Winning an Honour!
The MMA 65th Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held on Friday, 3rd September 2021. A grand success! Thank you, members, for your excellent support! Adding icing to the cake, I am happy to share with you once again the great news: MMA has bagged the prestigious “Best Management Association in India” award for the year 2020-21 by All India Management Association. A great honour, indeed. Dear members, it is your support and patronage that makes such milestones possible. And what makes MMA Special? The famous MMA spirit defined by our tenacity, boldness and inquisitiveness to be the fountainhead of world-class management excellence.
Click to watch the AGM awards function video.
Mr Ravichandran Purushothaman, President, Danfoss Industries Ltd and President, MMA for the year 2020-21 has been a great source of inspiration and support to us towards achieving our objective.
A change of guard…
We will take forward our vision guided and supported by the new Managing Committee headed by the President, Mr C V Subba Rao, Managing Director, Sanmar Shipping Ltd. The new Managing Committee consisting of experienced professionals and new entrants with vast corporate background, would immensely contribute to take MMA to greater heights. I will be failing in my duty if I do not place on record of the great support extended by Mr Ravichandran Purushothaman, President, Danfoss Industries Ltd, who has been our President for the year 2020-21. He has been a great source of inspiration and support to us towards achieving our objective. Personally, it has been a unique privilege to be part of his team. My grateful thanks to him for his unstinted support in all our endeavours.
The Quad and its relevance
The recent spotlight on the first in person summit-like meeting of the Quad signals a clear advance on the India, US, Australia, Japan grouping. The group covered an array of issues, including free and open Indo-Pacific coordination on economic, diplomatic, human rights policies and action on climate change. There is also the Quad vaccine partnership to finance a capacity ramp–up in India. We must take this opportunity and co-operate with the US on vaccine trade and leverage the grouping for regional stability.
America has clearly indicated its geo-strategic focus: China containment. This is good news for India, even if US security issues in the east may not envision too big a role for it. On vaccine diplomacy, India has an opportunity for goodwill creation, and the Quad initiative offers a fantastic opportunity. The world is starved of the Covid vaccine and the country that responds well is the one that stands to gain globally; India should not miss this opportunity! In this context, MMA is also planning conclave on Quad. Watch out for the date.
Cyber warfare and security
It is imperative to understand that information warfare is an ongoing affair. Cyber warfare and its technical aspects are already militarized, global and continuous, whether or not states are engaging in armed conflict.
India cannot consider itself a cyber power merely because it has a big tech industry. It must develop its own security measures to defends its information space. A creditable offensive cyber capability is necessary. India presents attackers with a vast sprawling target sphere, large parts of which are unguarded perhaps even unprotectable. Deterrence in information warfare is a multi-layered concept, but it requires the possession of effective cyber weapons. There is a lot of urgent work that India must do to craft a national strategy for cyber security measures to contain information warfare.
In this context, MMA is organizing a conclave on the theme “Securing India in Cyber Space” on Wednesday, 20th October 2021 from 09.30 am to 01.30 pm. A galaxy of eminent speakers will share their insights on the theme. View the invitation.
Deterrence in information warfare is a multi-layered concept, but it requires the possession of effective cyber weapons.
The phenomenal bull run
The rally of share market in the past 18 months propelled Sensex to breach the 60,000 mark. Indian equities have outperformed the global index by 2.2 percent and, in the past one year, outpaced the Morgan Stanley Capital International Emerging Markets (MSCIEM) index by 36%
Top fund managers and strategists warn about the looming risks: earnings disappointments, rich valuation and the Evergrande crisis in an overbought market. Lack of high returns from traditional investments has driven a record number of retail investors to the stock market.
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has rightly urged the professional bodies to play a key role in protecting the interests of minority shareholders. It is one of the most essential requirements of a sound corporate governance system for protecting the rights of shareholders so that they can actively participate and constructively influence corporate decision making.
It is sad to hear about the passing of Mr Bala V Balachandran, Founder, Great Lakes Institute of Management, popularly known to many as Bala Uncle. We convey our sincere heartfelt condolences to his family.
The emphasis on the protection of minority interest is of paramount importance at a time when the country is seeing a boom in the participation of households in equity markets, especially during the pandemic.
Good news for anxious professionals…
Neuroscientists claim that anxiety can improve the quality of life by supercharging brains and bodies. A certain amount of anxiety is required to motivate us to do things to help boost performance and serve as a warning sign. It becomes a problem when anxiety begins interfering with our daily life. If you have an anxiety issue, you have to seek support and treatment to manage it. Listening to anxiety and helping my body is a way of self-care to lead a healthy life. Fear of consequences will also ensure that you do everything possible to rise to the occasion.
Homage to a colossus
A giant has completed his journey on this planet and left a footprint that will be remembered and recalled with great pride and memories for aeons to come. It is sad to hear about the passing of Mr Bala V Balachandran, Founder, Great Lakes Institute of Management, popularly known to many as Bala Uncle. We convey our sincere heartfelt condolences to his family. May God grant to all his well-wishers the strength and fortitude to bear this irreparable loss.
I had the privilege of personally interacting with him on a number of occasions and he was a part of MMA Managing Committee and a great source of inspiration for all of us.
His humility, incisive mind, keen intellect and ability to perceive the wide horizons are qualities I will always recall. His contribution to management education, trade and commerce are well known and too wide to grasp at this point of time.
Posterity will mark him as a stalwart, a pioneer and a resolute and determined human being who led a comprehensive life and has now passed on to immortality.
Let me know what you think about everything that’s happening at MMA. You may contact me at ed@mmachennai.org.
Stay safe, stay healthy and keep learning.