BIG DATA: A vision of tomorrow

by: Mayank Gaur

Every day, we create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data — so much that 90% of the data in the world today has been created in the last two years alone. This data comes from everywhere: sensors used to gather climate information, posts to social media sites, digital pictures and videos, purchase transaction records, and cell phone GPS signals to name a few. This data is called big data. The hot IT buzzword of 2012, big data has become viable as cost-effective approaches have emerged to tame the volume, velocity and variability of massive data. There are five broad ways in which using big data can create value. First, big data can unlock significant value by making information transparent and usable at much higher frequency. Second, as organizations create and store more transactional data in digital form, they can collect more accurate and detailed performance information on everything from product inventories to sick days, and therefore expose variability and boost performance. Leading companies are using data collection and analysis to conduct controlled experiments to make better management decisions; others are using data for basic low-frequency forecasting to high-frequency now casting to adjust their business levers just in time. Third, big data allows ever-narrower segmentation of customers and therefore much more precisely tailored products or services. Fourth, sophisticated analytics can substantially improve decision-making. Finally, big data can be used to improve the development of the next generation of products and services. For instance, manufacturers are using data obtained from sensors embedded in products to create innovative after-sales service offerings such as proactive maintenance (preventive measures that take place before a failure occurs or is even noticed). The past decade’s successful web startups are prime examples of big data used as an enabler of new products and services. For example, by combining a large number of signals from a user’s actions and those of their friends, Facebook has been able to craft a highly personalized user experience and create a new kind of advertising business. Facebook handles 40 billion photos from its user base. Walmart handles more than 1 million customer transactions every hour, which is imported into databases estimated to contain more than 2.5 petabytes of data — the equivalent of 167 times the information contained in all the books in the US Library of Congress. It’s no coincidence that the lion’s share of ideas and tools underpinning big data have emerged from Google, Yahoo, Amazon and Facebook.

 

Big data spans four dimensions: Volume, Velocity, Variety, and Veracity.

Volume: Enterprises are awash with ever-growing data of all types, easily amassing terabytes—even petabytes—of information.

• Turn 12 terabytes of Tweets created each day into improved product sentiment analysis
• Convert 350 billion annual meter readings to better predict power consumption

Velocity: Sometimes 2 minutes is too late. For time-sensitive processes such as catching fraud, big data must be used as it streams into your enterprise in order to maximize its value. 

• Scrutinize 5 million trade events created each day to identify potential fraud 
• Analyze 500 million daily call detail records in real-time to predict customer churn faster

Variety: Big data is any type of data - structured and unstructured data such as text, sensor data, audio, video, click streams, log files and more. New insights are found when analyzing these data types together

• Monitor 100’s of live video feeds from surveillance cameras to target points of interest
• Exploit the 80% data growth in images, video and documents to improve customer satisfaction

Veracity: 1 in 3 business leaders don’t trust the information they use to make decisions. How can you act upon information if you don’t trust it? Establishing trust in big data presents a huge challenge as the variety and number of sources grows.

 

 

Big Data in India’s Scenario-

• Indians are large users of facebook, you tube, internet, twitter etc. In addition, Indian companies generate a lot of data. Clubbing internal data and public data can help Indian organizations fine tune their marketing strategies.
• India has the second largest population in the world. The census can be anlaysed through technologies used in analysing big data. Even aadhaar has unique compute and data challenges that exhibits all characteristics of Big Data – Volume, variety and Velocity. The challenge is to derive value from these attributes.
• One of the biggest sectors to gain from big data will be medical research sector.
• Since India’s IT sector is growing leaps and bounds, Big Data is an opportunity for all IT firms in India.

 

But there are several issues needs to be addressed to capture the full potential of big data. Policies related to privacy, security, intellectual property, and even liability will need to be addressed in a big data world. Organizations need not only to put the right talent and technology in place but also structure workflows and incentives to optimize the use of big data. Access to data is critical—companies will increasingly need to integrate information from multiple data sources, often from third parties, and the incentives have to be in place to enable this. 

 

MICRO MARKETING

By: Manushi Kapur

Micro-marketing is a marketing strategy in which advertising efforts are focused on a small group of highly-targeted consumers. Micromarketing requires a company to narrowly define a particular audience by a particular characteristic, such as ZIP code or job title, and design campaigns for that particular segment. It can be a more expensive technique due to customization and lack of an economy of scale.

Essentially, it involves personalization of messages to individual consumers in the context of direct marketing. Micromarketing has come to refer to marketing strategies which are variously customized to either local markets, to different market segments, or to the individual customer.

We all know what mass marketing looks like — grand gestures, splashy creative and big budget media buys designed to reach and appeal to the widest possible audience. The problem? This type of marketing is less likely than ever to actually appeal to anyone at all.

Big companies like Ford, Coke, Wal-Mart and Samsung have used micromarketing because micromarketing is all about doing the right small things to get big results, it’s less about the size of the organization and more about the willingness to think differently and take new approaches.

For instance, in order for the company Ford to move into micro marketing it had to look into specific needs and wants of different individuals and manufacture an automobile that could fulfill them. Thus, Ford could introduce a new idea of allowing consumers to detail/customize a car or in other words create their own car. For instance, if a customer were to choose the silver Ford Focus, he/she is only offered the charcoal coloured interior. Ford could open its horizons and allow consumers to choose from a large number of different interior colours. This would allow individual consumers to have a car made which is fit for them and only them.

With micromarketing, the approach calls for getting to know the client’s needs, likes, and dislikes very well. This makes it easier to match that consumer with the goods or services that are being offered. The approach is often successful because the client receives a sense of being important to the marketer and sees the efforts to connect as being on a more personal level rather than a general one.

Small businesses often use micromarketing as a means of establishing and growing a client base with a defined geographical area. For example, a small grocery store chain with outlets in three different cities could go with the more common approach of carrying the same produce in each store. With a micromarketing approach, each store would carry a core group of fresh produce, but would augment it with other produce that is of particular interest to consumers who frequent those individual stores.

To avoid waste, specific consumer segments must be defined at both macro and micro (targeted) levels to ensure long-term strategic objectives and near-term responsiveness. Marketers must also be able to determine the attitudinal "availability" of consumers, not only for their brands and competitive reputation .

So, put on your marketing caps and look around. You are sure to see some of your favorite companies doing micro marketing ….!

MYSTERY BEHIND GOLD PRICES

By: Akshay Bansal

History 

Gold has been widely used throughout the world as a vehicle for monetary exchange, either by issuance and recognition of gold coins or other bare metal quantities, or through gold-convertible paper instruments by establishing gold standards in which the total value of issued money is represented in a store of gold reserves. However, production has not grown in relation to the world's economies. Today, gold mining output is declining. With the sharp growth of economies in the 20th century, and increasing foreign exchange, the world's gold reserves and their trading market have become a small fraction of all markets and fixed exchange rates of currencies to gold were no longer sustained.

Pricing of Gold and Determining Factors 

Today, like most commodities, the price of gold is driven by supply and demand as well as speculation. However unlike most other commodities, saving and disposal plays a larger role in affecting its price than its consumption. Most of the gold ever mined still exists in accessible form, such as bullion and mass-produced jewellery, with little value over its fine weight — and is thus potentially able to come back onto the gold market for the right price. The actual price of gold is determined by how much gold the World Gold Council is willing to sell. As with any market, the price is a factor of supply and demand.

Most people look at the price per troy ounce of gold in the same way they consider the stock market. As investment vehicles, both move up and down, and it’s often difficult to determine what causes the fluctuations. In reality, the price of gold is closely connected to a few core factors. These factors appear simple on the surface, but are part of a complex system that can be confusing to novices.

In this article, we’ll briefly describe some of the things that influence the movements of the price of gold. We’ll take a look at currency inflation, the role of central banks, and other dynamics that cause an increase in demand. This is not meant to be a comprehensive tutorial. Rather, it will provide a basic framework for understanding how gold prices move.

Currency Inflation

Inflation is often thought of as an increase in the prices of good. For example, when consumers visit the grocery store and notice the price of fruit has increased, they attribute the increase to inflation. This perspective is inaccurate. Inflation is technically an increase in the money supply. This has a direct effect on how gold prices move in relation to a country’s currency.

To explain, suppose you used every U.S. dollar to purchase every product in the world. Further suppose the money supply is then doubled. The extra dollars now floating through the system represent inflation. The value of every existing dollar declines by half. Essentially, it would now require two dollars to purchase something that was once sold for a single dollar.

Gold is used as an exchange unit of value because it cannot be arbitrarily produced. It is a near-perfect store of value against supply and demand. When the supply of dollars (or any currency) is inflated, the price of gold increases as the per-unit value of the currency declines. Conversely, during times of monetary contraction (i.e. when dollars are “soaked up”), the price of gold goes down.

Central Banks

The above discussion leads directly into the role of central banks in the context of how they influence gold prices. They can do so in two distinct ways. First, central banks can decide to sell a portion of their reserves or buy more on the market. The amount sold each year is limited to 400 tonnes to help avoid a glut in the market that drives prices downward.

The second way central banks influence the price of gold is through loan agreements with the central banks of other nations. This area is incredibly complex and involves the International Monetary Fund.

Both levers (i.e. purchase or sale on the market and loan agreements) have a powerful influence on interest rates and thus, the sale of government bonds. For this reason, central banks usually try to keep the price of gold from climbing.

Other Factors

Several other factors can trigger a surge of demand for gold, which pushes its price upward. For example, during times of political unrest and war, countries often travel a path of monetary expansion. This causes the nation’s citizens to lose faith in the value of their currency. As a result, they move their assets into gold.

Mining production can also play a role. While gold cannot be arbitrarily produced, it is mined each year throughout the world. Typically, only a small amount is mined, which means the world’s “above surface” supply remains relatively static.

Large deficits also support high gold prices. When deficits become extremely high, there is a risk of default. This drives people from the nation’s currency into gold, triggering another surge in demand (and price).

Tracking and predicting fluctuations in the price of gold is difficult because there are so many factors at work. If you’re thinking about selling your gold jewellery (e.g. watches, necklaces, earrings, etc.) to take advantage of the current high prices, now may be an ideal time. We may look back in a year and wonder if we’ll ever see the current peaks again.

Indian Market and Gold Prices

The gold rate in today's market depends entirely on the demand and availability of the metal. So unpredictable is the gold rate that not even those in the business are able to forecast what the price might be in the near future, stating that trying to graph the gold rate over a period of time would be inaccurate as well as ineffective. But those in the commodities market seem to have a batter grasp on the gold rate because gold is a commodity and gold rate analysis is possible when using only that commodity for calculation. And they state that even though the analysis is so complex, it will provide an unambiguous picture of the gold rate in the future.

We find that in Indian market, there is more fluctuation in the gold rate than in other markets. Indian buyers are more emotional in their investments because their traditions play a large role. Also, in Hinduism, God's word carries a lot of weight. Gold is pure as well as auspicious, meaning that it bodes well for the future, promising success and good fortune and is something which should never be sold unless one is focused to do so by circumstance. Indian buyers consider their traditions before investing - and then go ahead if all seems well.

Industrial Visit to Coca-Cola Bottling Plant

An Industrial Visit to Coca-Cola Bottling Plant - Moon Beverages, Sahibabad, was organized by MIC on 22 September, 2012

Here's what Apoorv Sharma, (member, Team MIC) has to say about the same...

On the sleepy Saturday morning, 40 students of our prestigious Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies gathered in the college premises to take part in an amazing industrial visit to the bottling plant of Coca-Cola Moon Bevarages in Sahibabad. The visit had been arranged by the Management Interaction Cell of the college. The journey began with a short and crisp ride to the venue in our own humble college bus. The atmosphere resonated with fun and frolic throughout the journey.

On reaching our destination, we were all made aware ofthe security and other rules we were to follow throughout the visit. Then we were led to a hall where we were made to sit and offered complimentary coke bottles. For the actual plant visit we were divided into small groups of 7-8 people, each group assisted by a guide who led us through the plant.

First of all we visited the water treatment plant where we were told about the complete purification process and how the groundwater was treated to levels that were made suitable for human consumption (even the water that is used for purposes other than manufacture the drinks is well enough to drink by the global standards).

Then we were led to the units that bottle Mazaa, the famous mango drink by Coca-Cola. There we were shown how the glass bottles were washed and sterilised in order to make them usable again. The bottles were turned upside down and then cleaned with pressurised water and then caustic soda and again with water so that nothing remained of the previous usage (not even the microbes). Then we were shown the bags of mango pulp and the way they were handled by tools so that none of the contents get contaminated through human touch.

Further, we were led to the unit that bottles ThumsUp. The plastic bottles that we use are in the form of pre-forms that are fed into the machinery and then are blown into the requisite shape. The way the conveyor belts tossed up the finished bottles around at lightening speeds definitely reminded everyone of the ThumsUp tagline “Aaj Kuchch Toofani Karte Hain”!! We were also made to see gigantic tanks filled with the concentrate syrups (we even got to taste the concentrate of Limca), the cold storage, the lab that continually keeps testing the products to monitor discrepancies and what not !!

In the end we were led back to the same hall from where we had started and made to fill feedback forms. Moreover we had a surprise waiting for us in the form of Rimzim - the iconic masala soda drink that is to be relaunched by Coca-Cola and we were among the first to have a sip of it before it officially returns to rock the Indian markets.

In short the journey culminated in the same tempo and mood in which it had started - one of fun and frolic.

Demand for creation of New States in India - Political Management or Development Management?

By: Kirti Saini

India is a nation of different cultures and different religions. You move a few hundred kilometres and you feel the change in culture and language. Still it is united because of its citizens. But, the demand for creation of new States is recurring ever since Independence. Currently, there are demands for creation of at least 10 more new States. The basic questions which arise here are:

Why do demands for smaller states and bifurcation arise?

Emotional considerations play major role in this - like culture, language, religion and a sense of economic and regional deprivation.

Greed of politicians is also a factor. They envision additional posts of power as chief ministers or ministers, leaders of the opposition, Assembly speakers and so on. Similarly, government servants think of becoming chief secretaries or secretaries, DGs of police, chief-engineers, Directors and so on.

Apart from this a common notion is that a larger share of central funds would flow into a new state compared to when it is a region in a larger state, many believe that a new capital city would provide better living conditions. Arguments are set forth that a smaller state with less number of districts would diminish the span of control of state-level functionaries. And that reduced distances between the state capital and peripheral areas would improve the quality of governance and administrative responsiveness and accountability.

Another argument which comes in support of this demand is better Administration. When a democratically elected political party would lead a small area of people it would be administrated appropriately and without the scope of any flaws and also give people better exposure and a great chance to perform well in various fields.

Besides, it is believed that in the ever growing Indian economy if a state is small and then any government employee or law maker or politician does some fraud, immediately it will show the effect on the other projects as it will become very difficult for that chief minister to bring new funds or hide his black deeds. Small states will not give chances to their leader to hide his failure or fool the people by saying that this time we have given funds to west or north, as small state means the population will know in real what is happening in every part of his state.

Why these demands should be answered as a big NO?

Various problems which form the reasons for division can have alternate solutions without actually dividing. 

Better administration can easily be achieved with strong regional administrative units in larger states. Much more than the size of a state, it is the quality of governance and administration, the diverse talent available within the state’s population, the leadership’s drive and vision that determine whether a particular state performs better than the others.

Today technology can help make governing larger territories easier and bring even far-flung areas closer. In the recent times both large and small states have fared well and hence proved that poor performance is not necessarily linked to size.

Apart from that, a small state is likely to face limitations in terms of the natural (physical) and human resources available to it. Moreover, it will lack the kind of agro-climatic diversity required for economic and developmental activities. It would also be restricted in its capability to raise resources internally. All these factors would only make it more dependent on the centre for financial transfers and centrally-sponsored schemes. Further, increasing the number of states in the country would expand the span of control of the central ministries dealing with states and of party high commands dealing with state party units. A new small state may also find itself lacking in infrastructure (administrative and industrial), which requires time, money and effort to build.

These demands can not resolve issues faced by various regions and sections of society. Larger states are in fact, more economically- and financially-viable and better capable of serving people and achieving planned development.

Moreover, creation of small states will divide India into even more and more parts which can lead to hatred, internal problems and inter state cold wars as we see now days. Plus, there’s no guarantee that small states will lead to progress and development only.

What is to be taken care of?

Socially,  the new States should be provided with a healthy environment and standard of living, according to the past evidences a few new states excelled on health and literacy grounds compared with their parent States. But, after a decade, however, the pendulum swung in favour of the parent States. Therefore, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttaranchal fared worse than their parent States. In the case of education, too, the parent states have made relatively better progress in the last decade. However, the newly created States retained their initial advantage. Therefore, Uttaranchal had the best health and educational achievements of all the six States under consideration in 2011.

Economically, growth depends on a host of factors such as natural resources, availability of social and physical infrastructure, demographic characteristics and the political environment which Jharkhand did not possess. We can take an example of the output growth of Chhatisgarh and Uttarakhand, which exceeded that of their parent States, but in the case of Jharkhand it was the reverse because of these reasons.

Politically, a stable and well managed political atmosphere should be provided or else decisions may back fire. For example, Jharkhand has witnessed maximum political instability since its creation. Apart from Presidential rule being imposed twice, Jharkhand has been served by eight chief ministers between 2001 and 2012. The state has not achieved any major developmental outcome and is a failure whereas Chhattisgarh and Uttaranchal have changed for better.

The answer to the question whether this Division can be counted under Political Management or Development Management ranges and changes from person to person. A few objectives would fulfil the political greed and some would help the general public. Besides, Division is not a sure shot success formula for Development. The creation of a new state is a decision with far fetched consequences. Whether or not it should be taken is subjective but it must never only be a political decision.

Licence To Loot: COAL SCAM

By: Aishwarya Yadav

Even as Prime Minister Manmohan  Singh was saving the world at NAM summit in Tehran, a group of senior bureaucrats was busy finalising a draft report recommending cancellation of 53 out of 57 allotments  made by the coal ministry during the period of 2005-2009.

The  draft report revealed that the coal reserves in 53 blocks recommended for cancellation account for Rs.1.85 lakh crore of the total Rs.1.86 lakh crore presumptive loss estimated by CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) of India. The impact of this report will not be felt  immediately, but its meaning was clear to the political class in Delhi: CAG had been correct in its analysis. There was something deeply rotten in the state of coal allotments. The fact was underlined by CBI’s decision to lodge an FIR against six companies for fudging facts submitting forged documents and acquiring coal blocks without an experience of running them.

A FEW WHITE LIES:

PM’S POINT: Coal mines would be auctioned after amending Mines and Minerals Regulations

COUNTERPOINT: The controversial coal blocks were allocated even when it were illegal to do so after September 2010

PM’s POINT: He blamed “cumbersome processes” for delay in adoption of coal auction. 

COUNTERPOINT: But he could have removed all these hurdles himself as Head of Government. After all, all the ministers remain only at his discretion.

PM’s POINT: The policy to switch to auctions from discretionary allotment was the UPA’s initiative.

COUNTERPOINT: But why did the Prime Minister’s Office repeatedly put roadblocks in its implementation.

PM’s POINT: The state governments were to blame for failure to build a consensus on bidding.

COUNTERPOINT: Yet the first step to get the states on board, admitted the Prime Minister, started only in July, 2005. States had given up their reservations by 2006.Nothing was done for three  more years. 31 coal blocks were allotted during this period.

MAN TO BLOW THE WHISTLE:

Hansraj Gangaram Ahir,the  BJP MP from Chandrapur, Maharashtra blew the loudest whistle when he accused the UPA government of awarding captive coal blocks to private players “free of cost”. Certain  of his facts, Ahir petitioned both Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) and Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to investigate. His complaint to CVC has led to a CBI probe.

The fact that he had been a member of standing committee  on coal and steel since 2004 helped.”During one of those meetings in 2005,a coal ministery official said Coal India had failed to meet its capacity and the private players would be brought in picture to bridge the gap.It was then that I decided to dig the issue deeper.” 

Two of the Prime Minister’s most argumentative lieutenants have staked their credibility on a zero-loss theory, at the least a scenario in which there was no malafide intent by Government in allocation Their arguments would be shattered-again.for a government tainted by aseries of scandals ,there is hardly any defence left in the raging Coal War.

Adapted from: India Today.

Small Feet, Big Impressions - Anita Roddick

By: Daksha Verma

“If you think you're too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito.”- Anita Roddick

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LIFE BEFOREHAND.

Born  Anita Perella, Dame Anita Roddick, (23 October 1942 – 10 September 2007) was the third of four children in one of the few Italian immigrant families in Littlehampton, England.

Her mother forced her into the teaching profession, but Roddick's craving for adventure was too strong to keep her in the classroom.

She hit what she calls "the hippie trail," traveling through Europe, the South Pacific and Africa after working for a year in Paris in the library of the International Herald Tribune and another year in Geneva working for the United Nations.

During her journeys, she became acquainted with the rituals and customs of many Third World cultures, including their forms of health and body care.

When she returned to England, she met Gordon Roddick, a kindred bohemian spirit who wrote poetry and loved to travel as much as she did. The couple married in 1970, and shortly thereafter, opened a bed-and-breakfast hotel and later started a restaurant. In 1976, Gordon decided to fulfill a long-standing personal goal: to ride a horse from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to New York. Admiring her husband's pluck, Anita agreed to sell their restaurant to finance his trip. "It blissed me out to have a partner who said ,”I've got to do this.’I've got to be remarkable,” " she explains.

THE IDEA POPS.

In order to pay for her daily expenses and daughters school fees in her husband's absence, she decided to open a small shop wherein she incorporated all the knowledge that she gained during her travels into products that contained natural ingredients. With her husband’s help, she obtained a $6,500 loan, contracted with a local herbalist to create her all-natural cosmetics, found a site in the seaside resort of Brighton, and opened her first Body Shop.

FRUGALITY.

Her shop was set between two funeral homes. She painted the shop green because it hid everything, even the damp spots on the walls. Since she did not have enough bottles, she offered discounted refills to customers who brought back their empty containers, and used minimal packaging to keep costs as low as possible. She came up with a selection of perfume oils to scent the customer’s purchases (which were fragrance-free) because it was cheaper than adding expensive perfumes to every bottle of shampoo or lotion.

CLEVER PROMOTION.

Anita Roddick displayed a natural talent for garnering free publicity. The morticians who ran the funeral parlor next to her first shop complained that her store's name would hurt their business. She leaked a story to a local newspaper saying the undertakers were ganging up on a woman shopkeeper just trying to get by. It worked: People streamed into the store to see what all was going on.

Later on she advertised through promoting her social causes and in-store pamphlets.

THE COMPLETE OFFER.

The combination of unique products, good public relations, a highly trained staff and a well-defined sense of values quickly generated a buzz. Word spread, and within a year, Roddick's business had grown so large that she opened a second store. When Gordon returned in the spring of 1977, The Body Shop had become so popular that the Roddick’s began selling franchises.

THE END.

Anita Roddick's story remains one of the great entrepreneurial, if not cautious, tales of the late 20th century. She grew a single shop into an international empire and proved that a company can gain loyal customers and succeed by simply providing product information rather than employing high-powered advertising and high-pressure selling.

The Roddicks stepped back from running day-to-day operations and installed managing director Stuart Rose, who promptly restructured the company, bringing in other professional managers, installing tighter inventory control and streamlining processes. At the time, Roddick seemed ambivalent about the new course and railed at the administrative bureaucracy she was forced to adopt. "We've gone through a period of squashing one hell of a lot of the entrepreneurial spirit," she told Fortune magazine. "We're having to grow up; we have to get methods and processes in. And the result of that is a hierarchy that comes in-and I think that's antiproductive."

The changes failed to have the desired effect, and sales continued to decline. After a dismal first quarter financial performance in 1998, Roddick ceded her post as CEO to Patrick Gourney, a professional manager from a French food conglomerate, and farmed out her flagging U.S. franchises to the Bellamy Retail Group.

****

“Dysfunction is the essence of entrepreneurship. I've had dozens of requests from places like Harvard and Yale to talk about the subject. It makes me laugh that ivy leaguers are so keen to "learn" how to be entrepreneurs, because I'm not convinced it's a subject you can teach. I mean, how do you teach obsession? Because it is obsession that drives the entrepreneur's commitment to a vision of something new.” - Anita Roddick.

Adapted from: www.entrepreneur.com

WELCOME

Welcome to a brand new world!!!

This is a special occasion. Our first blog post for the academic session 2012-13, and today we are celebrating Janmashtami, the birthday of the beloved Hindu God, Sri Krishna. Definitely an auspicious day!

This new beginning opens before us a whole new gateway to ambit-less opportunities, a world of new hopes and aspirations. At this point, we are compelled to look back at the well-lived yesterday and manage our today for a bright and beautiful tomorrow. Our actions and decisions of today shall decide the course our lives take tomorrow. 

"One can become whatever one wants to be, if one constantly contemplates on the object of desire with faith." So, said Sri Krishna, the wisest of all. As we strive to achieve the new heights for our aims - as individuals, as students and as members of humanity, we mustn't let doubts cloud our vision, nor must we allow ourselves to forget our learnings from the glorious past. 

On this momentous occasion, when we are at the threshold of re-defining ourselves, our actions, our academic pasts and our achievements as TEAM - Management Interaction Cell (MIC), we thank all those who have ever had a role in making us what we are and what MIC as a society is and has been.

At the close, instead of the customary good-byes, it is indeed time once again for a 'welcome', for it is just the beginning!!