Meet the MBAEx Class of 2023: Hitesh Batra, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta

Hitesh Batra

Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta

“A seeker striving to discover my plane of equilibrium in personal, professional, and social dimensions.”

Hometown: Faridabad, Haryana, India

Fun Fact About Yourself: I like to write and read poetry. Also, an avid listener of a wide variety of music ranging from Classical to Hindustani to Thumri to Punjabi rock.

Undergraduate School and Major: C. R. State College of Engineering; Bachelors of Engineering in Electronics & Telecommunication

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Cogneau Systems Pvt Ltd; Co-founder & Director

Aside from your classmates, what was the key part of IIM Calcutta’s MBA programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? I learned the importance of quantifying every business decision during my startup career. The fact that IIM Calcutta is ranked No 1 in Finance and No 2 in Economics among the top 70 global business schools that offer master’s in management programs is a testimony to IIM Calcutta’s obsession with numbers. This aspect of pedagogy that is unique to IIM Calcutta was the most compelling reason for me to choose this business school. When I saw our OB professor using statistical research to explain some of the concepts in the class, I was convinced that this school truly lives to its reputation.

What has been your favorite course or extracurricular activity at IIM Calcutta? What has been the most important lesson that you have learned from it? My favorite courses so far have come from the Organization Behavior stream. At my start-up, we were always puzzled about how to structure our organization such that it maintains its spirit of continuous innovation and nurtures the employees so that they always feel motivated while delivering more value than expectations to all stakeholders. The course Designing Effective Organizations has equipped me well with first how to structure this issue and second with time-tested and contemporary frameworks to solve this puzzle.

What has been the best part of studying business in Calcutta? I feel the best part for me has been the perfect balance that IIM C offers with respect to academics and experiential learning by indulging in a wide variety of extracurricular activities such as case competitions, live projects, industry connect sessions, and a lot more. The carefully selected cohort at IIM C invariably brings along vibrant energy of competitiveness and co-learning each year.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Working for six years at my startup gave me some of the hardest challenges and best accomplishments in my professional career of seventeen years. If I were to choose one accomplishment, I am most proud of, it would be the successful delivery of our SaaS product to our first large enterprise customer (one of the largest two-wheelers manufacturers in India) and subsequent contract renewal with price upliftment after the first two-quarters of stellar performance.

Describe your biggest accomplishment as an MBA student so far: In the last few months of the program, I have been able to balance well between academics and extracurriculars. While on one side, my group scored the highest in Microeconomics and Accounting assignments. At the same time our team won the third prize in a marketing case study competition hosted by a crypto-currency startup. This act of balancing the student life at IIM Calcutta along with my familial duties is what I consider my biggest accomplishment.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point and what do you hope to do after graduation? With seventeen years of experience, I am the eldest in my cohort, a fact that makes this question even more intriguing. At this point, I view pursuing MBA as a worthy investment before I start the next phase of my career. I am looking to use this one year of the MBAEx program to reflect upon my past professional experience and connect the dots with the help of academic frameworks and experiential learning with a highly diverse cohort of professionals. After graduation, I am looking forward to leveraging my rich IT experience and management skills to contribute to the field of healthcare technology. I am sure learning from this program will help me make this transition smoothly.

What advice would you give to help potential applicants gain admission into IIM Calcutta? It’s important to be absolutely clear about your reasons to apply to the course and the institute. And on a lighter note, don’t forget to brush up on your statistics skills; you never know, you may be grilled by a statistician in the interview panel.

DON’T MISS: MEET THE INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT CALCUTTA MBA CLASS OF 2023

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