NITIE Organizes Ninth Edition of its Flagship Event ‘Maha Mandi’

'Maha Mandi', organised annually by National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Mumbai is a one of its kind event where the students take the business to the street where it actually belongs. The event is organised with the help of Navnirmiti, an NGO working towards disseminating education to the underprivileged children. Through Maha Mandi, toys made by the NGO are sold by the students and the proceedings are used by Navnirmiti to educate the children.

Maha Mandi over the years has helped NITIE and the students contribute to the society they are part of. It is recognized by the Ministry of HRD as a unique educational initiative to promote a social cause and NITIE was also awarded the ‘B-school Innovation Award ’09’ for conceptualizing the event. The Association of Indian Management Schools (AIMS) has conferred the Innovative Pedagogy GOLD award to NITIE for its Maha Mandi method of learning.

Maha Mandi gives the opportunity to the students to get a real time experience of doing business and learning the tricks of the trade. It involves all aspects of doing a business like understanding consumer behaviour, sales, presentations, relationship building etc. Last year, the institute achieved sales of worth Rs. 12 lakhs with the help of 1200 students reaching every nook and corner of Mumbai.

Maha Mandi 2013, the ninth edition of the event was organized on October 12th, 2013 and included students from various premiere B-Schools like JBIMS, NMIMS, Welingkar, TISS, IIT Bombay (SJMSOM), KJ Somaiya, SIBM etc. The event was covered by prominent media channels including Print, TV and Radio, namely MTV, CNBC, CNN IBN, Lok Satta, Business Line, Radio Mirchi, etc. With more than 1500 students participating from these colleges in the mega event across Mumbai, the sales target is set at a whopping Rs. 14 lakh this year!

Maha Mandi has been associated with many successful personalities like Mr. Rajit Kapur (actor), Mr. Dev Bhattacharya (President, CSG, Aditya Birla Group), Mr. Shiv Kumar (MD, Nokia) and celebrities like Nandita Das (Actor), Yukta Mukhi (Former Miss World) in the past. The success and popularity of Maha Mandi has inspired many institutes to organize events in similar lines. Some of the top Indian B-schools namely IIM-B, IIM-C, FMS have already implemented this initiative starting a trend like never before.

Media partners MTV ACT, who co-owned this event, designed the posters, banners, T-Shirts and VJ Gaelyn flagged off the event. MahaMandi was launched on their website http://www.mtv.in.com/act