Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar
 

Visit of Shri Mani Shanker Aiyer at XIMB

Cabinet Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas and Panchayati Raj, Shri Mani Shankar   Aiyer today enthralled the students at XIMB by giving a comprehensive speech on India's energy security in the global scenario. The perfect weather acted as the perfect setting as the cabinet minister combined facts from the global oil scenario with some light hearted humor to put forward his views on the topic.

While giving a complete overview of the India's energy status he highlighted that the share of crude oil in the country's energy matrix would increase to almost 90% by 2025. "The share of civilian nuclear energy would only increase from 3% to 6% in meeting the demand , while the high ash content in domestic coal reserves often make it unfeasible to produce power", commented Mani Shankar Aiyer . He even highlighted an example where Tamil Nadu found it cheaper to import coal from Australia rather than transport coal from Indian reserves to produce electricity as a example.

He felt that the government was moving forward with its plan to secure India energy concern for the coming years. "There would be no absolute shortage of oil for India at least till 2025", commented the minister in a bid to calm fears about supply of oil to India.

Taking a dig at the speculating forces that artificially increase the prices of global crude oil, he felt that there was urgent need of a truly free market. He said, "Even though there have been instances of some labour trouble in Nigeria, there has been no reduction in the oil production by Nigeria. Yet there are some elements who manage to raise prices of global crude oil to even $70 per barrel. Sometimes even a threat of a terrorist attack on Saudi Arabia has the same effect."

Speaking on long term plans, he spoke about plans to import oil from Russia with a decade's time. A tripartite deal to import natural gas from Burma through Bangladesh also formed his long term vision. "Diversifying our oil imports would mean that we are in a better position to meet our demands in case of emergencies." He also hinted that he would try to form Asian energy blocks consisting of country's who have high oil consumption who would manage to negotiate favorable oil prices from different producers .

He stressed on  increased  co-operation between domestic oil companies so that India could leverage optimally on the overseas investments in oil fields across the world .

As reported by:
Ayon Mitra
Xavier Institute of Management
Bhubaneswar
Email: media@ximb.ac.in
 

Mr. Jayesh Bhave
VP Central Research Group, JP Morgan Mumbai
came to interact with the students of XIMB

For the students of any Business School, guest lectures and CEO talks are part and parcel of day to day life. However, it is not very often that a guest lecture evokes as much interest and enthusiasm as was awakened in the students of XIMB, on the 24^th of October by Mr. Jayesh Bhave, VP Central Research Group, JP Morgan Mumbai. And indeed, why not? The reputation that JP Morgan enjoys as a leading financial institution is well-known to one and all, both inside and outside the ever-expanding world of business. Besides that, the nature of the talk was such that it was directly related to a lot of things that the students of XIMB learn in their classrooms.

Prior to joining JP Morgan, Mr. Bhave worked for the Mckinsey Knowledge Center. He also worked with Divisional Securities for three years, as a research analyst. Mr. Bhave did his PGDBM from the KJ Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research, before which he did his B.Com. from the SIES College of Arts and Sciences, Mumbai.

During the course of his talk, Mr. Bhave started off by breaking the ice and encouraging questions at every stage. The talk was excellently structured, as it began with the ABCs of Investment Banking and went right up to detailed topics like Valuations. He put forward lots of valuable tips and perspectives, including the fact that Investment Banking is 20% theory and 80% perspective. Contrary to the popular perception among students, he pointed out that Investment Banking is not all about glamour and money, and initially requires a lot of hard work. Deals are struck only at the VP and MD levels.

Mr. Bhave gave the students a clear picture of what Investment Banking involves, right from the identification of needs to the delivery of proper solutions. Throughout the entire process, he emphasized on the importance of understanding the Business environment, the sector dynamics, and the nature of the client's business. Building of relationships and the execution of plans are the two key factors that make up the delivery process. Overall, knowledge of both local and global factors is essential.

The ultimate objective of any Investment Banker is to get the same client to come back to him i.e. a repeat customer. For this to happen, all the functions must be performed perfectly by the banker. These functions include raising and placing of capital, advising on strategy and capital structure, offering risk management services, and making markets in financial instruments.

The question of whether investment banking is an art or a science was dealt with by Mr. Bhave in a very practical and understandable manner, where he mentioned that at the point where Markets, Industry, and the Company converge i.e. the shop floor is where a certain amount of insight must be developed in order to carry out one's duty effectively. He then went on to explain some of the important transactions that may occur, like Mergers and Acquisitions.

For the students of XIMB, it was a rare opportunity to get an inside view of what is a dream job for many. This was clearly evident from the number of questions that were generated by the students after the talk. At the end of the day, Mr. Bhave bade goodbye to a group of students who were far more enlightened than they were when he had arrived.
 

Rohit Verma
Coordinator, IlluminatiX
The XIMB Media and PR Cell
Xavier Institute of Management
Bhubaneswar 751013
Ph: +919937398147
URL: www.ximb.ac.in/~media
 

Source: E-mail November 3, 2005

published on IndianMBA.com on November 12, 2005

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