The event started with the lighting of the lamp by Prof MN Tripathi, Faculty member at XIMB & moderator for the panel discussion and the various panelists. During the discussion, stress was laid on value oriented marketing strategies to tap the rural potential and understand the consumer preferences. Strategies like cutting down excise duties and further reducing prices to ensure that the products stay competitive with respect to local products were suggested by the speakers. The discussion was followed by a question & answer session in which the students asked questions related to the role of government in applying these strategies at the base of the pyramid and options available for developing sustainable brands. Finally, Prof MN Tripathi summed up the talk and also presented his views on the topic.
Also, the results of the paper presentation contest held as a precursor to the event were announced, with Team Sapphire (Chetan Jagoria, Pooja Agarwal) from IIM Ahmadabad bagging the first prize, and Team Famous ( Gaurav Hazrate, Sankit Shah) from FMS Delhi netting the second. The October a08 edition of the MAXIM newsletter was also released by the panelists and Professor MN Tripathi. The vote of thanks was offered by Ms Paromita Goswami, Faculty member at XIMB, who also presented mementos to the panelists and the moderator.