News & Highlights

  • AUGUST 2023
  • ALUMNI EVENT

Alumni Event with Professor Tarun Khanna

HBS Professor Tarun Khanna led the first-ever discussion on his new case, “India Stack: Digital Public Infrastructure for All,” at Bajaj Bhavan in Mumbai on August 4, 2023. The case was well received and the discussion brought up interesting insights on how technology could be used to deliver public services at scale. Over 60 guests, including HBS alumni and business leaders, attended the event, organized in collaboration with the HBS Club of India.
  • JULY 2023
  • ALUMNI EVENT

Alumni Event with Professor Alvaro Rodriguez-Arregui

Professor Alvaro Rodriguez-Arregui spoke about the importance of context in businesses and entrepreneurial tech ventures in developing ecosystems during a talk on ‘Global Tech Entrepreneurship.’ The event, organized by the HBS Club of India and supported by India Research Center, was held on July 4, 2023, in Mumbai and was attended by alumni.
  • JUNE 2023
  • EVENT

Alumni Event with Professor Mihir Desai

On June 21, 2023, the India Research Center, in collaboration with the HBS Club of India, hosted an alumni event with Professor Mihir Desai in Mumbai on “Navigating Economic and Financial Chaos.” Professor Desai shared a framework for business leaders to navigate today’s challenging economic environment where markets are sending conflicting signals, and advised leaders to think like “Bayesian statisticians” to emerge successful in the next decade. Referencing his opinion piece in the New York Times, he cautioned against “magical thinking” or the assumption that favored conditions will continue on forever without regard for history. It was an interactive discussion attended by 44 alumni who were delighted to be part of a thought-provoking session, followed by a networking event where attendees shared their perspectives on the topic.
  • JANUARY & FEBRUARY 2023
  • EVENT

Alumni Events with Professor Rohit Deshpandé

In collaboration with the HBS Club of India, the center organized two in-person events for alumni with Professor Rohit Deshpandé, the center’s Faculty Chair, who recently visited Pune and Mumbai. Anil Kumar (MBA 1974) hosted the dinner in Pune in January. In Mumbai, in February, in partnership with the HBS Club of India the IRC organized a soiree at Bombay Gymkhana. Both events were attended by more than 60 alumni, some of whom travelled from different parts of the country to interact with Professor Deshpandé and their fellow alumni. Professor Deshpandé gave an update on the recent events at the School and the AMP program, and the alumni shared their personal experiences from their time at HBS.

New Research on the Region

  • February 2024
  • Case

CLSA: Integrating ESG in Stock Valuation

By: Shirley Lu, Aaron Yoon and Billy Chan

In 2023, a senior financial analyst at the Hong Kong-based stock brokerage firm CLSA was surprised to see that, based on his calculations, the financial impact from climate risks on a major Indian cement manufacturing company’s projected earnings could be massive. While conducting fundamental analysis and making stock recommendations to equity-trading clients was the “bread and butter” for financial analysts, incorporating ESG factors in stock valuation was not yet a common industry-wide practice. Given the magnitude of the financial impact, the senior analyst, who was also the head of ESG research, pondered if he should change his view on the stock, and how he could develop a new way of valuing stocks adjusted by ESG risks.

  • December 2023
  • Teaching Material

India: Will the Giant Emerge?

By: Christian Ketels

This teaching note outlines a plan for conducting a discussion of the case "India: Will the Giant Emrge?". The case provides information on the Indian economy, a key driver of future global growth,. It discusses how India's challenges in defining an effective development path in the current global context, and in implementing the policies that the Modi administration has prioritized. The teaching note suggest a sequence of four questions that can be used to organize the discussion of the case, and lays out key issues that the instructor might choose to emphasize.

  • November 2023
  • Case

Tata Group in 2021: Pursuing Profits through Purpose

By: Tarun Khanna, Krishna G. Palepu and Vidhya Muthuram

October 8, 2021: Tata Sons won a bid to acquire India’s national carrier Air India, marking the airline's return to its original owners after 68 long years. The winning bid of $2.4 billion gave Tata Sons full ownership of the airline and its coveted network of 6,200 landing and parking slots in Indian airports and 900 slots in overseas hubs. This bid marked the end of a two-decade-long journey for the Indian government that had been trying to sell the troubled airline which, according to recent estimates, was losing nearly $3 million per day. The chairman of Tata Sons, Natarajan Chandrasekaran (Chandra), described the occasion as a “historic moment.” “It will be a rare privilege for our group to own and operate the country’s flag bearer airline. It will be our endeavor to build a world-class airline that makes every Indian proud.” The acquisition of a heavily indebted and loss-making public sector asset raised several questions: Why did Tata Sons acquire Air India? Was it an emotional decision to regain control of an airline they had started? Was this an example of Tata Sons helping India overcome another persistent challenge, a trait well documented throughout its corporate history? Was it a commercially sound decision?

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Mumbai Staff

Anjali Raina
Executive Director
Rachna Chawla
Associate Director, Community Engagement
Anthea D’Souza
Associate Director, Financial and Business Administration
Kairavi Dey
Researcher
Kanika Jain
Research Associate
Tanisha Murdeshwar
Research and Educational Coordinator
Zarieus Namirian
Research Associate
Rashmi Patel
Manager, Operations
Malini Sen
Senior Researcher
Sanjivani Shedge
Manager, Administration
Aindrila Sinha
Research Associate
Rachna Tahilyani
Senior Associate Director, Research