Equinox 4.0 - The Experience

Equinox 4.0 - Crave, Create, Conquer

The Oxford Dictionary defines the term Equinox as that time of the year where day and night is of equal length. Indian Institute of Management Raipur named its annual fest as Equinox, when it became the first institute among the new IIM's to start the trend of organizing its own annual fest in early 201. It was an amalgamation of diverse business events and cultural extravaganza, which is the ultimate signature of any successful college fest.  Equinox 4.0 was the fourth edition of the Business-cum-Cultural festival of IIM Raipur, which was held this year from 31^st January to 2^nd February. Every year, this fest draws huge participation from B-schools all over the country, and this year was no exception. The event witnessed unparalleled reach and visibility among the corporate and b-school fraternity.

Any successful event needs a lot of planning and ground work which needs to be done before  the actual event on the D-day. Equinox 4.0 was no exception to this. There was an immense opportunity to learn working with diverse set of teams and people in this event, and I thoroughly relished the challenge of leading and coordinating the activities of various functional teams viz., Sponsorship, Event Marketing, Venue Management etc. being some of the prominent ones among them.

Without the support of sponsors, this event couldn't have been conducted in such a magnificent manner. The initial stage of the event planning was all about finding the appropriate sponsors for the various set of events conducted by the eight different clubs in the institute namely, CEC, CUSP, Finatix, Hridhaan, Kartavya, Mantra, OPEP and Quizzing. We listed down the potential sponsors list obtained from the various industry contacts in the city of Raipur, and allotted designated teams to the various companies to follow up on the progress of individual companies. Some of the major sponsors of the event were NTPC, SAIL, IDBI, Chhattisgarh Tourism etc. Radio Mirchi was signed as the radio partner for covering the event.

The next stage of the pre-event planning was all about marketing the event so that it gets the desired coverage and participation from among the premier institutes across the country and the local colleges. Various channels were employed to achieve this successfully viz., social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter; mailers and follow ups to dedicated PoC's from institutes across the country to spread the word there. Various tools like daily quizzes were employed efficiently in social media by Bharath Raju and Sumit Ranjan's team of PGP 2013-15 batch, as part of the event marketing team, headed by Rajat Katiyar of PGP 2012-14 batch. 

LAN Gaming event picking up heat among many local students from Raipur, Bhilai and other cities of Chhattisgarh

The D-day arrived on the 31^st of January, and Equinox 4.0 started with a big bang. The on-the-spot event, LAN Gaming witnessed huge participation from colleges across the cities of Raipur and Bhilai and was a tremendous success. The business events went along all day in parallel, and participants from premier institutes like the other IIMs, IIFT, XLRI, FMS, MDI and a host of other institutes thronged to win the various flagship and business events held in the campus. 

Footwork- the Dance Competition of IIM Raipur

Salvation Regained from Bhilai giving a guest performance at Armageddon - The War of Bands 

The second day witnessed similar impressive participation in the business events through the day, and as the evening set in, glitz and colour was in the air, as group Dance competition and Armageddon-Battle of Bands were held as part of the cultural events, which witnessed heavy participation from the local colleges and with crowds thronging to support the various teams in action, the campus was completely filled with action. The final day, the 2^nd of February began with heavy crowds thronging the venue for X-Quiz-It, the flagship business quiz which was open to both students and corporates alike. 

Verve - The Fashion Show Competition of IIM Raipur added extra oomph to the Equinox 4.9

As the day wore on with more business events, the final night set in with the eye-catching Verve-Fashion show competition. Various teams graced the occasion with supreme designer outfits on par with the best fashion shows in the country. The event was a mega success, and was definitely the most popular event in Equinox 4.0. 

DJ Night at IIM Raipur

The relief and celebrations of the students was very evident and went late into the night, as the fest culminated with some high-adrenaline dance moves by the students on the dance floor, with the most popular DJ of Raipur DJ Kawal along with DJ Rizwan rocking the show with the DJ night.

I certainly owe my heartfelt thanks to everyone and mainly Vijay Krishnan, Bir Bahadur and Manoj H of PGP 2012-14 batch  who contributed in making this Equinox 4.0 reach never-seen-before heights, and let’s all strive to make Equinox 5.0, much bigger and better.

This article was contributed by Gugan N. of PGP2013-15. He can be contacted at 13pgp080.gugan@iimraipur.ac.in

Chhattisgarh: Land of Opportunities

The first time I visited Raipur or for that matter any part of Chhattisgarh, was on 16^th June 2013. I was finally joining Indian Institute of Management Raipur which would be my humble abode for the next 2 years. As I arrived at Swami Vivekananda airport the first thing that caught my attention was a huge banner of Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) showing their steel plant at Raigarh. I had read about Chhattisgarh being one of the fastest growing states in India with big steel and power plants. The first impression of the state at the airport seemed to reinforce the fact.

Chhattisgarh was formed on 1^st November, 2000 from Madhya Pradesh. It is widely believed that that the state derives its name from thirty six forts present in the region (chhatis in Hindi means thirty six and garh means fort). With a geographical area of around 135000 sq.km, it is the ninth largest state in India. Growth rate of Chhattisgarh’s economy was 8.5% in fiscal 2012-13, much greater than the growth rate of Indian economy in the same period. Chhattisgarh has been labelled as “A land of opportunities” by its Chief Minister, Dr.Raman Singh. Now let’s dwell deeper into why should Chhattisgarh be the investor’s choice for opening up new businesses.

Chhattisgarh has rich mineral wealth. It is the fourth largest iron ore producing state in India with a production of 27.7 million tonnes in fiscal year 2012-13. State owned National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), Steel Authority of India (SAIL), Essar Steel and Chhattisgarh Mineral Development Corp are some of the major iron-ore lease holders in Chhattisgarh. The state is planning to increase its iron ore production by 33% in the fiscal year 2013-14. This is indeed good news for steel manufacturing companies like JSPL and Essar which have set up steel plants in the state as they tend to benefit from the increase in iron ore production.

Chhattisgarh contributes around 19% to India’s total coal production. Adani enterprises started coal production at its Parsa east-Kanta basin mine in April’13. The coal produced from this mine will fuel power plants in Rajasthan. The state also has proven resources of diamond and other valuable gems. This can be a huge incentive for investment in technical know-how and state-of-the-art technology for exploring economic production of the high value gems. Chhattisgarh is also a major bauxite producer and the largest producer of tin in India.

Agriculture is the backbone of Chhattisgarh’s economy and provides employment to a majority of the state’s population. Major agricultural produce includes kharif crops like rice and maize. Other crops produced are pulses, groundnut, soya been and wheat. Horticulture and animal husbandry are also a means of livelihood for many people of Chhattisgarh. Food processing industry ranks fifth in India in terms of production and it is valued at USD 121 billion. It has vast potential to grow in Chhattisgarh and the government has taken numerous steps to attract investors. Five zones have been identified for setting up of food processing plants and the government plans to give them Special Economic Zone (SEZ) status. Investment subsidy, electricity duty exemption, stamp duty, VAT exemption and loan assistance are few among the various incentives planned by the state government for food processing industry.

Chhattisgarh is one of the few states in India which have surplus power. It has achieved ‘zero power cut’ status in urban as well as rural areas and will be able to sustain that in future according to Dr.Raman Singh. Having become self sufficient in energy sector the state now plans to attract investment in renewable energy sector. It has significant latent potential to harness solar power, wind energy, geothermal and small hydropower sources. Essential elements for development of the industry like robust power infrastructure, power purchase agreements and tariff plans are already present in the state. Major power players like Lanco, JSPL, Godawari Power and Ispat have already shown interest in investing in the renewable energy sector in the state.    

  Around 40% of the land area of Chhattisgarh is under forest cover. The raw materials required for minor forest produce and herbal medicine sector are available in abundance in the state. Herbal and medicine parks, industrial clusters and SEZs are a few ways in which government plans to increase investment in this sector. Over 250 acres of land have been identified in Dhamtari for setting up of herbal and medicinal parks and they are expected to attract INR 25,000 lakhs in investments.

Chhattisgarh has rich cultural heritage and bio-diversity. Chitrakoot waterfalls situated on river Indravati near Jagdalpur is the most popular tourist destination in Chhattisgarh. Other popular tourist spots include Indravati national park, Kangar valley national park, Barsoor, Bambleshwari temple, Bhoramdeo temple and Kotumsar caves. The government has identified four sectors for promotion of tourism and has initiated tie-ups with various private players in the hospitality sector.

IT services is one of the fastest growing segments in the Indian services sector. Availability of skilled talent pool, policy support, latent potential and robust infrastructure are a few growth drivers of this sector. Dedicated investment zones, like 7.46 acre plot for setting up Software Technology Park of India (STPI) in Bhilai and 20 hectares of land at Naya Raipur have been identified by the government. The government is providing impetus to investment in IT sector through favourable policy formulation, interest subsidy, concession on land premium, stamp duty exemption and technical patent subsidy.

So, it is hardly surprising that economy of Chhattisgarh has grown at higher rate in the past few years despite the sluggish growth of Indian economy.  The fiscal indicators depict a robust economy for the state and 10% growth rate is targeted. The state government also plans to enhance social sector spending to reduce disparity in human development indicators and achieve MGDs. Considering the government’s ambitious plans and state’s vast potential, most of which is yet to be utilized, Chhattisgarh can indeed be labelled as land of opportunities.

References:

1. www.crediblechhattisgarh.com/‎

2. http://www.investindia.gov.in/?q=food-processing-sector

3. http://www.ibef.org/industry/indian-food-industry.aspx

4.http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/adani-starts-coal-production-in-chhattisgarh-113040800433_1.html

5. Planning commission data table and RBI report on state finances.

6. http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/06/04/ironore-india-chhattisgarh-idINDEE95307I20130604

Contributed by : Aashwij Mallya, PGP2013-15; He can be reached at pgp13030.aashwij@iimraipur.ac.in