A 2012 Business and Cultural Trip to India

India Calling

Dear Participants of the 2012 BCST to India: To enable Singapore Management University (SMU) President Arnoud De Meyers 5-year plan, the Ofce of Student Life (OSL) at SMU and SMU students began organizing Business and Cultural Study Trips (BCSTs) to various countries around 2 years ago. Since then, China and Vietnam have come forth as the hot destinations for the December BCSTs. This year, a team of seven SMU students from India decided to add one more destination to this list: India, of course! SMU, as you may have realized, is an Asian university to a large extent except for the Caucasian inux every semester on exchange. Hence, we felt that given the large SMU Indian community, it was essential that SMU students from other nationalities are directly exposed to the great Indian economic miracle as well as be able to drown them- selves in the unparalleled cultural diversity India seems to enthrall all its tourists with. And hence, this Business and Cultural Study Trip to India in December 2012! Whatever you say about India, Shashi Tharoor, one of the most sought after Indian intellectuals, remarked, the opposite is also true. No other observation is better in summarizing the idea of India to the outside world. The second most populous country in the world today, India epitomizes diversity. In languages. In religions. In races. In skin col- ors. In food. In clothing. In socio-economic status. In struggles. In accents. In scandals. In scams. Most important, in stories: for, as clich as it may sound, each one of the billion people in India has a story that is uniquely personal, that is uniquely his. The median age here stands at around 24.9. It is home to over 1.2 billion people and is easily qualied as the second most populous country in the world. On PPP terms, it is the worlds third largest economy. Having an army that is the third largest in the world, it boasts of being one of the top ten countries with highest military expenditure. A recent PwC report suggests it could get the better of the US economy by 2045. IIM and IIT graduates from India are celebrated all over the world as being the best employees/students. However, with all these impressive pictures of progress and power, it has its own, unique set of problems. The Gini coefcient places it on the 79th rung in terms of social equality. Per Capita GDP in PPP terms continues to be one of the lowest in the world: around $3700. The political scene has taken a huge beating after a series of corruption scandals and a widening gap between the inuential and the powerless. The state of school education for the underprivileged is unimaginably abysmal. Infrastructural development remains a far-fetched, rosy dream for its people. To us, India is a paradox in itself. Its a white lie. No management school in the world today can afford to escape studying, with awe, the growth, problems and potential in India. We understand that youve taken a leap of faith by becoming a part of this initiative. We promise that each one of you will leave the trip with some of the best insights into India Inc., recognize the social problems and policy solutions required and most important, be able to have fun exploring the sub-continent!

About the Destinations:

The BCST to India has been divided into three legs as shown in the map above:

New Delhi and Agra

New Delhi, Indias capital city and political hub, is a place of key government institutions and a witness to its rich history. In our 4-day stay in New Delhi, we hope to give you an overview of how the Indian Government runs a country home to over one billion people. We aim to accomplish this through visits and interactions with a few key institutions like the Ministry of Finance, Planning Commission of India and the Reserve Bank of India. To give the team a avor of Indias rich historical background we plan to visit the Red Fort, Qutub Minar and the Rashtrapati Bhavan. In addition, our visit to Agra pro- vides an opportunity for our team to see one of the Worlds seven wonders: the Taj Mahal followed by a visit to the Mughal city of Fatehpur Sikri

Ahmedabad
As the largest city of Gujarat, Ahmedabad is not only home to over 40% of Indias pharmaceutical and textile industries but is also a key dealer in various other businesses and industries.Through factory visits to the Tata Nano Plant, Indian Oil Renery, Amul, local textile plants and cultural experiences in the Mahatma Gandhi Ashram and the Akshardham Temple, we hope to convey the image of Ahmedabad as a site of industrial and cultural heritage.

 Mumbai
Mumbai, the country's nancial powerhouse and economic nerve center constitutes our nal segment. Our 5-day stay here will provide the students with a multifaceted experience of Mumbai. While our visits to the Bombay Stock Exchange, Deustche Bank, and an Indian private bank, will provide a nancial understanding of Indian industries, through our visit to the Dabbawalas we provide an insight into the concept of frugal innovation that is prevalent in India. Moreover by visiting Tata Consultancy Services we hope to give our students a look into the IT sector of India. A avor of the Bollywood Industry through a potential visit to Mr Rakeysh Omprakash Mehras production house, and a visit Indias largest petrochemical plant owned by Reliance Industries are also planned for the trip. In Mumbai we promise an enriching intellectual experience for our team.

The Executive Committee

Jay Bheda School of Economics Class of 2014

Shreya Chitlangia School of Business Class of 2014

Purva Chopra School of Business Class of 2015

Rohini Chopra School of Economics Class of 2015

Sagar Hiren Desai School of Business Class of 2013

Raghav Gupta School of Business School of Accountancy Class of 2014

Archit Ajit Sharma School of Information Systems Class of 2015