News & Highlights

  • 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.
  • DECEMBER 2022
  • EVENT

Research Roundtable with Professor Linda Hill

In December 2022, the IRC hosted the South Asia leg of a series of research roundtables with Professor Linda Hill. This was part of their ongoing research on Leadership in the Digital Era and focused on the changing role of leadership and workplace dynamics in the era of remote and hybrid work models. We had 6 participants – leaders from across industries – who shared their experiences and insights from navigating the post-Covid world. The participants' varied backgrounds, from veteran leaders of large legacy organizations to ‘digital native’ start-up founders, made for an enriching discussion with unique perspectives on how leadership has evolved with time.
  • OCTOBER 2022
  • EVENT

boAt Lifestyle Case Study

A case study on boAt Lifestyle by Professor Rajiv Lal, co-authored by the India Research Centre’s Kairavi Dey, was taught in the MBA Required Curriculum in October 2022. The MBA class had the opportunity to interact with boAt’s founders, Aman Gupta and Sameer Mehta, and CEO, Vivek Gambhir (MBA’97). boAt’s marketing strategy, which propelled it from a start-up to one of India’s most prominent lifestyle brands and the world’s fifth-largest wearables brand, has many lessons for leaders around the world.
  • Archive

See more News & Highlights

New Research on the Region

  • 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?

  • October 2023
  • Case

India: Will the Giant Emerge?

By: Christian Ketels and Radhika Kak

The case describes India's economic development trajectory, with a specific focus on the last few years under the Modi administration. It provides insights into the current economic profile and competitiveness of the country. The case enables students to identify the significant economic opportunities India has as well as the key barriers for growth it will have to remove.

  • October 2023 (Revised October 2023)
  • Case

UnDosTres

By: Álvaro Rodríguez Arregui, Max Hancock and Amy Klopfenstein

Arpit Gupta, Naveen Sharma, and Vikram Deswal co-founded the mobile payment app UnDosTres in Mexico City in 2015. In the past, Gupta had worked at Paytm, an India-based payment app valued at over $1 billion. In Mexico, the co-founders hoped to recreate Paytm’s success. The co-founders quickly learned that in Mexico, the Paytm playbook could only get them so far. To grow UnDosTres, they needed to think fast and adapt to Mexico’s unique business environment.

See more research

Mumbai Staff

Anjali Raina
Executive Director
→ Biography
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