In a fresh trend at IIMA this year, the students studying Food and Agribusiness management have chosen to intern with a diverse set of companies. The trend ranges from fertilizers to food, private equity to policy and technology to strategy.
They also worked with various governments across the country.
Kevin John, who interned with the government of Telangana under the Telangana State Food Processing Society, worked on two-fold objectives, including those of policy and social. On the policy front, he worked on the export policy of key agri-commodities of the state whereas on the social front. John also worked on the marketing of the spice park project proposed by the government. His project had a direct impact on the lives of turmeric-producing farmers in and around the turmeric belt of India at Nizamabad district. "This project would help farmers move up the value chain and help them obtain better value for their produce," John said.
Precision Agriculture for Development, a US-based company, recruited Umang Agarwal to develop and pilot an advisory system for dairy farmers. "An extensive market research led us to develop a personalised information system for smallholder dairy farmers. The information is tailored to the individual farmer, such that it would help in improving the milk yields and ultimately increase farmer profitability", said Umang.
Whereas Nithin MP, another student, worked on 'Karnataka Turnaround project' in the retail strategic business unit of Coromandel International Limited. "The objective of my internship was to perform diagnosis study of retail stores and design a strategy to make the state operations profitable", said Nithin.
Working across seven categories, including fertilizers, pesticides, organic manure, animal feed, seeds, insurance and specialty nutrients, his project had a direct impact on the Karnataka retail operations which is the only loss-making division for the firm.
In the food sector, Vedansh Jain interned at the northern division of Unibic Foods. Contributing to the company's aggressive expansion strategy, he added 100 new outlets and suggested improvements for enhancing the operational efficiency of the existing business. Vedansh said, "Unibic is the first company to use wire cut technology in India, and operates in the premium segment of the crowded biscuit industry. Increasing incomes are shifting the biscuit market in India towards the premium category. This holds a huge market potential, which can be further tapped by companies.
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