B-school fests find eager corporate takers

Hunger for the best managerial talent and increased visibility has prompted corporates to sponsor annual fests at B-Schools which otherwise were largely funded by local brands and stores. The Aditya Birla Group, for instance, has offered to be the title sponsor for 'Xpression' "� Xavier's Institute of Management, Bhubaneshwar's (XIM-B) annual fest that is coming up in November. Similarly, at Mudra Institute Communication, Ahmedabad (MICA), State Bank of India has bagged the offer for title sponsorship of its annual fest 'Micanvas'.

Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI), Jamshedpur, which will have its fest in January 2007, has received a number of enquiries from corporates to be a part of their festival. This year, the State Bank of India and Reliance are said to be advertising aggressively through such sponsorhips.

In most cases, these festivals are organised for three-days. Business simulation games, quiz and case studies form a part of these festivals along with a few cultural games. And thanks to such funding, the budget of such fests has also gone up substantially. XIM-B which had a budget of Rs 12 lakh last year has a budget of Rs 20 lakh this year. The money it will generate through sponsorships is pegged above Rs 20 lakh. The cash prizes are up to six lakh.

At MICA, the budget of the festival has trippled this year to above Rs 30 lakh from Rs 10 lakh last year. The institute did not divulge the details of how much it has collected through sponsorhips but said the highest cash prize this year is Rs 1.5 lakh as compared to Rs 50,000 last year.

The National Institute of Engineering and Technology, which will hold its annual fest 'Prerna' in November, too has collected Rs 12 lakh through sponsorships and is expecting it to go up by 40 per cent this year. At XLRI, the budget has spiralled from Rs 12 lakh (last year) to Rs 32 lakh this year and the institue is positive it will generate a huge amount of sponsorhips. "A lot of corporates have generated interest to sponsor our events. Unlike last year, the response this year has been tremendous," says a student from XLRI.

Moreover, the sponsorships that work both for the students and the companies have acquired a new hue. They now come in kind too. There are a lot of companies that evince interest in coming to the campus and addressing students. Many companies have made offers to send their CEOs to address and interact with the students. At NITIE's annual fest, Britannia, for instance, has made a pre-placement offer to the students who wins the case-study event. At XIM-B, Emami is offering cash prizes to the students who offer solutions to the problems submitted by the company.