Tata Steel and IIM Calcutta Launch Crucible Workshop to Equip Indian Industry for 4IR

Tata Steel Industrial Consulting (TSIC), the consulting arm of Tata Steel, has partnered with IIM Calcutta’s Management Centre for Human Values (MCHV), to host a five-day ‘Crucible Workshop’ from November 3-7, 2025. This workshop is specifically designed and developed for strategy builders by bringing together the world’s best field and case studies, offering experiential hands-on learning and ensuring a unique experience like few other training programmes in India.

The Crucible Workshop is an intense learning portal for Indian firms to understand, appreciate and have a compass for journeying into the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) that humanity is now experiencing. This learning portal teaches how a small number of companies are successfully tacking these new challenges with organisational systems and human behavior changes.

Tata Steel’s plants at Jamshedpur and Kalinganagar in India, and Ijmuiden in the Netherlands have all been designated as World Economic Forum Global Lighthouse Factories for their pioneering use of 4IR technologies. Through this workshop, the Company will be sharing its decades-long experience with other organisations and leaders keen on building similar manufacturing organisations, thus raising India’s global competitiveness, and making Indian industry future-ready.

IIM Calcutta (IIM-C) is India’s first management institute and has been at the forefront of management education in India. IIM-C’s MCHV studies the march of civilisations and connects each evolutionary step with the values that remain constant.

Interested individuals can visit the Crucible Workshop link to learn more.

Maruti Suzuki Selects 6 Early-Stage Startups from East and Northeast India Under Its Nurture program

These startups offer solutions in the domains of driver aggregation services, jute-based accessories, hyperlocal delivery services, development of a micro electric car, wearable hearing devices and safety apparel

Initiated in November 2022, Nurture program aligns to Government’s Startup India initiative

Giving an impetus to the startup ecosystem in the East and Northeast India, Maruti Suzuki India Limited declared the names of the six startups selected under its Nurture program, conducted jointly with IIM Calcutta Innovation Park (IIMCIP). The selected startups were DriverShaab, Route2Jute, OiHelp, Hopun Innovations Pvt. Ltd., Backyard Creators Pvt. Ltd. and Salutem Ridegear. These startups extend solutions in the domains of driver aggregation services, jute-based accessories, hyperlocal delivery services, development of micro electric cars, non-surgical wearable hearing devices and safety apparel.

The startups were judged on competencies like innovation, business model, relevance to Maruti Suzuki’s business operations, leadership & team structure, and revenue model. The six selected startups will now undertake a paid Proof-of-Concept to assess the viability of their proposed business solutions in a real-world scenario. They were also presented with a cash reward of Rs. 50,000 each and secured further mentorship opportunities under Maruti Suzuki’s innovation programs. The Grand Idea Hunt finale took place in the presence of senior leadership of Maruti Suzuki and IIM Calcutta.

Sno	Startup	Business Description
1.	DriverShaab	Next generation agile driver aggregation platform
2.	Route2Jute	Revival of jute industries and social entrepreneurship- Jute-based sustainable accessories and fashion apparels, made by prisoners
3.	OiHelp	Robust last mile hyperlocal delivery service and logistics- pick up and drop service as well as ride hailing
4.	Hopun Innovations Pvt Ltd	Building a 2-seater micro electric car for intracity travel for private as well as commercial use
5.	Backyard Creators Pvt Ltd	Impulse- World?s first non-surgical wearable hearing device for individuals with congenital hearing loss
6.	Salutem Ridegear	Manufacture of safety apparels for two-wheeler riders, defence personnel and agricultural safety gear

Aiming to augment the startHhup ecosystem across the country through co-creating solutions relevant to the automobile industry, Maruti Suzuki has undertaken multiple initiatives. The Company collaborates with startups across level of maturity:

• Incubation program is targeted towards startups that are in the ideation to proof-of-concept stage
• Nurture program extends mentorship opportunities and an enabling growth environment to early-stage startups from the East and Northeast region to shape their ideas to reach a viable product stage
• Mobility & Automobile Innovation Lab (MAIL) engages technology-based startups that are at the budding stage
• Mobility Challenge focuses on growth-stage startups

Depending on the level of maturity, the startups are provided an enabling ecosystem with the right mentorship, networking, and growth opportunities under Maruti Suzuki Innovation programs. Selected startups also get an opportunity to test the viability of their solutions across various business verticals of Maruti Suzuki.

IIM Calcutta Alumnus' SaaS Platform Shipturtle Raises INR 3.5 Cr in Seed Round Led by Inflection Point Ventures

Shipturtle is a global SaaS app for Building D2C Brand Partnerships & multi-vendor marketplaces.

The funds raised will be used for technology and product development, sales, and marketing.

Inflection Point Ventures (IPV) has so far invested over INR 550 Cr across 170+ deals.

Shipturtle, a global SaaS platform founded by IIM Calcutta alum Sharad Kabra, has raised INR 3.5 crore in a seed funding round led by Inflection Point Ventures. Sharad has earlier co-founded myBageecha.com and gabbarfarms.com. The funds will help the company strengthen its technology and expand its customer reach globally. The startup aims to become the world’s largest brand directory, making it easy for brands to discover and cross-sell with other brands.

Sharad Kabra, Founder, Shipturtle, says, "Our vision is to enable brands to Sell More Together. We want to democratise e-commerce and give thousands of brands access to more selling channels beyond Amazon and Flipkart. With Shipturtle, any brand can seamlessly offer other complimentary brands to their customers - increasing AOV, conversions and revenue, while lowering CAC - all with zero investment or risk.

Shipturtle’s plugin easily integrates with established cart platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce. It helps brands and marketplace players (including B2C, B2B, C2C, hyperlocal and social platforms) discover other brands on ShipTurtle’s brand directory and connect with them with a no-code onboarding process. Once connected, ShipTurtle handles all the workflows related to Products, Inventory, Orders, and Payments making it easy for brands and marketplaces to grow their business.

Ivy Chin, Partner, Inflection Point Ventures says, "We are excited to work with Sharad as Shipturtle is built from the learnings of one of the country’s largest gardening marketplaces, myBageecha.com. Shipturtle’s full stack marketplace creation solution enables launching of a marketplace in minutes and scaling operations: streamlining & automating of inventory data, orders, payments, shipping operations & dashboards making them a critical enabler for e-commerce including D2C brands.”

Industry data suggests the total addressable market (TAM) for Shipturtle’s platform is over $70 billion. This includes $5 billion for marketplaces and more than $60 billion for direct-to-consumer (D2C) brand partnerships. The serviceable obtainable market (SOM) is estimated to be $765 million. Moreover, the government thrust via ONDC will be a game changer for the industry, and Shipturtle can play a crucial role in the seller-buyer journey. The startup’s vision is to enable cross-selling of products within the D2C eco-system using its proprietary technology. It will help brands gain larger audiences and increase their sales while reducing heavy dependency on Amazon and Flipkart.
At present, 750+ brands across 50+ countries are using Shipturtle to run their marketplaces.

About Shipturtle

Shipturtle is a global SAAS app for Building D2C Brand Partnerships & Marketplaces. We make it easy for brands to cross-sell products on other brand websites and handle workflows for Products, Inventory, Orders & Payments.

About Inflection Point Ventures & Physis Capital

Inflection Point Ventures (IPV) is an angel investing platform with over 7400 CXOs, HNIs, and Professionals to together invest in startups. The firm supports new-age entrepreneurs by providing them with monetary & experiential capital and connecting them with a diverse group of investors. IPV has announced the launch of a $50 million CAT 2 AIF Physis Capital to invest in pre-Series A to Series B growth-stage start-up.

With investment Corpus of RS. 65 Cr, IIM Calcutta Alumni Association and IIM-C Innovation Park Launch Clarion Call 5.0

IIM Calcutta Alumni Association (IIMCAA) along with IIM Calcutta Innovation Park has announced Clarion Call 5.0 – a platform to promote entrepreneurship where start-up founders can find the best fundraising, incubation and mentoring options. The platform commits an investment corpus of USD 8.5 mn (INR 65cr).

Promising start-ups can pitch their business ideas to 5000+ Angels and 7+ Institutional investors who have committed a corpus of USD 8.5 mn (INR 65+ Crore). The winners will have the opportunity to procure funding at an early stage and find the right guidance to scale up their companies.

The top 20 finalists will get a chance to be incubated with various partners, such as - IIM Calcutta Innovation Park, BSE Incubator ZONE Startup, and others. Finalists not only get engagement with prospective investors but also exposure to industry experts and IIMCAA mentors. The program invites the best and most reputed IIM alumni from across the world to guide the finalists and support the startup ecosystem.

Speaking on the upcoming event Mr. Subrat Pani, Co-Founder of OneAssist & Member IIMCAA-MUMBAI & Lead Organizer for Clarion Call 5.0 said, “With Clarion Call 5.0 we aim to keep the alumni of IIMC connected and explore the innovative business ideas worked upon in our country. Its intent is to contribute to the ecosystem by providing support and acceleration for these ideas to flourish and thereby get ready for their next steps in the market. This year will mark the 5th edition of Clarion Call, and we are looking forward to many promising startups getting their well-deserved funding."

Shri Ashish Chauhan, MD & CEO of Bombay Stock Exchange & Honorary President of IIMCAA-Mumbai, said: “Through Clarion Call we at IIMC aim to bring together complementary knowledge, experience, and networks to accelerate entrepreneurs. With our forum continuing to grow in success and start-ups funded, the buzz around the event is also increasing.”

He added, “It’s a great initiative for the alumni of IIMC to be connected and to keep contributing to the ecosystem. We are all looking forward to a successful Clarion Call 5.0 so come and register with us and see your idea become a success!”

The IIM Calcutta Alumni Association is a close-knit community across batches over the years. IIM Calcutta Alumni Association Mumbai (IIMCAA Mumbai) has been at the forefront of bringing the power of the IIM Calcutta Alumni network together to impact the start-up ecosystem in India via the Clarion Call event. United by their campus allegiance, and having tasted various degrees of success, the Alumni network has been putting together Clarion Call over the years as their way of ‘Paying It Forward’ to help startups further their efforts in navigating this complicated landscape.

About Clarion Call

Clarion Call was conceptualized in 2016 with a vision to identify and support promising start-ups with the help of the alumni network. This is the 5th edition (4 previous editions have been successfully held in 2016/17/19/21) that has just been launched. IIMCAA-M is a not-for-profit organizations that is conducting this event with the vision to create a platform and a program to give promising and deserving start-ups access to funding, incubation, and mentoring apart from visibility, prizes, and credits.

Registration Details: https://contest.iimcip.org/apply-now/Clarion-Call-5.0

About IIMC Alumni Association Mumbai:

Formed in 2009, the IIMC Alumni Association Mumbai is registered as a Trust under the Office of the Charity Commissioner, Mumbai. All alumni in Western India, including Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, etc., can become a member of the Association. The Association is run by a team of Trustees and a Managing Committee, all of whom perform their tasks on an honorary basis.

The Association conducts 3 annual events under its banner: Nostalgia, Clarion Call and Guru Speak. In addition, the association may hold other events during the year if and when suitable. The ManCom constitutes a working committee for each of the annual events, with a Head of Team for each event. All such heads and team members are volunteers and their work is entirely honorary.

Acies and IIM Calcutta Innovation Park Partner to Help Develop the Start-up Ecosystem

Acies Consulting Pte Ltd and IIM Calcutta Innovation Park (‘IIMCIP’) have agreed to work together to help develop the start-up ecosystem. Under this agreement, Acies and IIMCIP will collaborate to support a vibrant ecosystem to foster entrepreneurship in the social enterprises space. Acies will, through its Ventures-Revolutio program, support start-ups incubated by IIMCIP by providing them access to cutting edge technology and funding. Acies’ no code platform Revolutio will help entrepreneurs rapidly build and deploy software and solutions to scale social enterprise.

Through this collaboration, Acies will provide a sandbox for entrepreneurs and start-ups to test, build and scale technology solutions using Revolutio. The collaboration will also enable start-ups incubated by IIMCIP to access learning content from Acies LightHouse and receive ongoing support for building applications on Revolutio. Start-ups achieving scale will also be get priority for funding by Acies Ventures.

Speaking about this collaboration, Abhinava Bajpai, Head – Acies TechWorks remarked, “We are excited to explore new prospects and new possibilities for enhancement in social enterprise using Revolutio. Revolutio brings a plethora of opportunities for young entrepreneurs seeking to pursue their dreams and making a positive impact on their communities and society.”

Mr HK Borah, Chief Investment Officer at IIMCIP adds, “At IIMCIP, we always seek to bring forth the best opportunities for our entrepreneurs as they endeavour to build and scale social enterprises. This collaboration with Acies will help our entrepreneurs rapidly scale from idea to enterprise.”

About Acies

Acies is a multi-national firm comprising businesses focussed on providing technology applications and platforms, consulting, content and learning and development solutions, and strategic investments. implement, skill and scale businesses to support growth and sustainability.

Acies TechWorks has developed a cutting-edge no-code platform - Revolutio. Revolutio help start-ups and enterprises build applications for internal use as well as for commercial purposes. Under its Ventures-Revolutio program, Acies provides Revolutio to start-ups to build their technology products and solutions. The focus of the program is to help early-stage start-ups realize their potential without incurring significant cash burn on technology.

To know more about Acies, visit https://www.acies.consulting or the LinkedIn Company page.

About IIM Calcutta Innovation Park

IIMCIP formed under the aegis of Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, its activities include entrepreneurship ecosystem development, business incubation, nurturing innovation and promoting entrepreneurship. The focus of IIMCIP is on sectors that have high social and economic impact. It has established itself as thought leader in the social entrepreneurship domain in India.

To know more about IIMCIP, visit https://www.iimcip.org.

IIM Calcutta Alumni Association Announces A Startup Competition

The Mumbai chapter of the Alumni Association of Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIMCAA), will be hosting the 3rd edition of its annual start-up event, Clarion Call, on Saturday, April 20, 2019, at the IIT Mumbai auditorium.

This event is an opportunity for startups for receiving investments from startup investors and mentorship from IIMC Alumni and industry experts. 10 finalists, 5 each from pre-revenue and post-revenue stages, will be selected to present before a panel of judges on 20^th April. There will be a cash as well as non-cash prizes. More importantly, there is a possibility of getting funded and/or incubated for the startups. The 10 finalists will be selected from a short list of 40 semi-finalists. These 40 start-ups will be invited to present in-person or virtually before one of 4 panels. Lead Angels, Mumbai are the official organisers of this competition and the event is supported by SINE, IIT Mumbai and ikeva.

Mr. Jayant Sengupta, President, IIMCAA, Mumbai says “It is our endeavour to bring the startups and the industry practitioners together. Our last two editions were highly successful and this year we aim to move a notch higher”.

Mr Sushanto Mitra, CEO, Lead Angels, says “Events of these kind help start-ups in refining their business models and also get valuable support – monetary and non-monetary”

Mr. Prasanna Pahade, Chief of Strategy, Marketing and Communications of Mahindra Logistics and an active member of IIMC alumni association of Mumbai says, “We are extremely happy to be able to support this event and would encourage quality start-ups to participate.

Last date for participating in the event is 31^st March 2019. More details can be obtained from  http://bit.ly/2FolGSk

IIM Calcutta and TalentSprint Join Hands to Develop FinTech & Blockchain Talent

The Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM Calcutta) has announced an Advanced Programme in FinTech and Financial Blockchain for the benefit of management and finance professionals.

The programme will help participants appreciate the explosive growth of FinTech and its increasingly disruptive impact on the banking and financial ecosystem. In addition, it will prepare them to exploit the immense potential of FinTech to design and drive new product strategies for their organizations. The programme will be offered in association with TalentSprint starting May 2019.

To recall, in this month TalenSprint along with International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIIT-H) have completed the first anniversary of their AI/ML Executive Program that saw 10,000+ applicants and 1000+ graduates in 2018 alone.

With over 50 years of academic excellence, IIM Calcutta is the only management institution in India with triple accreditation from AACSB, AMBA and EQUIS. In 2018, the Financial Times ranked IIM Calcutta as a Top 25 Global Business School and 3rd in Asia.

In addition, its highly-regarded Financial Research and Trading Lab does pioneering research on global financial markets and is uniquely positioned to bring world-class FinTech expertise to the participants of this programme.

On the global stage, FinTech is attracting significant investments with over 1000 companies raising in excess of $100 billion in the recent past. India is now a leading contender to become the FinTech capital of the world. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) reported a total of 2.45 billion digital payments in August 2018. NASSCOM estimates Indian FinTech will double in size every three years. Gartner predicts that within a decade, 80% of financial firms will lose their relevance because of the threats posed by new FinTech advancements, unforeseen competition, and altered customer preferences.

This IIM Calcutta FinTech programme will be delivered in a hybrid executive format with onsite visits to the IIM Calcutta campus and live online sessions via the TalentSprint digital platform. In addition, TalentSprint will use its knowledge and network within the FinTech sector to curate and offer start-of-art capstone projects for programme participants, and actively leverage its digital platform for the purpose of accelerated experiential learning. 

Speaking on the occasion, Prof. Indranil Bose, one of the Programme Directors, said: “A vast majority of firms in the banking and financial sector believe that the lack of adequate FinTech talent is an existential threat to their future. Our FinTech programme, designed with today’s management and finance professionals in mind, will leverage the deep research and consulting expertise of IIM Calcutta faculty and our state-of-art Finance Lab. We plan to equip and enable 2000 FinTech professionals in the next few years and our association with TalentSprint will help us achieve this objective."

Dr. Santanu Paul, Co-Founder and CEO of TalentSprint, said: “It has been said that FinTech is the new E-commerce. The current growth rate of FinTech is phenomenal and a large amount of funding in India is aggressively chasing the sector.  We are very pleased to partner with IIM Calcutta to bring this world-class programme to the market. It is our belief that this programme, with its innovative curriculum and networking opportunities, will serve as a major launchpad for the best FinTech professionals of tomorrow."

Working professionals from Banking, Financial Services and Technology sectors interested in this programme should apply for selection at: https://www.iimcal.ac.in/ldp/APFFB  or https://iimcal.talentsprint.com/fintech/

Published via feed from Business Wire India

An Idea to Replicate S.Korea & Japan's Model of Virtual Grocery Stores for Kolkata Metro

Kolkata Metro, a rapid transit system serving the Kolkata metropolitan area, traces its root since year 1971 when its first master plan was envisaged. With 300 metro services daily carrying over 650,000 passengers, Kolkata Metro is the second busiest metro system in India however for quite some time its running in losses so much that the it has to spend Rs 300 to earn Rs 100 of revenue.

To revive the business of Kolkata Metro, a group of few noble students from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Calcutta, have come up with an idea in which they have suggested that e-commerce majors like Flipkart or Amazon should be roped in to start India's first of its kind virtual grocery stores on station walls.

This idea coming from IIM-Calcutta is a result of commissioned request from Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC) where the later has asked IIM-C to restructure its revenue model. A team of 3 MBA students -- Alan Shaji Idicula, Urjaswit Lal and Tushar Kumar, came up with this idea of installing wall-length billboards designed to look like a series of supermarket shelves.

Alan Shaji Idicula, who's one of the members of IIM-Calcutta Team proposing the idea of virtual grocery store, explained the idea as -- the digital billboards will display product images along with the QR code. Passengers can scan the code to order daily-use products like groceries and FMCG items. The concept marries the two distinct models of traditional brick and mortar shops and e-commerce.

Around 20 teams of IIM students studied different metro stations to find additional sources of revenue after which Alan’s team was selected as the winner by KMRC.

Alan Shaji Idicula said their proposal is to bring Flipkart/Amazon on board and start India’s first virtual grocery stores on Metro walls.

Notably, the idea is quite similar to what European supermarket chain Tesco (known in South Korea as Home Plus) -- in 2011 -- had done in South Korea by putting grocery store shelf mock-ups on subway platforms to launch the world’s first Virtual Grocery store.

In 2012, Tesco had also opened the UK's first interactive virtual grocery store in Gatwick's North Terminal, which is in southeast of England.

Comparing the proposed plan of IIM-Calcutta with the Tesco's virtual grocery store in South Korea's Seoulleung subway station, then Tesco's virtual grocery store too comprises of pictures of products that are posted with QR codes underneath. Shoppers use their smartphones to scan the QR codes of the items they want. The products in their virtual shopping carts are delivered right to the customers’ homes at their selected delivery time.

Indrani Banerjee, who is Kolkata Metro spokesperson, told LiveMint, "We are trying to implement it. The idea is to increase our non-fare revenue so that there is no burden on passengers. We are trying to utilise our space in the best possible manner". She however did not divulge any details whether they have approached any e-commerce company to implement this idea.

The team also proposed to earn revenue through train wrap ads, hoardings and digital kiosks and paid wi-fi services inside Metro trains.

Additionally, the team of IIM-Calcutta also calculated that KMRC can easily earn an additional revenue of Rs 20 crore just by renting/leasing out 68,478 sq. ft. of un-utilised space, at 20 Metro stations in Kolkata, for shops and advertisements.

Notably, such virtual stores are also gaining attention in stations of Japan as well as in the U.S. In 2012, a leading Internet grocer of the U.S., Peapod.com, launched more than 100 virtual grocery stores at commuter rail stations in Boston, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C. and Chicago.

News sourced via Live Mint.

IIM Calcutta to incubate 40 start-ups over 5 years, sets-up new innovation park

It seems start-up incubation is growing in bulk for startups and entrepreneurs in India and private firms, govt. organisations and even educationsl institutes are coming up for providing mentorship, funding and all round incubation for startups in India.

The Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Calcutta has launched a new startup incubator called - IIM-Calcutta Innovation Park (IIP), which has been registered as a Section 8 company under the new Companies Act (under the aegis of the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation or CEI at IIM Calcutta), plans to host about 40 startups over five years. It will focus on five key sectors-healthcare, education, clean technology, lifestyle and analytics.

"The incubator will focus on five key sectors-healthcare, education, clean technology, lifestyle and analytics.
The incubator will focus on entrepreneurial ventures developing product as well as delivery of services," said Ashok Banerjee, dean, new initiatives and external relations, at IIM Calcutta.

Currently IIP has signed on 3 social startups - Energy solutions venture ONergy, Doctors For You and primary education-focused company Edwell will be among the first batch of incubated start-ups, while two more ventures are expected to join over the next two months. These social startups have been chosen by a team of faculty, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and alumni.

IIP, which will provide seed funding of 5- 50 lakh for an undisclosed stake in the ventures, will receive about 7 crore in funding from the Department of Science and Technology, which will be allocated over the same period.

IIM Calcutta will also raise funds to the tune of Rs 10-20 crore over the next 6 months for which it will soon begin road shows. The institute is also in advanced stages of discussion with few of its alumni based out of India.

The management institute counts notable entrepreneurs such as TutorVista founder Krishnan Ganesh, Rediff's Ajit Balakrishnan and Rocket Internet-backed Jabong's Praveen Sinha among its alumni.

IIP will also look to develop start-up enterprises from the eastern part of the country, a region not traditionally known for emerging enterprises. "The east is still a virgin territory in terms of entrepreneur development, and where we hope to foster change," said Banerjee.

The development comes at a time when private sector incubators and accelerators have taken the lead in building the country's still-nascent startup eco-system.

"The big issue has been the overall infrastructure. Unlike in the US,our really great academic institutions are standalone ones. There is no central ecosystem yet," said Ajit Rangnekar dean, Indian School of Business, which runs the DLabs business incubator.

Apart from ISB, IIM Ahmedabad, IIT Madras and IIT Bombay are among the handful of education institutions to have established a strong reputation in incubating startups.

IIM Ahmedabad's Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship has seeded over 100 start-ups, including traffic monitoring system Birds Eye Systems and healthcare delivery company Forus, with over 80% going on to raise external capital. "It's been pretty dismal. Two or three institutions have done a great job, but the others have just paid lip service," said Rajesh Sawhney, founder of GSF Accelerator, a leading start-up accelerator in the country.