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ISB, Hyderabad main block: Covid-19 challenge & response case study. Inset: Dr. Philip Zerillo

($14 trillion) would have surpassed the massive GDP of terprises unfortunately stunted by post-independence
USA ($21 trillion). Against this India’s GDP which was on India’s foolish embrace of socialism. Barring a few excep-
a par with PRC in 1978, is a mere $3 trillion (Rs.227 lakh tions in the 1990s, most B-school alumni have become civil
crore). Although they can’t be blamed entirely, given the servants of the private sector. Although they have done
government policy framework within which they have had relatively well in finance and consulting, India’s B-school
to operate (India’s famous Indian Institutes of Manage- graduates have shown marked reluctance to dirty their
ment (IIMs) and Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are hands in manufacturing industries. They are adept at pro-
promoted and governed by the Central government), the ducing power point presentations rather than products,”
country has had to pay a heavy price for poor quality busi- says J a itirth ( ‘ J e rry ’ ) R a o in a scathing indictment of
ness management education. India’s B-schools. A former Citibank (India) CEO, Rao
“The collective track record of India’s reportedly 5,500 transformed into an entrepreneur and promoted the well-
B-schools is disappointing. Their focus has been on the known IT services company Mphasis Ltd (estb.1998) and
tactical aspects of business management within a meek- later, two affordable housing companies — VBHC Value
ly accepted framework. Homes Pvt. Ltd (2008) and Home First Finance Co. India
Their contribution to Ltd (2010). Himself an IIM-Ahmedabad graduate his lat-
ideating productive eco- est contribution to society is The Indian Conservative — A
nomic and business poli- History of R ight-Wing Thought (2019).
cies has been negligible. According to G u a ra v S in g h , a Gurgaon-based senior
They have conspicuously manager in the well-known consultancy firm Ernst &
failed to gift the coun- Young, 3,500-plus business management schools and in-
try with great, visionary stitutes licensed by the All India Council for Technical Edu-
and risk-taking entrepre- cation (AICTE) with an aggregate enrolment of 588,000
neurs such as G.D. Birla, postgraduate students, are providing diploma and degree
Walchand Hirachand, J. approved study programmes across India. Only 10 percent
N & J.R.D Tata who built of MBA students — 60,000 — qualify for admission into
great manufacturing en- the Top 100 B-schools. The remainder are in B and C grade
B-schools learning wasteful, slapdash business manage-
Rao: scathing indictment ment practices (j ugaad) for which Indian industry has ac-

MAY 2020 EDUCATIONWORLD 71