Recession Proof Businesses- An all-round Perspective

DAY 2 at PRAYAG 09 in INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT,NIRMA UNIVERSITY

“When your neighbour loses his job its economic slowdown, when you lose your job it’s recession and when an economist loses his job its a depression”. The day two of the management conclave "Prayaag” 2009 continued on the theme of “Recession proof business – Directions for the future”.

MR.JAGDEEP KOCHAR

Mr. Jagdeep Kochar, Executive Director, IT division at GNVFC, started by drawing parallels between the recessions of the past and the present. He dwelled on the point that a recessionary period in the economy can help a company cut redundancy and cut flab. He stressed on the need for a company to innovate constantly to stay ahead in the competitive world. He said, “Life altering changes don’t happen overnight”. One of information technology’s answers to countering recession is the new buzz word -“Virtualization” which will help companies save tremendous operating costs.

Mr. Vikram Raj, Project Advisor – Audit, United Nations was the speaker for the next session. He delved on the question- why the business cycle flattened? He discussed the causes for the recession in depth and how the United Nations takes a holistic view of problems at global level. He said, “This recession calls for us to be flexible and start thinking for the future today.”

DR. VIKRAM RAJ

Mr. Baqar Naqvi, AVP, Retail and consumer products, Technopak Advisors accompanied him who talked about certain sectors of the economy actually growing during recession. He gave the examples of the education and the pharmaceutical industry.

MR. BAQAR NAQVI

The last session of the day had Mr. Nitin Naik, head HR- India and SAARC Region for Andrew Telecom, Goa throw light on the perspective of people management.

The second day of Prayaag left the students of Institute of Management, Nirma University with rich insights and experiences that recession provides to a developing economy like India.

Day three of the conclave will have Dr, Chandan Chatterjee, Director, The centre fro entrepreneur Development, Govt. Of Gujrat, Mr. Sachin Binder, Senior VP, Kotak Bank, Mumbai, Mrs. Archana Bhatt, Senior trainer, Counsellor and functional incharge, Adani knowledge centre, Ahmedabad.

In past distinguished personalities who have graced the conclave include Mr. J.J Irani (Executive Director, Tata Sons), Sam Pitroda (Chairman, World Tel), Mr. D. Ravi Shankar (CFO & Director CRISIL), Sanjay Lalbhai (MD, Arvind Mills), Mr. Ravi Nedungadi ( President & CFO, UB Group), Mr. Satish Naralkar (MD & CEO, NSE iT), and many more.