Sahbir Hardware: A decade journey in Building Construction and Hardware Business

Hi all,

I am feeling emence pleasure to inform you all that on 24th April 2009, my home business shop "Sahbir Hardware" has completed its 10 years of operations. I still remember the day when my father started the shop way back in 1999 with a mare capital of 32,000 at Jatkauli Ghat,one of the remotest village of vaishali district in Bihar. Since then there is no looking back as far as the business is concerned. Today we have a yearly turnover of more than Rs. 20 Lakhs and its doing well in all the aspects.

Sahbir Hardware delas in all kind of building materails incluiding cement, iron, stone chips, sand, cenetaey items etc. When we opened the shop in 1999, there were hardly any similar shop around the village but in the span of 10 years we have 3 more shops dealing in same kind of business. This competition has given us a low margin but due to heavy volume out profits has been intact.

I must confess, this shop has contributed a lot in my higher studies. Whatever i am today, all the expenses for that has been coming from the profits of this shop. An emotional connection but yes no doubt it has been the sole source of income for my family of 5.

We hope that, we will continue to run this business for a long long time and probably on its completion of 15th year i will come along with another blog and a turnover figure of 50Lakhs.

May God bless us for this.

Indian Cricket team: Is it playing too much cricket?

I have gone through a series of articles regarding the Indian Cricket team performance in T-20 world cup. It was simply a disaster for the side where they just managed to win against minors like Namibia and Bangladesh. Rest of the matches was like no Indian fan will like to remember in any way. Whether it was due to Sehwag injury or due to sending Ravindra Jedeja up the order against England, we must accept that as a team we failed miserably. Some of the commentators said that Indian players were too tired to go to world cup T-20 due to IPL. But, the fact of the matter is most of the players that did well in T-20 also played IPL. It is also a fact that rest of the teams had at max 4-5 players playing in IPL whereas All Indian players were involved in it. So this is one of the factors for the poor performance by Indian team. But at International level, Players must be able to handle these kind of situations.
A section of people talked about there is some problem in the dressing room related to Sehwag injury. But I think, the way this man has served India, even though he is 50% fit, he would be better than half of the side playing currently and on his day he can simply murder any balling attack. He might have a feeling that after a couple of games he will be alright and could not have anticipated the complexity of his injury. These are technical issues and one can not blame him entirely for this as it also the responsibility of medical staffs to examine the matter. People also talked about discomfort level among the players. Again it’s too early to say anything on this aspect but I just wish that it is not a reality because this will not only hamper the performance of individuals but also of the team.
The fact of the matter is now a days due to heavy commercialization we have hardly any breaks after any series. We had a long IPL session followed by T-20 World cup. Pause a minute, We are playing against West Indies in their home country and by the time I am writing this article 2 One day Internationals has already been played with scores level at 1-1. Its too much cricket in recent past. TV ratings also suggest same. India-West Indies series getting a raw deal not by the viewers but also by the news channels as far as coverage of the matches are concerned. Even Media knows where to target and what to avoid. These are tuff times for Indian cricket and players must be given some rest before next series starts and then only we can expect some very good cricket from them. I wish Indian Cricket council is listening. My best wishes to Indian Team for its West Indies series.


With Regards-Nandlal Kumar

Should India Have a Two Party Parliament?

I was 9 when I first started following the political news (of course in Hindi at that time) on television and in print media. At that point of time only parties that I knew were BJP (Bhartiya Janta Party) and INC (Indian National Congress), popularly known as “congress”. But in last 10-15 years we have seen a phenomenal increase in the number of parties (Both national and State level) operating in the elections. We have witnessed a trend where many parties were concentrated towards a certain caste, creed and colour.
Today after 15 years, we can’t even imagine forming a central Government without the support of these small regional parties. Since 1999, when BJP or so called NDA came into Power since then we have a trend of these political practices and moreover a lots of misconduct into it.
On 16th May 2009, India will again decide its fortune for its next Government but its clearly visible that neither of the top two national parties is going to get the majority on its on (magical figure of 273 out of 543 seats). If this is the case then we must be ready for another round of selling-buying activity of candidates to make the basket full by either of the parties. Reports suggest that Crores of rupees have exchanged hands in the past in these activities. We can just hope that It is not the case this time.
Election Commission (EC) has done a tremendous job to make the things transparent and more voters friendly. But still a lot is left to be done to make the system function properly. Who can forget that it was EC who saved Bihar from getting into hands of Laloo Prasad Yadav for the fourth time?
In Today’s context, the ultimate question is whether the Indian voter has become mature enough that it will vote out the regional parties and support either of the two major national parties so that there is no buying and selling of politicians. We have seen this kind of dual party system in the west and the results is visible to everyone. We must act together so that there is no scope of regional parties and we have a stable Government that can take its decisions firmly on its own and there is no hampering of growth due to so called “coalition dharma”.
People often have a sense that coalition Government helps the country to take into account the interest of all the sections of society as it come from a diversified section of society. Agreed up to a point but we must not forget that these regional and small parties often keep unreasonable demands and to carry the Government major party has to accept this, also We can not afford to have election before 5 years as cost of conducting an election is as high as 10000 Crores. Also if the major party too has to go to public once in 5 years they will definitely take care of all section of the society.
Taking all the aspects into the consideration, i feel this is the time to get into a resolution so that we can have a political setup like west. We will have selected option to choose from and probably that will give a strong Government that may take decisions if required. And hopefully we will not have a weak Foreign Minister who is responsible for Kandhar and perhaps a poor prime Minister who is fighting in its own coalition to pass the nuclear deal. These are just the visible issues that come out of the blade but there must be a numerous examples where we have a lot of limitation of the coalition Government.
I just wish and pray that on 16th of May when the verdict will be out, we have a strong party into power with a minimal support of these regional parties. And also pray that may my wish come true. Till then...... be watchful ...... and cross your Figures.

My Tribute to Prof. Shrikant Jaimini

After struggling for 45 days with life, Prof Jamini finally lost the battle and closed his eyes forever on 15th March 2009 at 2am. It was so painful to all of us that at the first instance we could not believe it but at times we have to face the cruelty of the truth. May his soul rest in peace.
I still remember his last day in the Office. He was scheduled to take the viva of those students who missed either of the tests or presentations. So I knocked the door around 2pm for my viva and he politely said, Nandu ( as he use to call me) You are most favorite so I will keep Your viva at last. Be here I would give a call. Around 4pm I got a call from him for my viva.
I can recall my viva went on for almost an hour and finally he said you are topper of the BECG, the subject that he taught. He was so happy that day that even when he reached home he talked about me and appreciated me among the family members (I came to know about this while interaction with his family while he was in hospital). As per his family, that day was the happiest day of life that he had spent with IBS. And look at the cruelty of the nature, very next day he got brain hammerage ad admitted to Kailash Hospital.
People always talk about discipline in the subjective manner. The way he had carried the discipline in himself as well as among us was something that we are going to miss for a long long time. I have never seen such dedicated person like him. He taught us how to behave, respond and most importantly how to live your in general. Such a personality that every time I went to him I came out with some value addition in me. I had worked on one research paper “Retail in India: Future Prospect” and this was a great learning while working with him. He always use to say, Nandu remember in your life don’t compromise on values and try to maintain an integrity so that no one can question you. And now when he is no more his these words is giving me much more strengths to be a better person and professional. I have always tried to maintain this integrity and during the time it has got strengthen in me. The credit goes to him only.
I must say, we rarely find a person of his stature and integrity. So much robust and full of values that every time you meet him he has something or the other to offer you. We as a student have lost an asset which is very hard to replace in the IBS family. I pray to GOD that may his soul rest in peace and May GOD give his family enough strength that they come out of it as soon as possible. I will remember my last interaction with him for a long long time and whatever learning I had while being with him, will help me not to forget irrespective of the time line that I would spend. Love you sir.

IS it the worst time to get out from a B-School?

After finishing my final semester exams I am just wondering about this question. In a month or so I will be getting by degree officially and if by that time I am not getting any Job, I will in the list of unemployed. I have been going through a number of articles in newspapers and magazines that it’s the time to go back to classroom but what about those unfortunate ones like us who has just passed out from the B-School.
Personally speaking even after putting a good effort during these 18 months I am feeling like I am just a part of the crowd who is still waiting for a job. We are consoling ourselves by saying that its just a bad time and we cannot do anything about it. Analyst says it’s a phenomenon that has never occurred before. Even 1929 recession was not that troubled making as at that time world economy was not that much interrelated. Today, in the world of technological advancement, no economy can consider itself as de coupled and due to this India is also facing the pinch of salt.
Coming back to the question, I feel at this point of time only option left is to compromise a bit and get a job but the ultimate question is till what level? If we look at the salary aspect then there must be a line below which we must decide that we will not join but most importantly what about a job where there is no implementation and utilization of anything that we have done during MBA. So even though I am going for a job which is not having any connection with the specialization I have, it wont be counted as work experience whenever I will switch-over. It’s a great dilemma and no one is able to solve it confidently. Time will tell which decision will go right and which will go wrong but at this point of time I think probably it’s the worst time to get out of the B-school.

26 January: Are we forgetting the significance

It’s another republic day morning and I am a late riser as nothing is scheduled due to national holiday. I feel now people in general have started taking it as a holiday rather remembering it as a day when we got our own constitution. I remember, when I was in school, there were never any occasion of republic day when I didn’t deliver a speech on this special day. There were another kind of excitement and pleasure in doing these things. But now I have started taking it just as another holiday for the personal hangovers.
I don’t remember the last time I participated in flag hosting ceremony after my school days. At times I feel bad as It gives me a sense of unpatriotic but I think there are millions of people who come t to the same category. So, Is that mean that we don’t love our country. I do believe that this day is a day to show the solidarity of the people of our country and we must come together and join our hands to come out every odd that our country is facing at this point of time.
Lets promise ourselves, wherever we will be we will always try to do our bit for our motherland and even though we are not assembling at red fort for the ceremony, we have same passion, love and respect for our country. Wishing you a very happy republic day and God bless you all.

Thank You-

JAY HIND.

Dear Batch 2010,

This is inform that the much awaited topic "Project Mangement" has been scheduled on this Sunday (25th Jan 2009) on two slots-

9:00 AM - 11:45 & 3:30- 6:15 PM

Please see the notice board for further details.

Thanking You---

Nandlal Kumar

09891019548

OM Tutorials at 8:30am -10:30am on 10th Jan 2009

Dear Batch 2010,
As per your request to Prof. Puja Agarwal, the tutorials classes for OM is scheduled on coming Saturday i.e 10th Jan 2009 at 8:30am Sharp.
I will take the sessions and the topic for the 2 sessions would be "Inventory Mangement"

Thanking You--
Nandlal Kumar
09891019548
Batch 2009

Must Read: Jan 2009; The White Tiger

I must accept that this book is one of the best (out of 60 books that I have read in last 2-3 years). The narration is so good that I found it as its going along with my thoughts. Moreover the whole story revolves around a person from the darkness of a small village of Gaya District of Bihar. Being from a rural background I can exactly correlate the things in the perspective. I must congratulate the Author, Arvind Adiga for the beautiful narration and visualization of the events and also the sentiments of the people associated with the story. I finished it in 2 sittings and found so interesting that I have already recommended it to many of my friends. I would say for this month, this is a must read book. I will come back with some other books in coming months.

IBS Noida Sanskriti: State Promotion Award

It was a thrilling experience when I heard that RAJASTHAN has won the first prize in “Sanskriti: State Promotion” at IBS Noida Annual fest on 29^th Dec, 2008. We never expected that we will  this even and may be it came as a pleasant surprise. For me it was a double dhamaka as in the morning session of events I had already won “Odyssey: Best Manager Award” along with my group member Fida Hussain Pathan. But to be very frank this State promotion award something special due to many reasons.

When we gave our name for the participation, people were in the opinion that we will not be able to make it on time as we started just 3 days before the final event. Moreover there were many other problems that we faced during the preparation. It was Suman who was always there like rock solid to hold everyone together and had got a belief that the event will be successful. Without her commitment I don’t think that it would have been possible. Though everyone gave his/her best short but the credit must go to this lady who put her heart and soul into it.

We as a team of 10 people participated in the event. It was a special event in a sense that though it was a state promotion of Rajasthan but we had participants from diversified locations like Bihar, Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi, Bengal to take the name of few. Moreover representing Rajasthan in 15 minutes was never easy but Mayank and S R did a great job to make us understand how we can go about the whole event. The script writing was done by Mayank and Suman and from there, there was no looking back for us. We put our heart ad soul and result is in front of everyone.

A special thanks to Anchal Goyal for get into action in almost no time. Imagine we missed our lead role player on penultimate day and she joined on just a call. Even we were surprised that how this girl agreed but whatever she did was an excellent stuff during the whole event. My thanks to all my co-participants and friends who were there to support us back stage during the event. Here is the team who made us proud-

From batch 2009-

Mayank Sarda, Suman Saharan, Ankush Jain, Anchal Goyal, Radhika Mahajan, Swati Pakhira, S R Gurjjar, Nandlal Kumar

From Batch 2010-

Rishipreet Kaur, Ravi

Lets rock…….

OM Classes for 2010 Batch

Hello Friends,
On the basis of several requests that i have received from the Batch 2010 for the Operation Management class. I have scheduled a session on this Saturday (6th Dec 2008) during 8:30AM-12:00 for the same. As your (Batch 2010) mid-term exams are coming closer so i am plannning a single session for all remaining 3 chapters that i have not taken as of now. I hope it has benefited you and you people consider it worth attending.

The topics that be covered during the session are as follows-
1. Facility Location
2. Leam Production
3. Aggregate Sales and Operation Planning

Note:-
The session will be delt mostly for Numericals along with some brief basic fundamntals.

Please Join me at 8:30am sharp on 6th Dec 2008 if You are intrested for the same.

-- with best regrads:-

Nandlal Kumar

IBS- Noida

AIRTEL Delhi Half Marathon—IBS Noida Rocks

When was the last time that you along with your family went for a long walk in the early morning. On 9th Nov Delhi (25000 of them) were running in Airtel Delhi Half Marathon-2008. IBS Noida also took part in the event and we made our presence felt at a large scale. My congratulations to the organizers Sita Ram Gujjar and Suchi Kulshrestha along with Prof. H.V. Kothari & Ms. Tanuja Sharma (Faculty Coordinators) for putting their sencire efforts to make it successful.
67 Students from IBS Noida participated in the 7.5kms race and everyone completed it. Its nice to see everyone wearing a similar dress for the event and working like a team. It was a great fun and perfect Sunday for we all. A large section of celebrity were also present including Saif Ali Khan, Rahul Bose and Kareena Kapoor. We hope that next time also we will take part at larger scale and strength.
Happy running………..

Thanking You everyone........

Nandy, IBS Noida

RBI Tripal dose for the Baning System

In a welcome and much awaited move RBI has announced major rate cuts in SLR (banks are required to invest a portion of their deposits in government securities as a part of their statutory liquidity ratio (SLR)), CRR (Cash reserve ratio; percentage of amount that banks have to maintain with RBI in the form of cash) and Repo rate (Repurchase rate; rate at which banks borrow funds from the RBI to meet the gap between the demand they are facing for money (loans) and how much they have on hand to lend). SLR and CRR has been cut by 100basis points to 24% and 5.5% respectively where as repo rate by 50 basis points to 7.5%. These cuts will be applicable from the week ended 8th Nov 2008. Due to this cut Banking system will have additional 120,000 crores of additional liquidity to lend and hopefully it will help to reduce the liquidity crunch prevailing in the market. On Friday the call money rate was as high as 22% and this was one of the major reasons to ease the liquidity in the system with these rate cuts.

Micro Finance at the ground level

I was surprised to see a micro finance organization operating in a remote village like mine. And make my pleasure more many people are utilizing the money and in the process of their betterment. The Institute is offering finance @2.5 % per month that is far less that what villagers pay to the local moneylenders (usually 5-10% per month). The institute has made a group of 5 people (only married females are eligible) and everyone in the group is equally accountable for the carrying on the transactions. They are offering the finance in the range of 6,000 to 20,000 rupees must be payable within 50 weeks. And at the same time if a person carries it out for 150 weeks regularly then she is eligible for 50,000 of finance for 50 weeks period. I feel it’s a great initiative by the organization and I hope this will help the poor people of my village to come over the debt trap of local money lenders. All the best.

IBS Noida into Finals, became 3rd Runner up at AIMA Business Games National Final

As mentioned in my earlier blog after winning the Delhi regional Final we were full of confidence we went to Coimbatore for the Semi-Final on 4th Oct 08. There were 21 teams out of which 09 teams had to qualify for the finals. It was a 4 quarters games and at the end of the we came 1st at the end of last quarter. Next Day was Final and we were prepared for that. In Final out of 9 teams 3 teams were from IBS (2 from IBS Mumbai). At the last with a mistake we came 4th but I must accept it was great learning experience overall. Atleast we made our presence felt at National level and people came to know that even IBS Noida exists. My congratulatios to he teams (top 2 of them were IBS Mumbai) and I hope this learning will help me and my team mates to do well professionally in future. My thanks and regards to my Dean, Dr. K.P. Chinda; Dr. Alok Panday(coordinator of the even) for giving all the support during the event.

IBS Noida wins 12th AIMA Business Simulation Game 2008- Northern Regional Final

A group of 4 students awarded winner of 12th AIMA Business Simulation Game 2008- Northern Regional Final held at Rai Business School, Delhi conducted by AIMA-RPG group on 10th Sep 2008.
There were 54 teams from eminent colleges like MDI- Gurgaon, LBS- Delhi, IMT- Ghaziabad, IMI-Delhi to name a few. Out of these 54 teams 4 teams have been selected for the national semi-final followed by the final. The Semi-Final and final will be conducted in Combatore on 4th and 6th of October respectively. We were one of the two winners from the northern region.The whole program was conducted during 5th-10th Sep 2008. We had 3 teams for the qualifying round on 5th and 6th where as 2 teams took part on 8th and 9th. Out of these 5 teams our one team (comprising of Nandlal Kumar, Mayank Sarda, Qaid Lokhandwala, Mukesh Prajapat) qualified for the final that took place on 10th sep 2008. Out of total 27 teams in the final IBS Noida secured Winner trophy with maximum PAT that was the winning criteria. We are attaching the photographs of the event as well as the copy of the certificate that we got.