Indian entrepreneurs and businesses have to add value differently and not peg their unique selling point at low costs alone, Venu Srinivasan, president, Confederation of Indian Industry, said.
Speaking to graduates at the convocation ceremony of Loyola Institute of Business Administration, Mr.Srinivasan said undoubtedly there are infinite opportunities to create wealth today.
However, it is necessary to add value to products and services through knowledge and skill that cannot be easily replicated, thereby giving the business or entrepreneur an unbeatable advantage, he added.
Low costs will not be an advantage anymore, as Indian salaries have nearly caught up with the salaries being paid in South East Asia.
He told students graduating from LIBA that the only planning possible is for different scenarios, social, economical and political, in order to be prepared to handle them in future. The fundamental rules were to broaden your interests and keep track of socio-economic and political and climactic events. He stressed on the need to be able to keep updating one’s knowledge constantly since decline begins the day one stops learning.
Mr. Srinivasan later distributed prizes to the award-winning students who graduated this year. Former directors of the Institute were honoured as were faculty who have been with LIBA for the past 30 years.
LIBA had grown from a small beginning as a class of 60 trainees for a part-time diploma course in management in 1979 to training more than 1000 students in a range of courses, including Ph.D.s, P.Christie, Director, LIBA, said.
Presenting the annual report, he said this year, the Institute had started offering a one-year executive diploma in behavioural science. Other centres of excellence include the Centres for Business Ethics and Corporate Governance, Logistics and Supply Chain Management, Retailing Management and Entrepreneurship.
Amal Raj, Rector, Loyola College, offered felicitations.
