February 8th 2008, kick started with teams from all over India arriving to be a part of the stupendous event Pragati ’08, the annual b-fest of the Amrita School of Business. The event was inaugurated by Mr. S.N. Subramaniam, the Director and Secretary of SNS College of Technology. Dr. Subramaniam congratulated the students of Amrita School of Business for their organisational abilities, the most required quality for management students. He also quoted Pragati as an arena for other B-schools students to display their talents. The event had 15 colleges visiting across the nation.

Soon after the inaugural function got over, the excited teams started registering for the games. The games for the first part of the day were Gradarius from the Relations forum, Pegasus from the Ozone forum and Gladiator from the Gen M forum. Gradarius stressed the Emotional Intelligence of the teams through various interesting rounds in which Sri Krishna College of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore, emerged as the winners. Pegasus, the toughest game of the event, was based on a mission to save a spaceship facing some problems in the space within a specific time and limited money. The teams raked their brains to tackle the situation and the Indian Business Academy, Bangalore, managed to take a lead and grabbed the first place. The other event which was happening alongside was Gladiator, the Best Manager game. The participants were rigorously tested for their managerial skills in this game.

The games for the afternoon were ‘Questo El Dorado’ from the Technocratz forum and ‘The Seventh Sense’ from the Gen M forum. Questo El Dorado, the hunt for treasure tickled the logical thinking of the participants and also made them to explore the entire college building. The Christ College Institute of Management managed to locate the treasure first and emerged as the victor. The Seventh Sense was a game which enabled the participants to discover their marketing sense. The game had seven rounds covering various methodologies to market a product. The Rajagiri School of Management managed to successfully market their product to the judges and grabbed the winner’s podium.

Proicere, from the Fortune forum, tested the skills of the participants to formulate financial strategies to sell various products in various markets considering the constraints. The Rajagiri School of Management came out trumps in this game by formulating the best strategy. Mach Infinity was an interesting game against the race of time where the team which completes all the rounds first is the winner. SDM IMD finished the board first and snatched the first place.

The last event for the day was the prelims for Chain Reaction, the Relations forums game. The top six colleges from the days scorecard were only allowed participate in the prelims. The prelims was a fun filled game where the teams members were made to stand in a line and the last had to fill a bottle with water which was passed by hands along the line. Rajagiri School of Management and Sri Krishna College of Engineering and Technology made their way to the grand finale of Chain Reaction.

The participants were kept engaged in the evening with lively cultural programmes. The participants who were not playing any game at a particular point of time were engaged by the Jagruti forum in the Vroom Room. They conducted many small interesting and funny games and gave away loads of prizes.

The day two was welcomed with a heavy rain which enhanced the scenic beauty of Amrita. The first game for the day was Contriva, a challenging game from the Ozone forum wherein the teams had to transport resources to manufacture a car, and the one which managed to do so with maximum cash left back in hand was the Winner! Indian Business Academy made tremendous amount of money leaving the other teams far behind. The Chain Reaction, a game of its own kind, also started in parallel with the two teams eagerly participating in it. The game was highly intense and energy consuming and went on for almost five hours. Rajagiri School of Management displayed the best of their abilities and triumphed in this mind bogging game.

Plan D’Affaires, the business plan contest, was conducted in parallel to the games in the morning. The two short listed colleges, Guruvayurappan Institute of Management and Indian Business Academy presented their business plan to the judges. The students from GIM, Mr.Jeevaraj.N.K and Mr. Logesh Kumar.S, presented on "Farmco Movement" and the students from IBA, Mr.Abhishek Anand and Mr.Jitendra Kumar, presented on "A Marketing Plan on Drinking Water Problem in rural area of Bihar". The business plan "Farmco Movement" presented by students of Guruvayurappan Institute of Management was announced as the best plan.

Eroi di Equita, the stock market game from the Finance Forum, simulated a tension and risk in a stock market in the lab. The teams vigorously planned their portfolios and DJ Academy of Managerial Excellence came up trumps creating a portfolio that none could beat. Biz –Wiz, the treat for the quizzers, was conducted by Mr. Omkar Shankar, a quiz master well known for his interactive way of quizzing. Institute of Public Enterprises tackled the bullets from the quiz master very well and emerged victors. The Quiz was followed by the eagerly awaited finals of Gladiator, the best manger game where the short listed participants from the previous rounds were stressed with an interview. Ms Rehana from Rajagiri School of Management was judged as the best manager.

Finally the event reached the grand finale: the closing ceremony. The chief guest for the evening was Mr. Shailesh Rao, Google India CEO, who mesmerised the gathering with his humble but valuable speech. “The individuals in your team are those who work with you in making a project successful, and your relationship with them will largely determine the success of your task”, Mr. Rao told the aspiring managers. He urged them not to lose heart at a failure, but to ‘get down to the business of understanding’, for which it is necessary to always remember that everybody is a participant in the field, and not a lone ‘victim’. The ceremony proceeded with the prize distribution for the various management games conducted during the event. The sparkling crystal trophy for the overall champions was lifted by Rajagiri School of Management.

The President of the Core Committee took this occasion to thank everyone involved in the event for their support. The core committee went on stage for their final bow and received an ear shattering applause for their dedication and commitment towards the event. The ceremony ended with a variety of cultural performance put up by the students of ASB. This was followed by celebrations by the students over the grand success of the event and rounds of congratulations went to each and every student for their untiring efforts. That was Pragati 2008, a dream which came alive in the most beautiful form.