana Vishwanath in association with Ms. Shilpa shreekantachari took care of the entire organizational issues concerning the above workshop and received spontaneous appreciation from the delegates for the efficiency and hospitality displayed.

All the participants were extremely delighted with the workshop in terms of design, program delivery and execution, hospitality and overall organization and rated each and every session as” excellent.”

GLP Delegates enjoying the cultural programme at WeSchool Amphitheatre GLP – III has been already announced to take place in November 2017 (13th to 17th ) List of participants Mr. Andrew Simon – CEO, Yellow Edge, Australia Ms. Caroline Edwards – Deputy Secretary Dept of Human Resources Mr. Ivan Neville – Head of the Labour Market Research and Analysis Branch Department of Employment.

Ms. Wendy Prowse - Deputy Director Learning and Development, ACTCOSS Mr. Brett Marshall - Assistant Secretary Strategic Assessments and Coordination in the Department of Immigration and Border Protection.

WeSchool Bangalore Faculty and Staff with the GLP Delegates

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Alumni Article HR’s Role in Modern Times - A Perspective

V Ramlakhan Annavarpu Sr. Executive - HR, Godrej Industries Limited and Associate Companies, Alumni (2013-15) We are given choices in life - to choose what we want to be, what we want to do, where we want to go, etc. We either make these choices willingly or are forced to make them. What we are today, is the result of our choices in the past.

Think of an organization as a machine, it requires a lot of little pieces to make it work. Most people think of HR as a mere support function, a lubricant in the machine, irrelevant to the bottom line and with absolutely no connection with profits. I beg to differ; HR has transcended from being a support centric domain which began with the ‘Industrial Era’ to a ‘Business Partner’ role contributing just as much, if not more, to the revenue of the organization as other departments. The core strength of any organization is its people. The definition of the organization itself entails ‘A group of people coming together to work towards a common purpose’.

The organizational aims, over the years, have shifted from just being a profitable business to profits with sustainable growth. Human Resources is the domain which protects, regulates and engages the most dynamic and crucial resource of any organization - its people. A HR Business Partner nurtures the organizational culture and helps it stay on course with its vision and mission. It’s one such cog in the wheel, which, if removed can stop the entire machine from functioning.

In the beginning I talked about choices, well, my choice was to get into a FMCG company and pursue Industrial Relations as my job profile at a lower salary package, in an off beat location of rural Andhra. This was in contrast to my batch-mates who opted for corporate roles based out of metros at a slightly higher package. I am writing this out loud, because I want you, the students who are reading this, to realize that you might have to make such choices during your placements.

Some may even have to choose between a good profile and a good package. My advice, as an HR professional and as an Alumnus, would be to go for the profile. Package and salaries, though covetous, would only satisfy you so far.

3-4 months down the line when you are working 5 days a week in the same role, unless you are enjoying your work, all the money in the world won’t make you happy. I have seen people burnout under stress and lack of job satisfaction, obfuscated by the drive for materialistic needs. Trust me, if you really enjoy your job and are good at it, money and success will follow eventually.

Now, while I am writing this, exactly 2 years have passed since I cleared my interview and was offered my first Job. A lot has changed, I have learned, unlearned and relearned at each and every step of this journey. I have understood the grass roots of HR, from the Shop-Floor where the need of a Personnel Manager was realized a century ago to the Human Resource Manager at the turn of the century. In the last couple of decades, it has shifted to the HR Business Partners of the present day.

HR still remains, at its core, the custodian of ethics, diversity and equality while ensuring that these words retain their meaning in the larger Organizational gamut.

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Achievements Faculty Achievements Prof. Jyoti Joshi Pant Assistant Professor – HR Specialization

Prof. Jyoti Joshi Pant, Assistant Professor – HR Specialization, WeSchool Bangalore (extreme right) receiving the Runners-Up award

Prof. Jyoti Joshi Pant received the Runners-Up award at the 20th NHRD National Conference for her research paper titled ‘Flying Higher to disappear? - Weaving the threads to hold back the rope’. This paper co-authored with Dr. V. Vijaya, Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Management, Tiruchirappalli, was an entry in the Best Research Paper category of awards at this conference held on 8-9th December 2016 in Bangalore. The theme of the research paper was expectations of millennial employees and scenario analysis for HR in the context of performance and intention to stay.

Prof. Dr. Savitha GR Assistant Professor – HR Specialization Prof. Dr. Savitha GR was selected by WeSchool Management to attend the Strategic HR Leadership Journey 2017, organized by the National Human Resource Development Network (NHRDN) in collaboration with Larsen & Toubro India (L&T). This weeklong residential programme from 21–to 28 January, 2017 held at L&T Learning and Development Center, Lonavala was conducted by eminent HR industry leaders such as Sanjay Jog-CHRO Reliance Jio, T.K Srirang-Sr. GM and HR Head, ICICI Bank Ltd., Hema Ravichandar-HR Consultant and former Global HR Head, Infosys, Dr. S. Sridhar-Head, Corporate HR, ITC and many others.

Participants Strategic HR Leadership Journey 2017

Prof. Dr. Savitha GR shared her experience stating “The strategic HR leadership journey 2017 provided an opportunity to engage with eminent HR leaders on a wide range of HR topics such as HR strategy formulation, organization design, talent management, diversity, inclusion, employee relations, coaching and performance. Each of us was encouraged to share our own unique work challenge and work towards a solution on same in collaboration with other teammates. Apart from the day long sessions, the evening informal discussions with the HR leaders further helped our understanding of latest HR trends”.

Prof. Jyoti Joshi Pant Assistant Professor – HR Specialization

Prof. Jyoti Joshi Pant, Assistant Professor – HR Specialization, WeSchool Bangalore (extreme left), receiving the award

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Prof. Jyoti Joshi Pant received best paper presentation award for her research paper titled ‘Employee Expectations Scale in Psychological Contract’ at the 30th International Research Conference on Business, Economics and Social Sciences, held in Singapore on 27-28 December, 2016.This paper is co-authored with Dr. V. Vijaya, IIMT.

Achievements

Student Achievements Nihal Dalvi Business Design & Innovation, 2016-18

&

Faraz R. Siddiqui PGDM – Ebiz, 2016-18

The Model United Nations (MUN) confluence organized by the Indian Institute of Ahmedabad (IIM-A) provided a platform to the students to showcase their debating, writing, critical thinking and leadership skills. In this simulation and competition the participating teams acted as diplomats representing nations or Non-Government Organizations. In the process, the students learned about diplomacy, international relations, and the functioning of the United Nations. Participants were allotted council and a country.

The WeSchool Bangalore participants Nihal Dalvi (PGDM–Business Design & Innovation, 2016-18) and Faraz R. Siddiqui (PGDM–Ebiz, 2016-18) represented Argentina at the United Nations. The major task for the team was getting a permanent representation in the security council. There were around 18 nations consisting of a team of two from various management colleges across India who participated in this competition. Nihal Dalvi and Faraz R. Siddiqui of WeSchool Bangalore won a “Silver Medal” with “High Commendation Award”.

The participating teams were expected to share views and ideas on the following: • Participants’ insight on the working of United Nations.

• Debating and communication skills.

• Knowledge about issues confronting world leaders and their ability to draft resolutions.

• Investigate any dispute or situation which might lead to international friction.

• Recommend methods of adjusting such disputes or the terms of settlement.

• Formulate plans for the establishment of a system to regulate armaments.

• Determine the existence of a threat to the peace or act of aggression and to recommend what action should be taken.

• Apply economic sanctions and other measures not involving the use of force The first round was an online application round on the basis of which participants was shortlisted and invited for the final round. The shortlisted participants from the first round were invited to IIM-A campus for the final round from 25th November to 27th November 2016.

Key Takeaways • Perseverance helps.

• Development of professional competence and leadership qualities.

• Team and collaboration.

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Achievements Siddesh Uppin PGDM 2015-17

&

Vinit Jadhav PGDM 2015-17

It all started with a thought of registering for Mahindra Logistics “Logiquest” in September 2016. The invitation to participate in the competition was open for colleges in the state of Maharashtra and institute like NNIMS, Mumbai, NITIE, Mumbai, WeSchool Mumbai, SIOM Nashik & SIBM Pune had evinced interest in competition. We informed Weschool, Bangalore management, about our keen interest to participate in the competition and they approved our request and we were permitted to travel to Mumbai to present our research paper.

The format of the competition was unique and the participants were presented with 5 challenges and instructed to select one challenge and present the research on the topic selected. We selected the theme “ Is Driver the underdog in the logistic sector? Will he be the centre of future growth and efficiency?” It was mandatory for participants to research and prepare a report with a word limit -3000.

In the initial phase; we conducted a primary survey with 40 drivers in the city of Bangalore. We interacted with drivers at NICE Road Toll Gate, at Electronic City Phase 1, Neelmangala, Attibele Checkpost and Bommasandra truck parking. The interaction gave us insights to a driver’s profession and their day-to-day activities on road.

To get an perspective on ‘whether a driver will be centre of future growth & efficiency” we conducted an extensive secondary research on factors that will drive the growth of logistic sector in India. We assessed the role of driver & also interacted with industry experts to get their outlook on the logistic sector. .

In the Preliminary round – 150 teams participated and 30 teams were selected for the Semi-Final round. The Semi –Final round was held at WeSchool, Mumbai and we both presented our research paper to the jury panel from Mahindra Logistics Ltd. The jury appreciated our presentation and we were extended an invitation to visit the office of Mahindra Logistics Ltd, for a special mentoring session before the final round.

The mentoring session strengthened our knowledge about the sector and initiatives taken by the company. The suggestion from mentors helped us to identity the gaps.

Vinit Jadhav and I were delighted and overwhelmed that our research paper was selected in the top 10 final list of best research papers.

We, he ‘Spectres’ from WeSchool, Bangalore won the ‘ First Runner Up’ title and also accorded a cash prize of INR 35,000/- and certificate of appreciation and trophy for our participation in the competition.

The Dark Horses – the team from National Institute of Industrial Engineering, Mumbai won the First Prize and Symbioisis Institute of Business Management, Pune was declared as the ‘Second Runner up”.

The competition provided us a platform to experience learning at grassroots and learn new concepts. We take opportunity to express our gratitude to our professors.

We are thankful to Prof. Dr. Murali Mohan, Prof. Sreenath, Prof. Swapnil Soni, Prof. Dr. Sonia Mehrotra, Prof. Shekar Prabhkar, Prof. Dr. Hema D. & Prof. Aparna K. for providing us insights that helped us emerge successful in this competition.

We would also like to thank Prof. Asha Mathew, for her constant support and encouragement. We also thank Prof. Dr. Madhavi, Lokhande, Dean, Bangalore Campus who encouraged us to attend the finale.

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Event | Rotary Club

"Rotary Youth Exchange Programme"

Students from Denmark and the WeSchool students with Dr. Anil Rao Paila, Senior Dean & Director, WeSchool, Bangalore Campus

The Rotary Youth Exchange programme provides an opportunity to the students to discover another culture and truly become global citizens. The Rotary Clubs sponsor this student exchange programme in more than 100 countries across the globe. The students learn leadership skills, new language and culture and build lasting friendships with other young people from around the world.

A similar Rotary youth exchange took place in WeSchool on 12-13 December 2016, where-in two students from Denmark visited our campus for an interaction with our Prof. Dr. Anil Rao Paila, Senior Dean & Director, WeSchool, Bangalore Campus. The students were accompanied by our Rotaract President Rtr. Akash Khaturia and Secretary Rtr. Maya Jeyakumar.

The students from Denmark were excited to meet their peers at our college and appreciated the hospitality extended.

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Talent Corner

W

hen I was in class 7th the Frequency Modulating (FM) radio boom happened in my town . From then, I badly wanted to become an Radio Jockey (RJ).

This passion of mine remained so strong that I experimented voice overs during my school days. As years passed I thought it's impossible to reach this career since I had no clear idea how to get there.

It was during my first trimester break in graduation time, I being a FM lover, was streaming through and happened to hear a RJ talk upon the topic, driving and women. She asked to share opinion and shared the number. I was quick enough to make a call and interestingly the call got connected.

I started speaking and don't know why, maybe this topic or my passion made me speak very friendly with her. I never knew, this RJ interaction could help me reach my goal. As soon the caller interaction was broadcasted, I received a call from the FM station, (Radio mango 91.9). the program producer, asked me whether am available for an interview and voice test. Competing with other graduates of mass media and communication, I assumed I had no chance to become an RJ. But As two weeks passed, I cleared all rounds and I was appointed as the RJ for the show City Lights (7-10pm) the weekday drive back home show.

Aiswarya M Aiswarya M

PGDM 16-18 PGDM 16-18

I presented my show for two and half years and it was one of a kind experience.

Playing music, interacting with callers, dealing highly controversial and even social subjects in a sarcastic and humorous manner made my show unique and working in the best media corporate Malayala Manorama helped me evolve as a confident and creative person. I still can't believe whether it's a dream or reality and this experience in my life made me realize that when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it!

I Diwesh Dutt PGDM 16-18

was 4 years old when my father taught me swimming, since then my interest towards sports developed. I competed for swimming at National level for 6 years consecutively. I broke a timing record at national level when I was 10 years old.

Then I started playing Table Tennis and won many positions at National level. Soon after that I also started playing all the other racket sports, such as like Badminton, Lawn Tennis and Squash as well. I held Sports Secretary position at my college, being Captain of Basketball team and all other racket sports. I lead my college basketball team at the All India Inter-Engineering Tournament.

I have represented University Of Pune at Zonal level from 2012 - 2015. I have won in 12 out 13 Inter College fests. Now in WeSchool Welingkar, I have started playing Football as well. I am a official member of Poona District Table Tennis Association.

People say being a sportsperson, I can play any sport easily but I believe “It never gets easier, you just get better”. Sports keep my mind and me focused at harmony. It has taught me discipline and hard work and these qualities I have extended in my daily life now.

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Talent Corner

I

developed my interest in Modeling and Dancing since my school days. I have always been very active in cultural activities. Since childhood, I have done various stage shows. I have performed in the Commonwealth Games 2010, held in Delhi.

The first time I participated in a fashion show was when I was in 9th standard and I bagged the first position. That was my first win in modeling and it encouraged me to perform more. I always got the strange feeling of immense satisfaction and sheer happiness when I was on stage. Soon I realized that those 5-10 minutes are the best moments of my life. That passion of being on stage brings a new zeal in my life. I decided to carry this forward. I got my first portfolio done soon after my school that got me a lot of recognition and appreciation.

I took the initiative of starting a Fashion Society in my college in Delhi University. I was the Founder and President of the same for 3 consecutive years. I participated and won a lot of accolades in inter - college competitions. I won Best model titles in various competitions. I also got featured in Delhi Times and Hindustan Times.

Here, in WeSchool I still wanted to live my passion and so I started a Fashion Society here as well in the name "I Vogue ".

We have performed in College as a team and also in this short span of time I participated at IIM Trichy bagging the First Position.

I wish to continue to live my passion and keep living my dream of loving the stage.

Aiswarya M PGDM 16-18

Manavi Budhiraja PGDM 16-18

I

was 4 years old when I started learning Kathak dance, since then there is no turning back. I have always been into classical dance and classical music. Kathak is my passion and meditation.

I am well trained in Jaipur Gharana style and I am pursuing my degree in Lucknow Gharana. I have performed Kathak at various events and competitions. I am still well remembered by my school principal and teachers because of my performances at every event. Currently I am pursuing Madhyama Degree from Kala Ashram College of Perfoming Arts, which is affiliated to Bhatkhande Sangeet Vidyapeet University, Lucknow.

There are times when I have blisters on my heels which makes it difficult for me to even walk, but I never missed any performance because of it and even an evening before my final Kathak Exam, I got my blisters punctured by the doctors so that they don’t burst amidst the practical exam. In 2016 I topped in Prathama Part 1 and Part 2 examinations, conducted by the university.

Priyanka Bajaj PGDM 16-18

The examination comprises of theory, practical and viva tests. I have won “Best Dancer” Award and “Student of The Year” Award at my Kathak College. For a year, I learnt Indian Classical Vocal Music and sung at various events at College level.

Kathak helps me keep calm and devoted to whatever I do in my life.

“I practice like I have never won and perform like I have never lost.”

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Event | Christmas Eve Celebration

Christmas Eve Celebration December 24th 2016

It was the day of pure frolic as the Rotaract team got ready to blast off with the Christmas eve celebration at campus.

The aim was to involve all the faculty members and students in the fun. The Christmas decorations adorned the campus entrance.

The welcome speech was given by the Vice President of the club Rtr. Maya Jeyakumar and led the event into action.

Games were played by the faculty members and students in different halls.

A Christmas’s charm is not complete without a Santa Claus! Our own President Rtr. Akash Khaturia dressed as Santa charmed, distributing sweets and gifts. It was followed by cutting of Christmas cake.

Students Celebrating X-mas Eve, Santa Claus at the WeSchool Bangalore Campus

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WeSchool Glimpses in 2016

AICTE-CII India-UK Tech Summit Bangalore Management Association Award 2016Hackathon 2016

AICTE-CII India-UK Tech Summit 2016, New Delhi

WeSchool participants in NHRDN & HR Showcase 2016, Bangalore

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Student performing fusion play dance

Prin. L. N. Welingkar Institute Of Management Development & Research, Bangalore Plot No 102 & 103, Electronics City Phase 1, Hosur Road, Bangalore, Karnataka - 560 100 Phone : +91-80-42678300, 28521066/67, 28520480/817

www.welingkar.org