Coimbatore :
It came into existence to support the flourishing textile industry in Coimbatore a few years after the IIMs were set up in Kolkata and Ahmedabad. Today, PSG Institute of Management (PSGIM), the first private management education institution in the country, is turning 50.
The institute was started in 1964, just three years after the IIMs were established in 1961, and offered diplomas in management to feed to growing textile industry which had plenty of skilled engineers but not enough marketing, sales and managerial executives. PSGIM’s history is closely linked to the textile trade of Coimbatore. Around 20 years before Independence the cotton industry began flourishing in the Kongu belt. “Engineer and educationist G R Damodaran started PSG Polytechnic College in 1939 to train and provide diplomas to those wanting to work in spinning factories in the area,” said R Nandagopal, director, PSGIM.
Later, G R Damodaran, better known as GRD, set up PSG College of Technology in 1951. “Many graduates from PSG Polytechnic and College of Technology became businessmen and industrialists. This helped the textile industry flourish,” said Nanadagopal. But soon the engineers realized that they lacked management skills.
“In the early 1960s, a group of graduates came to GRD with a problem. They said they were unable to market their products and faced problems when it came to management of resources and putting processes in place,” said Nanadagopal.
In 1964, GRD approached the department of personnel and training and started a two-year diploma course in industrial management.
As the institute grew, a department of management science was established in 1971 in PSG College of Technology. “At that time, there was a rule that an institute could start a particular course only if the university to which it was affiliated has the said course,” he said.
PSG College of Technology was affiliated to the University of Madras then. “GRD pushed for the university to start an MBA course so that PSG Tech could begin one,” said L Gopalakrishnan, managing trustee of PSG Institutions. PSG Tech started a full-fledged MBA programme in 1971, a full year before University of Madras started its MBA course.
In 1994, the department of management science became PSG Institute of Management. E Balaguruswamy, who later became vice-chancellor of Anna University, was the first director of the institute. The institute has produced around 7,200 management postgraduates. Alumni have fanned out across the world and include Thamarai Kannan, ACP, Chennai, Jagadeesa Pandian, chief secretary, Gujarat and MPs Jose K Mani and R Radhakrishnan.
Chairman of the alumni association D Madan Mohan said: “When I was studying in the institute between 1985 and 1987, we were one of the few institutions in the country with a computer lab. Now the institute has established a trading centre for students.” In the trading centre, students monitor share market feeds live from New York Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange and trade them, he said.
PSGIM has completed 50 years but Nandagopal and Gopalakrishnan feel the institute has a long way to go. “Twenty years ago, we were one of the few management institutes in the country. Today, we have stiff competition from within the nation and also the world. Our challenge is to maintain world class standards,” said Gopalakrishan.
The institute recently introduced a specialization in family business and entrepreneurship. “This will help firms and companies that do not have heirs to plan succession in a family business. There are some family-run empires that are facing problems and do not know how to resolve them,” said Nandagopal.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Coimbatore / TNN / December 15th, 2014