Alumnus in the news, July 22

 It would have been harder for me to become the dean of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, than the dean of Harvard Business School, said Nitin Nohria. He was only half-joking.

On July 1, Nohria became the first India-born dean of Harvard Business School (HBS). An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, he received a PhD in management in 1988 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management. Since then, Nohria has been receiving messages from all parts of India, including small villages.

“I have heard from people who have said, ‘your name is Nohria, does that mean that you grew up in a village called Nohar? I am from Nohar. We are so proud of you’,” Nohria, who is on a visit to Mumbai, said.

Nohria first started teaching at Harvard in 1988. “Then, you would have been hard-pressed to find a case on an Indian company or a Chinese company. Today, we have 80 cases on Indian companies that have been developed in the last 10 years and an equal number, if not more, on Chinese ones,” he said.

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Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund has announced that the designation of Mr. Ajay Argal and Mr. Mahesh Patil has been changed. The changes are effective from 1 July 2010.

Mr. Ajay Argal is now, Head Equity - Offshore, Birla Sun Life Asset Management Company (was formerly Co- Head Equity, BSLAMC).

Mr. Ajay Argal joined BSLAMC in December 2005. He manages both domestic and offshore funds for BSLAMC. Offshore funds managed by him are Excel India Fund and India Advantage Fund, which has received 4 star rating by Morning star. Domestic funds managed by him include BSL Top 100 Fund, BSL Long Term Advantage Fund and BSL Pure Value Fund.

He has over 17 years of experience. Prior to joining BSLAMC, he was with UTI AMC for more than 12 years. At UTI, Mr. Argal had a variety of experience including managing Offshore Funds, managing Domestic Equity Fund, managing Balanced Funds, Equity Research and Equity Dealing.

A B.Tech graduate from IIT Mumbai and a post graduate in Management from IIM Bangalore, he was placed among the top decile in IIM. 

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