Horizons 2008 at IIM-K Saw Record Number of 25 Speakers Across 3 Industries Come Together

Horizons 2008 at IIM-K Saw Record Number of 25 Speakers Across 3 Industries Come Together

The second panel discussion on 'Pricing Wars in Real Estate' was lively with speakers coming up with suggestions of improved interaction among builders, pricing models for real estate, and the importance of low debt in the long term.

The day continued with many more speakers addressing the students about the different aspects of retail and realty sector. Mr. Sandeep Agarwal, VP-Acquisitions, Kotak RE PE, spoke about the transaction cycle that is involved in the site development process. Sandeep spoke on how the industry has to overcome several obstacles brought about the global economic crisis, like decline in property prices, retreat by foreign funds, and lower demand in commercial real estate.

Other eminent speakers on Day 2 included Mr. Sumit Chandna, AVP & Category Head, Aditya Birla Retail, Mr. Amit Puri, Director - Business Development, Ivanhoe Cambridge, Mr. Susil S. Dungarwal, Retail & Realty Analyst and Mr. Rituraj Verma, Director - Retail, Knightfrank.

The third and final day of the event started on a great note with Mr. Shivakumar, Country Head, Nokia, coming down to campus and enthralling the students with a insightful talk about the 'Future of Brands in the World'. He talked about the concept of a brand and how the consumers and the marketers perceived its value. He also spoke about the growth in technology and how it has been able to reduce the product development life cycle. He ended his talk with an interesting quote, "Really strong brands will be those that do the thinking for the consumer."

The third day saw more speakers from the retail and realty sectors talking about the vast developments happening in their respective industries. Some of the prominent speakers on the third day included Mr. K .Mohandas, Former President, Architects Association of India, Colonel Upendra Sachdev, Executive Director, Indian Franchise Association and Mr. Neeraj Joshi, Head Operations, Raymonds Retail.

The partners of the three day event were UTV, Sony, Puravankara, the Indian Franchise Association and indiabuilidinginfo.

Concluded.

Contributed by -
Harshad Karandikar,
Media Cell,
IIM Kozhikode.

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