Prof. Prasad is an alumnus of St Stephens College, the Delhi School of Economics and International Management Institute. He has considerable experience in the government, industry and academia.

He will take over from the interim director Bharat Bhasker. The post had been lying vacant for the past 19 months since Prof Devi Singh’s second term, extended for six months from March 9, 2014 ended in September last year.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) had given additional charge of the director, IIM-L to the next senior faculty Bharat Bhasker on July 8 after Prof Yogesh Agarwal, second senior-most faculty declined to take charge, for a period of three months.

Prof. Prasad is an alumnus of St Stephens College, the Delhi School of Economics and International Management Institute. He has considerable experience in the government, industry and academia.

Earlier, senior-most professor Rajiv Kumar Srivastava completed his six-month term as the IIM L director on July 7 and refused to continue on health grounds and that his professional work was suffering due to the additional responsibilities.

On October 8, MHRD issued fresh directives giving extension to Bhasker till further orders. In the interview held on October 21, the search-cum-selection panel gave nod for Prasad’s appointment which was endorsed by the Appointment Committee of Cabinet (ACC) headed by the Prime Minister.

Sberbank, headquartered in Moscow, was founded in 1841 and as of 2012 was the largest bank in Russia and Eastern Europe, and the third largest in Europe. Today Sberbank has roughly 17,000 branches in Russia and approximately 90,000 ATM’s and self-service kiosks. 

Sberbank serves customers in some of the remotest corners of Russia with the assistance of helicopters: it transports cash and batteries to ATM’s in remote areas in the tundra so that caribou deer shepherds can withdraw cash

Vladislav Voitsekhovich, MD and CEO of the Sberbank India was at IIM Lucknow to speak to MBA (IPMX) students.

During his talk, Voitsekhovich detailed the evolution of the bank over time and shared how the bank was similar to India’s State Bank of India (SBI) in the way that it serves customers in some of the remotest corners in India, going as far as providing banking services with the assistance of helicopters: Sberbank transports cash and batteries to ATM’s in remote areas in the tundra so that caribou deer shepherds can withdraw cash.  Voitsekhovich remarked that as opposed to the common perception, the term ‘helicopter money’ has its roots in this banking practice and has nothing to do with former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who acquired the nickname ‘Helicopter Ben’ on Wall Street for the Quantitative Easing policies of the Fed in the aftermath of the financial crisis that began in 2008

Vladislav Voitsekhovich, MD & CEO, Sberbank with the MBA Class at IIM Lucknow

Voitsekhovich drew frequent comparisons between Sberbank and SBI, calling Sberbank ‘SBI of Russia’. Sberbank and SBI share many common traits and characteristics as the two largest banks in their respective countries. However, Sberbank is a new entrant in India and it sees its strength in its Russian origin, which the bank believes gives it an advantage in handling Indo-Russian trade.

Voitsekhovich said that the flagship business of Sberbank is the payment gateway, which allows Indian and Russian companies to engage in trade in national currencies of India and Russia – Rupees and Roubles. Even though the volumes of trade are currently not as large as that with China, after a certain threshold, settlements in INR/RUB will enormously ease trade and stimulate rapid growth. In this area, Sberbank is expanding its tie-ups and bilateral limits with Indian banks.

Voitsekhovich said he was very optimistic about Make in India as it promises to offer a great opportunity for Sberbank clients’ Indian operations and that it could spur growth in Indo-Russian collaboration beyond the military sector into new high-potential areas such as Information technology, tourism, and agriculture.

He pointed out how India, despite being the largest producer of sugarcane, lags behind Cuba, Thailand and Brazil in the export of sugarcane to Russia because India fails to match the prices offered by the competing countries. India needs access to more clients and Sberbank is helping by providing access to its client base.

Voitsekhovich also briefly touched upon the New Development Bank (NDB), more commonly known as the ‘BRICS bank’, and said that he did not believe in the concept of the NDB until the appointment of Mr. K V Kamath as its first MD & CEO. Having worked with Mr. Kamath at ICICI Bank, and having witnessed Mr. Kamath’s leadership, actions and results-orientation, his appointment changed Voitsekhovich’s view from skeptical to highly optimistic.

MBA programmes from India have shown a strong performance in the Financial Times Global MBA Ranking 2015. IIM A and ISB have bettered their performance from 2014, however IIM B’s MBA has fallen from grace and has been ranked 82 this year – a sharp fall of 14 places.

The top spot in the 2015 Financial Times Global MBA ranking of the 100 best full-time MBA programmes goes to Harvard Business School, which saw off challenges from London Business School (second) and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (third) to keep its crown. Stanford Graduate School of Business, second last year, slipped to joint fourth with Insead.

This ranking is solely a ranking of MBA courses and is not a ranking of B-Schools. Nor is the ranking based on pre-experience Master in Management (MIM) programmes in India (PGP/ PGDM). FT comes out with a separate ranking of B-Schools, and of MIM pogrammes.

Highlights – Indian B-Schools

• IIM A’s PGPX is ranked No. 2 MBA in the world for Career Progression, above Harvard’s MBA and just below Stanford School of Business’s MBA 
• The rise seems to come on the back of higher CTCs for PGPX grads. The weighted average salary for PGPX students in 2014 was $157,459 while this figure for 2015 is $167,676. The weightage salary is an adjusted figure that takes purchasing power of a currency into account and is calculated at PPP rates provided by the International Monetary Fund.
• IIM A is however ranked at an abysmal 99 in the ranking for research. ISB trumps it and is ranked 65 in the world on this parameter. 
• IIM A and ISB still long way off from their 11 rank and 13 rank in 2011 – their best ever show on the rankings till date
• IIM B’s One Year MBA (EPGP) is the No. 5 MBA in the world for career progression, ranked above the likes of Wharton, INSEAD & MIT
• IIM B’s loss comes largely from an improved performance from other B-Schools – IIM B has improved or maintained its score on most counts in 2015

What is ironical is that while these MBA courses, all one-year in duration, have taken the world rankings by storm, they are yet to be crowned numero-uno within the very B-Schools they represent – officially at least, the two-year PGP courses continue to remain the ‘flagship’ courses at IIMs.

The One Year MBA courses at IIMs have also enabled the institutes to get a Global MBA accreditation from AMBA, UK which their pre-experience PGP courses do not qualify for. 

If China continues to come up the curve and India becomes like China, we would be at a fundamental tipping point,” predicts Davis Blake. (However) long-promised changes in legislation, which might be implemented in the Indian market in 2015, may confuse as much as clarify. The traditional pre-experience PGP (postgraduate programme) taught by the prestigious Indian Institutes of Management could be renamed as an MBA

Financial Times takes note of the confusing state of affairs in the Indian MBA market vis.a.vis the One Year MBA and Two-year PGP courses.

Speaking to FT, Prof. Davis Blake of Michigan Ross says, “Increasingly the competition for US business schools is global. If China continues to come up the curve and India becomes like China, we would be at a fundamental tipping point,” she predicts. (However) long-promised changes in legislation, which might be implemented in the Indian market in 2015, may confuse as much as clarify. The traditional pre-experience PGP (postgraduate programme) taught by the prestigious Indian Institutes of Management could be renamed as an MBA, says FT.

That these confusions are affecting the growth of graduates of the One Year MBA in India and confusing future MBA aspirants is clear. What is interesting to note is that Institutes offering the One Year MBA as their primary course are also affected. Speaking to FT, Ajit Rangnekar, the Dean of Indian School of Business says, “Inside India this (legislation) will have little effect. Within the country nobody cares. All people care about is what institution you went to.”

Highlights – B-Schools in USA, Europe, Australia and Asia Pacific

• The University of San Diego School of Business Administration is the highest new entrant, at 66th. Nine other schools not in last year’s ranking feature in 2015, including Queen’s School of Business in Ontario, which last reached the top 100 in 2006.
• China’s Fudan University School of Management and the UK’s Lancaster University Management School recorded the strongest progress, climbing 28 and 27 places respectively to 55th and 50th places.
•  The Macquarie Graduate School of Management (MGSM) has been ranked Australia’s leading MBA school and number 68 in the world
• After several years of knocking on the door, the Haas school at UC Berkeley has entered the FT Global MBA rankings top 10 for the first time in 2015
• London Business School’s MBA is No.1 in Europe. INSEAD’s One Year MBA is No.2 MBA in Europe
• CEIBS MBA is the No. 1 in China

What is ironical is that while these MBA courses, all one-year in duration, have taken the world rankings by storm, they are yet to be crowned numero-uno within the very B-Schools they represent – officially at least, the two-year PGP courses continue to remain the ‘flagship’ courses at IIMs. The One Year MBA courses at IIMs have also enabled the institutes to get a Global MBA accreditation from AMBA, UK which their pre-experience PGP courses do not qualify for.

Why aren’t more MBAs from India in the list? Well for one, to be eligible to participate, a school should be accredited by AACSB or Equis; it must have a programme that has been running for at least four years; and it must have graduated its first class at least three years before the ranking publication date.

Among top B-Schools, IIM I, IIM L don’t have EQUIS/ AACSB accreditation, while IIM C’s PGPEX seems to have not made the cut despite the B-School having been accredited by AACSB and EQUIS both.

Want to understand the FT Ranking methodology better? Go here.

Detailed Financial Times MBA Ranking 2015