At B-school fests, going green makes business sense

NEW DELHI: If the recent McKinsey Study cites environment concern as a big issue amongst business leaders across the globe, its echoes can be heard in India’s professional campuses. Going green and CSR are the major themes sweeping the country’s B-schools and technology institutes today. Scores of campuses, including IITKharagpur , FMS-Delhi , IIM-A and XLRI, are organising events, contests, workshops and guest lectures centred around it.

For it’s annual tech festival Khitij, IIT-Kharagpur , for instance is holding a contest on reducing carbon dioxide emission; a design competition related to climate change called Brand Gaia; a guest lecture on environmental issues; and a carbon trading workshop under Project Green Earth.

Similarly, during FMS’ annual fest Fiesta, a contest was organised inviting entries for setting up a self-sustainable and profitable school.

Besides, XLRI’s fest Ensemble would have Pratyancha, where teams would come up with a plan for social diffusion of inventions selected by NIF, like ways to cool water naturally. Also, the paper presentation at IIM-A’s annual agri-business management meet—Amaethon 2008—revolved around natural resources . Samarpan, an initiative by Entrepreneurship Development Cell of XLRI organised a competition to to improve the condition of the masses.

Much of this is being encouraged by the corporate sector. IITKharagpur had power major GE floating two industrial design competitions. The first one sought solutions to reduce carbon emissions by improving the coal gassification technology. The second one challenged participants to find ways to maximise energy generation through wind turbines. The company is giving prize money of Rs 1,50,000 (Rs 75,000 for each), besides providing internships to 4 to 8 people depending on the quality of submissions.

“There are more companies visiting the campus for recruitment for their environment-related projects,” said B K Mathur, head, placements, IIT-Kharagpur . “While companies are aware that environment-friendly methods can yield better sustainability and profitability for them, students too don’t want to be left behind and are getting associated with these.”

To participate in the climate change studies competition floated by Suzlon, FMS students will work with a group of IIM-A alumni on a business plan. They will be paid a stipend of Rs 5,000-7 ,000 for 2-6 weeks.

“These kind of events are gaining popularity as they are a good combination of CSR and business sense,” said Ashish Agarwal, president, Vihaan, social service cell of FMS. “Both students and corporates understand this. Besides , to have better leaders you can only start where they are groomed, at B-schools .”


Inputs: Sreeradha D Basu in Kolkata and Kumar Anand in Ahmedabad.