Shekhar Chaudhuri (extreme left), director of IIM Calcutta, and senior executives of the Aditya Birla Group light the lamp at the inauguration of Intaglio 2007-2008

They have always competed in terms of salary figures on offer during placements but this time, they will be competing on a different turf.

The battle among the Indian Institutes of Management will be part of Intaglio 2008, the annual B-school meet organised by the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, with The Telegraph as media partner.

The event was inaugurated on Thursday by Shekhar Chaudhuri, director IIM Calcutta, Anindya Sen, dean, programme initiatives, and Sougata Ray, faculty adviser, Intaglio. Also present at the inauguration were senior executives from the Aditya Birla Group, which is the title sponsor for the event.

The newly launched event Olympus will see six candidates from each of the six IIMs battling it out for the highest honour.

“Olympus is an event that looks for the CEO or leader of the future, which is in tune with Intaglio’s intention of making it a platform for potential leaders to prove their worth,” said Deepak H., event coordinator, Intaglio.

In the first round of Olympus, three candidates from each of the IIMs — Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Lucknow, Indore and Kozhikode — were shortlisted on the basis of candidate profiles and curriculum vitae.

A voting was then held in each IIM to judge the leadership abilities of the candidates, on the grounds of the support they generated from their own college mates, to choose the one representative from each IIM.

The rounds on the Joka campus on January 4 and 5 will test each candidate’s analytical skills, team leadership abilities and also the ability to undertake stress and deliver his or her best.

“Apart from the regular events, the six contestants of Olympus will go through a series of tests which will examine their skills across all domains,” said Deepak.

A panel of judges, consisting of top-notch industry officials, government officials, media and faculty, will evaluate these candidates and then arrive at the final winner, who shall walk away not only with glory but with a cash prize of Rs 1.5 lakh.

Apart from Olympus, Intaglio will have other popular events, like Wizards of Biz, a business simulation challenge, and Empires of the Mind, where Game Theory is put to test as participants representing states of a country bid for corporate companies to woo them to set up a SEZ in their state.

“Intaglio should be about competition, but also about cooperation. The event organised by students showcases the managerial skills of the students,” said Chaudhuri.

He also talked about the future expansion plans of the institute, which is looking at increasing student intake in the two-year postgraduate programme from 300 to 400 in the following years.

“If the quota system is enforced, we will increase the number of seats as planned from the coming academic year. If it is not, we will look at increasing the number of seats by 100 in 2009-2010, with or without quota, as we will have the infrastructure to accommodate more students,” said a senior faculty member of the institute.