My column last month on inflation and monetary policy provoked more response than usual, no doubt because of the heatedness of the debate, rather than any one thing I wrote. With some of the heat having subsided, this is a good time to revisit some of the issues. This is important since the long run goal of efficient monetary management remains, in my view, unrealised.

One indicator of sub-optimality is the range of opinions that were expressed over the past few weeks, on the conduct of Indian monetary policy. Some divergence of views can be expected based on different interests, but there was even disagreement on the basic facts of how much monetary tightening had occurred, let alone what was optimal. One conclusion I would draw from the past few weeks is the need for greater transparency and predictability of monetary policy. Predictability includes timing, but also can have implications for the range of instruments that the RBI uses. A more parsimonious use of instruments could promote simplicity, and hence the predictability of what any policy moves would accomplish.

Last month, I raised the idea of using the Taylor rule framework to assess the RBIs monetary policy stance. One former policy advisor suggested to me that I was using the term inflation targeting too narrowly, and that a high enough inflation coefficient in the Taylor rule would constitute inflation targeting. The issue remains as to whether the RBIs record fits the bill. I was pointed to the work of Vineet Virmani, of IIM-Ahmedabad, who estimates monetary policy rules for India for the period 1992-2001. A striking feature of Virmanis results is that the estimated rule is extremely sensitive to the inflation measure used. Using the headline measure of inflation, the WPI suggests that the RBIs rule (as implied by the data) has been destabilising, while an alternative (technically, a trimmed mean) indicates a rule with much better inflation-fighting properties (inflation-term coefficients of 1.6 to 2, versus 1.5 in Taylors original rule). Clearly, there is work to be done here in deciding what to measure and target. Virmani also allows for gradual adjustment of the interest rate, and suggests that the RBIs behaviour fits a different McCallum rule, in which nominal income is targeted.

More : inancialexpress.com

It is time for another politician to set foot on the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) campus, this time an American.

Senator Edward Murray, a native of Washington state, who has represented Seattles 43rd legislative district since 1995 is all set to deliver a lecture on Public-Private Partnerships in Infrastructure at the campus on May 16.

The proposal for Murrays talk at IIM-A came about with co-ordination from the US embassy who were in touch with officials of the Centre for Infrastructure Policy and Regulation at the institute.

More : business-standard.com

The Indian Institute of Management, Indore (IIM-I) on Friday has issued final calls to 650 candidates against 180 seats for its two-year postgraduate MBA course, including to the candidates belonging to SC/ST and physically handicapped categories.

Prof Neeraj Dwivedi, Chairman of Admissions at IIM Indore told MBAUniverse.com, We have announced the list of 650 students against 180 seats. Explaining the large number of candidates who have been offered admissions, he explained, We issue list of more students because many of them have option from other IIMs.

Commenting on the fee submission schedule, he said, Students have to submit their fees before May 14.

More : mbauniverse.com

Its quite a transition for a battle hardened armyman to reorient himself for the boardroom at the age of 51. Thats exactly what Col Satish Tyagi did when he opted to undergo a special program at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) called Armed Forces Program (AFP) in Business Management, early this year. In this column series for MBAUniverse.com, Col Tyagi shares his experiences at IIM-A.

AFP in Business Management is a full-time, six-month residential program for defence personnel. AFP has been designed by IIM-A at the instance of the Directorate General of Resettlement, Ministry of Defence (DGRMoD) and has as rigorous a schedule as any other IIM-A course. The objective of the program is to build on the defence experience and create management executives who can contribute to the corporate world.

Col Tyagi joined the National Defence Academy (NDA) in 1972. He served the nation in the Army for 31 years. He was part of the IPKF in Sri Lanka, handled insurgency in North East, Punjab and J&K, and founded the Counter Terrorism School in Kashmir for the Army. He also was part of the Kargil war and penned Kargils official history. He has authored Fourth Estate — a book on Kargil and the media. Within the Army, he has been a trainer at NDA, the Army War College and the Counter Terrorism School in Kashmir.

More : mbauniverse.com

Thousands of MBA aspirants can finally breathe a sigh of relief with the human resource development (HRD) ministry Friday issuing a directive to the Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) to release admission lists like in previous years.

HRD Minister Arjun Singh Friday afternoon formally issued directives to all central government funded higher educational institutes, including the six IIMs, to release the lists for general category and Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe aspirants.

We are issuing the communication right now and they can go ahead with the admission process. Increased seats with OBC quota can be accommodated after May 8, Singh told reporters.

More : indiaedunews.net

The suspense over the admissions to the Indian Institutes of Management ended on Friday after the HRD ministry issued a directive to all Central educational institutions to begin admissions for general and SC/ST categories.

The IIMs wasted no time in releasing their merit lists, on their websites, leading to a collective sigh of relief. Students whose names have been released would have two weeks instead of three weeks to accept or reject the admission. The directive to 64 Central government funded institutions, including IIMs and IITs, came after UPA allies and left parties gave a go ahead to the government to allow admissions to general, SC and ST categories for the coming academic session without the OBC quota for the time being.

Along with IIM-A, IIM-B put up the names of selected students on its website. We expect the process to be over in a couple of hours, an IIM-B spok-esman said. Preparatory course for the post-graduate students would begin from the first week of June and the regular class from the first week of July, he said. Sources at IIM-A said, Offers of admission were given to students including the SC/ST and handicapped quota. IIM-Indore offered admission letters to 180 candidates for its two-year postgraduate MBA course, including candidates belonging to SC/ST and physically handicapped categories.

More : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

The countrys best known business school, the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmadabad, has introduced a short course on managing HIV/AIDS programmes for health professionals, the schools director said on Friday.

The weeklong course is meant for government health policy makers, voluntary groups and others working in the field of HIV prevention and care, said Bakul Dholakia, director of the school.

The focus of the programme is on managerial challenges involved in conducting HIV/AIDS prevention and care and their implementation, he said. With 5.13 million cases, India ranks second only to South Africa in terms of the number of people infected with HIV.

More : hindustantimes.com

The Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) on Thursday indicated they might send offer of admission to students in next two days if they recieve communication from the Union HRD ministry giving a go-ahead to start admission as per last year by Friday.

The IIMA welcomed the Centres decision to give a go-ahead to fill general and SC/ST category seats as per last year.

We welcome the decision of the central government. This was what we had proposed to the Ministry on April 12, IIMA sources said.

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Brand IIM might just have to think of a fresh branding exercise. With the Centre toying with the idea of pulling the autonomy carpet from under the feet of the IIMs, ripples are already being felt among directors and faculty.

IIMs feel that the Bill, once it becomes an Act like the Institutes of Technology Act of 1961, is an ominous sign for the future of the premier institutions.

Most of all, it will affect the already existing faculty crunch in IIMs.If and when it comes through, the Bill will adversely affect the administrative, financial and academic functioning of the IIMs, said IIM-Bangalore director Prakash Apte.

More : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

The plight of around 5,000 students caught in the midst of the quota controversy and subsequent freezing of admissions at the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) have finally received some respite.

After the directive from the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to all education institutes asking them to refund course fee if the student wants to shift to another institute, the IIM Ahmedabad Alumni Trust has also come forward to offer loans to needy prospective students.

The IIM Ahmedabad Alumni Trust has announced that students who have been uncertain of how to go about approving education finance in the wake of the admission could avail of a loan from the IIM-A Alumni Trust.

More : business-standard.com

IIM-A Alumini Trust to bail out students

IIM Ahmedabad Alumni Trust has come to the rescue of students who face the prospect of losing money due to the delay in admissions. The admissions have been delayed due to the stand-off between the government and the IIM managements following a supreme court stay on OBC reservation.

The trust has decided to give soft loans to shortlisted students who face the deadline for paying up the admission fee at other management institutes. The students fear that they may have to forfeit their deposit money if they chose to accept admission to IIM-A, once the lists are finally out.

Needy students, despite being meritorious, may thus opt out. It is precisely to help such students that the IIM Ahmedabad Alumni Trust has decided to step in, said the trust advisory committee member KN Vaidyanathan. Students could take a loan from the trust to the extent that they lose through forfeiture of deposits paid to other B-schools.

More : economictimes.indiatimes.com

Short-term FDs or long-term lock-in

Neither a lender, nor a borrower be, goes the adage. In todays rising interest rate scenario, being a borrower can be a scary scenario. Rising EMIs (equated monthly instalments) have been causing a lot of financial and emotional strain on the borrowers. Anyone who has taken a floating rate loan over the last 2-3 years can testify to that.

However, for the lenders, this is a good time to earn handsome fixed returns. For those of you who might have been worried about the volatility in the stock markets, this is the time to check out the fixed income instruments.

Currently the yield curve is almost straight, if not inverted. Hence, while the call rates are around 7.xx% today, the 10 year paper is also yielding approximately 7.xx%.

More : inhome.rediff.com

IIMs move to avert showdown with Govt

With the Supreme Court today making clear that it will only hear on April 23 the Government application seeking vacation of its stay on implementation of 27 per cent OBC reservation in institutes of higher education, the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) have begun moves to avert a confrontation with the Government on the issue.

IIM-Ahmedabad had earlier said the IIMs would not wait for Central directives beyond April 21 and would put out the admission list for the next session.

But The Indian Express has learnt that directors of all six IIMs have now decided to hold a meeting in New Delhi on April 20. They are also expected to explain their position to Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh.

More : indianexpress.com

IIM-A to make position on admission clear on April 21

Even as the Supreme Court has posted the hearing on quota in elite educational institutions case on April 23, the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), yesterday said it will make its position on admission to the coming academic session clear on April 21.

We will make our postion on admission clear on April 21, IIM-A Director Bakul Dholakia told yesterday night.

The six IIMs had given a virtual ultimatum to the government that they would go ahead with the admissions without the OBC quota for the coming academic session if they did not hear anything from the government by April 21 following the Supreme Courts stay on it.

More : hindu.com

Centre to move SC to get stay vacated

After the six IIMs decided to declare their merit lists on April 21, IIM-Ahmedabad has said the list of qualified candidates will be released from 11 am onwards on that day. Other IIMs are also expected to follow suit. The government, meanwhile, is expected to move the Supreme Court on Monday.

Director of IIM-Bangalore Prof Prakash Apte, who wrote to the Union HRD Ministry on behalf of the IIMs on April 12, has said in his missive that the admission process will be done in two stages - the first list on April 21 will be as per last years intake and the second list will have the additional seats, which need to be upgraded due to OBC quota implementation.

Nowhere does the letter oppose the idea of OBC reservations, rather it gives ample time and scope to the government to act and get the stay order vacated.

More : financialexpress.com

Oyoun to organise workshop on project appraisal

Oyoun Education is organising a workshop on project appraisal from April 24 to 26 at Radisson SAS. The workshop will be conducted by Professor V. Ranganathan, the professor on infrastructure at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

He has a B.Tech from IIT Madras and a doctoral degree from IIM Ahmedabad. His thesis was on Cost benefit analysis, which is the methodology of project appraisal from a countrys point of view.

Currently he teaches at IIM Bangalore managerial economics, contemporary economic policy and infrastructure appraisal, financing, privatisation and regulation.

More : timesofoman.com

OBC quota: Centre may move SC today

After the six IIMs decided to declare their merit lists on April 21, IIM-Ahmedabad has said the list of qualified candidates will be released from 11 am onwards on that day. Other IIMs are also expected to follow suit. The government, meanwhile, is expected to move the Supreme Court tomorrow.

Director of IIM-Bangalore Prof Prakash Apte, who wrote to the Union HRD Ministry on behalf of the IIMs on April 12, has said in his missive that the admission process will be done in two stages: the first list on April 21 will be as per last years intake and the second list will have the additional seats, which need to be upgraded due to OBC quota implementation.

Nowhere does the letter oppose the idea of OBC reservations, rather it gives ample time and scope to the government to act and get the stay order vacated.

More : indianexpress.com

IIM delay confuses MBA aspirantsThe Centre is likely to go the Supreme Court this afternoon in the OBC quota case.

In the meantime, with the IIM admissions being deferred, many MBA aspirants have been left in the lurch.

Private management schools are going ahead with their admissions and have asked students to pay the first installment of fees.

More : ibnlive.com

Confusion reigns over IIM admissionsA day after IIM Ahmedabad director Bakul Dholakia announced that the IIM admission list would be declared on April 21, the ministry of human resource development said its yet to receive any communication from the IIMs. In the absence of an official communication from the IIMs, it is not clear whether the institutes will be able to go ahead with their plan. In the event there is no clarity from the judiciary on this, things might just get worse.

The government had, in its order of April 5, asked the IIMs to keep their admission list on hold. A decision as to when the final list would be put up can only be taken after the matter is settled in the court, once the government files its petition. The government is likely to move the apex court in this connection on Monday. Meanwhile, the ministry of human resource development maintains that government orders are sacrosanct.

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com

IIMs Che in Red cubicle

The mane and the beard are missing; so are the smouldering eyes of a rebel. All the same, a Che has come to the CPM.

In contrast with the guerrilla guru from Latin Americas jungles, Chepuri Sri Krishna represents the cream of the corporate world. And he has no lessons to teach the CPM but only to learn.

The student of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, has travelled to Delhi to do his two-month summer internship with Indias largest communist party.

More : telegraphindia.com

Gujarat Global News Network, Ahmedabad

In a move that will leave hundreds of students in lurch the Central Government has put a halt to admissions in IIMs and IITs for the current academic year following the Supreme Courts stay on the implementation of 27 per cent OBC quota.

We were told on Thursday by the HRD ministry that admissions to all these institutes have been put on hold till further communication, an official at the Indian Institute of Management said.

IIM-A was scheduled to release admission offer letters on April 12 to as many as 280 students, an increase of 30 seats. This has now been put on hold. The group discussions and personal interviews have also been concluded.

More : gujaratglobal.com

After IIM-A and IIM-I, IIM-Kozhikode too announces fee hike

The Indian Institute of Management-Kozhikode has decided to increase the fee for its post-graduate programme in management (PGP) from the coming academic year by about 25 per cent.

The annual fee for the first year will be Rs 1.90 lakhs, while for the second year of the course it will marginally higher at Rs 1.95 lakhs. IIM-K Director Prof Krishna Kumar made this announcement last weekend. The fee for the first year currently is Rs 1.5 lakhs and for second year Rs 1.65 lakhs.

The increase in the fee was to attend to various needs of the institution.

More : mbauniverse.com

IIM-A hikes fees for two PG courses

The Indian Institute of Management -Ahmedabad (IIM-A) yesterday hiked the fees for its post -graduate management programme from Rs177,000 to Rs200,000.

The fees for the post-graduate programme for executives (PGPX) has also been increased from Rs1 million to Rs1.4 million IIM (A) Chairman Vijaypat Singhania told reporters here yesterday.

The decision to hike the fees was taken at the meeting of Board of Governors of IIM-A here.

Source : khaleejtimes.com

IIM Ahmedabad hikes fees

The Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) Saturday announced a nearly 12 percent fee hike for its prestigious two-year post-graduate programme.

The IIMA has decided to hike its fees for PGP (post-graduate programme) by 12 percent, Vijaypat Sighania, chairman of the IIMA board of directors, told reporters.

The IIMA board of directors has decided to increase the fees for the PGP courses from Rs.177,000 per annum to Rs.200,000, he said.

More : indiaedunews.net

IIM-A to defy SC diktat, wants resvn order altered

The air of uncertainty over admissions to IIMs this academic year has been cleared. IIM -Ahmedabad says it will not implement the 27% OBC reservation for now, unless the Supreme Court stay is vacated by April 12, reports CNBC-TV18.

The Indian Institute of Management- Ahmedabad was in a fix after the Supreme Court stayed the Centres decision to provide 27% reservation to OBCs in higher educational institutions like IITs and IIMs. When the Board of Governors of IIM-Ahmedabad met on Saturday morning, they had to decide whether they would go by the Supreme Court order or by the directions of HRD ministry. The Board chose to follow the apex court

Bakul Dholakia, Director, IIM-A, says, If there is not alteration of SC order, then the admission process will not be any different from last years.

More : moneycontrol.com