Know all about IPE: An interview with Prof S Sreenivasa Murthy (Director)

In this exclusive interview with Careers360, Prof S Sreenivasa Murthy (Director), Institute of Public Enterprise (IPE) Hyderabad discusses what sets IPE apart from other bschools, eligibility and other admission parameters, summer internships, placements and more. Scroll down the article to check the entire interview.

About: Institute of Public Enterprise (IPE) Hyderabad is a private institution established in the year 1964. Courses offered by the IPE are PGDM (flagship programme), PGDM Marketing Management, PGDM Banking and Financial Services, PGDM International Business and PGDM HRM. IPE admissions are based on the candidate's performance in the CAT/MAT/XAT/CMAT/ATMA/GMAT and academic performance in 10th, 12th and graduation followed by group discussion and personal interview.

Careers360: Describe the journey of IPE, its vision and mission.

Prof S Sreenivasa Murthy: IPE (Institute of Public Enterprise, Hyderabad) started its journey in 1964. The institute used to help public enterprises meet their training and consultancy requirements for IAS, IPS, IFS and senior public executives and officers. Over a period of time, the Indian Council of Social Science Research (Ministry of Education Government of India) has recognised IPE as a centre of excellence in research.

IPE is the only institute which maintains the SLP (state-level public) database for the entire country. We provide the data to the planning commission, parliament, and various agencies that need to have data on SPLS, performance and growth to make policy decisions. The institute also does research in the area of public-sector enterprise management and offers consultancy for public enterprises, privatisation, restructuring, and evaluation. These have produced almost 100 theses till date.

The institute then started management education on the request of public sector executives of twin cities (Hyderabad and Secunderabad). The institute started a 3-year programme called MBA PE (MBA Public Enterprises) designed by public executives of Osmania University to help upgrade the qualifications. Executives with 3 years of experience have joined this course and became CMDs after completing the course. Thereafter, the Institute of Public Enterprise has gone into offering full-time courses.

Careers360: Please talk about the various programmes offered by IPE.

Prof S Sreenivasa Murthy: IPE started its full-time courses in 1995. The first programme was started in 1995 with an intake of 255 students now. In 2007 PGDM Retail and Marketing programme was started. PGDM Banking Insurance and Financial Services was started in 2008 with an intake of 120 now. In 2009, PGDM International Business was started with an intake of 60 students. PGDM HRM was started in 2012 with an intake of 60 students as well. A total of 1100 students are present around the campus. All the programmes offered are approved by AICTE.

Careers360: What sets IPE apart from other BSchools?

Prof S Sreenivasa Murthy: From the day of joining, IPE faculty are assigned as mentors for every 12 students. The mentor will take care of the students by guiding them in academic, curricular, extracurricular, co-curricular activities and summer internships, long-term projects, health and personal issues as well. The institute provides the students with a very good campus life with more than 12 student clubs such as marketing, finance, HR, photography, social, cultural and many other clubs. It is mandatory for the students to be a part of at least one club in which they can actively participate and interact.

We also have excellent IPE facilities such as sports, indoor stadium, football, basketball court, volleyball grounds, cricket ground, gym, tennis court etc. IPE has been awarded the five star category recognition by Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA). Every day, the last hour is just kept for clubs in which students can participate actively by interacting and making presentations. We encourage students in many aspects by providing a 3-week orientation programme where we invite industry people and alumni. We also include the sessions from Ramakrishna Math and many CEOs. After the orientation, the academic classes start from July 1 to April 30. We also provide a summer internship of 2 months and make a student ready for corporate placements in their 4th, 5th and 6th trimesters.

Institute of Public Enterprise (IPE) has been awarded the Five Star category recognition by Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA) in its convention on February 19, 2016 at New Delhi.

Careers360: What are the eligibility criteria for admissions to the various PGDM programmes?

Prof S Sreenivasa Murthy: Students are shortlisted based on their aggregate scores in the CAT/ MAT/ XAT/ CMAT/ ATMA/ GMAT and academic performance in 10th, 12th and graduation.

Careers360: Shortlisting for admissions is through CAT/XAT/MAT/ATMA/CMAT/GMAT. Is there any preference for students depending on the exam?

Prof S Sreenivasa Murthy: Students with a minimum score of 60% in CAT or MAT score of 90% join the institution. IPE is home to students from different states and backgrounds such as engineering, sciences, arts, commerce, BBA, humanities etc.

Careers360: PGDM is the flagship programme. Would students be specialising in general management or are there any other specialisations they can choose from?

Prof S Sreenivasa Murthy: We have dual specialisation for all programmes. Students can choose any 2 electives in their 2nd year. We offer 8 specialisations such as marketing, HR finance, operation, systems, business analytics, economics and entrepreneurship.

Careers360: IPE allows its students to opt for dual specialisation. Could you throw some light on how this is facilitated and the benefits to students?

Prof S Sreenivasa Murthy: We guide the students from the first trimester onwards and the core courses (economics, accounting and statistics) required to choose electives are offered from trimesters 1 to 3. After completion of the first 3 trimesters, students go for summer internships where they gain the knowledge of what electives can be chosen. Students can choose electives based on their choices from the 2nd year onwards. In addition to this, we conduct workshops and guest lectures.

Careers360: What would you advise the students while choosing a specialisation? What factors should they keep in mind?

Prof S Sreenivasa Murthy: Students can choose electives based on their aptitudes and attitudes. Once the students go for summer internships they get a better understanding on what to choose and they do projects in areas of their interest. We also arrange lectures from industry captains where students get an opportunity to understand a particular career like finance, marketing, HR etc. IPE also provides students with information on recruiters that visited the campus in the past 3 years along with the roles, requirements, stipend and package details. We tell the students to interact with the alumni, faculty and parents before choosing their specialisation.

Careers360: What does IPE look for in a student during admissions? Give details about the various scholarships available to students.

Prof S Sreenivasa Murthy: We look for students who have a positive attitude toward learning, are accommodative in nature, possess aptitude of using technology and have knowledge of current happenings in business and management in general. IPE offers scholarships of more than Rs. 1.5 crore. Scholarships are given to the students based on their merit. Meritorious students from SC/ ST/ Minorities and northeast states (Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh) are given a lower cutoff to encourage them to take up management studies.

Careers360: The admission process involves a personal interview and group discussion. What is the weightage given to CAT or the entrance exam scores, PI and GD?

Prof S Sreenivasa Murthy: For IPE admissions we follow weightage according to the AICTE. Our weightage policy is based on various parameters - 35% weightage given to test scores, 5% for diversification, 30% for academic merit and 30% for group discussion. We question students on various fronts to understand their attitude and seriousness towards their management career.

Careers360: What is the weightage and importance given to work experience?

Prof S Sreenivasa Murthy: The weightage to work experience is incorporated in the personal interview round as the interviewers give marks based on their skills, knowledge related to the jobs and how they perform etc.

Careers360: What are the new initiatives introduced and incorporated by IPE in recent times?

Prof S Sreenivasa Murthy: We have created an e-cell in the institute and encourage students to be part of it. In this, the students who have started their own businesses will come and share their entrepreneurial experiences. We have a “Startup-pedia”, an event organised by students where interested students from all over the country including IIMs, IITs can present their business plans. During this two-day event, we bring practitioners, venture capitalists, and new startups who judge the participants, give ideas and encourage students by giving them prizes.

We organise industrial tours for students where a batch of 60 students with their faculty visit at least two companies to understand the manufacturing process, supply chain and many other things. For example, the T-Hub (Telangana Hub) created by the Telangana government has a great facility for startups and we take students for visits here to see how business ideas are encouraged.

Careers360: Industry connect is an important factor for any management graduate. How has IPE incorporated this into its curriculum and teaching?

Prof S Sreenivasa Murthy: Every faculty invites at least 1 or 2 industry people to address their students. Every Friday a talk by industry experts is held for students. We invite industry experts for most events as judges. Conferences are held to facilitate. direct interactions with industry people

We have other events like Sanskritti, organised by our students which have participation by students from IIMs, IITs and other bschools. Then every domain has a “Samithi (meeting of finest minds)”, to help identify the latest things happening in the industry.

Careers360: Give details of IPE’s accreditation.

Prof S Sreenivasa Murthy: IPE is a member of EFMD and is also accredited by the NBA in India. The institute is accredited by SAQS (South Asian Quality Systems) as well.

Careers360: Describe the summer internships and placement process at IPE – when does it start; how is it facilitated etc.?

Prof S Sreenivasa Murthy: Right from the orientation day students are appraised of the facilities offered by IPE. A separate summer internship division takes care of the SIP and placement division. Students can meet the division head and get their doubts clarified. Almost 100 students are selected by Deloitte every year. The duration of the summer internship lasts for 2 months (May 1 to June 30). We also provide part-time internships to the students after the college hours for one hour. We get PPO for the students who have done their internships in the organisations. For example, Deloitte came for SIP. All students who have done their summer internship with Deloitte with a stipend generally get pre placement offers.

Careers360: Describe the placement process at IPE. When does it start and how is it facilitated?

Prof S Sreenivasa Murthy: There is a separate team for IPE placement with a coordinator and 3 joint coordinators. The process starts in September or October. As per suggestions by industry experts, we have implemented subjects like business analytics in the 1st trimester and business aptitude in the 3rd trimester). Many mock GD and mock interviews are held so students can get industry-ready.

Careers360: Can you give the details regarding the latest placement statistics?

Prof S Sreenivasa Murthy: The highest and average salary package offered was Rs. 24.75 lakhs and Rs. 7.1 lakhs respectively.

Careers360: What would your advice be to management aspirants?

Prof S Sreenivasa Murthy: I would advise students to look into the faculty profiles, availability of faculty, placements, internships, facilities, campus life, vision, mission, curriculum, pedagogy and activities of the institute apart from academics before applying for admissions.

About the Interviewer

Prof S Sreenivasa Murthy holds a UGC-JRF for his doctorate from the University of Madras. Prof. Murthy comes with nearly three decades of experience in teaching, academic administration, research, training, and consultancy at IPE since his date of joining the Institute as a faculty member in 1994. Prof. Murthy is a visiting faculty member at IIM Kozhikode, IIM Indore, NIT Warangal, IIIF, JNTU, and other universities of repute.