Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune, wins the national finals of 'Tata Crucible — The Campus Quiz 2007'
March 6, 2007

Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune, led by Rohit and Nikhil, scored a sensational victory at the national finals of 'Tata Crucible — The Campus Quiz 2007' held at Hotel Taj President, Mumbai, on March 5, 2007. The first runner-up was the team from IMT Ghaziabad, and the second runners-up position witnessed a tie between the teams from KJ Somaiya Institute of Management, Mumbai, and College of Engineering, Guindy, Chennai. The quiz rounds were conducted by noted quiz master Giri Balasubramaniam, aka 'pickbrain'.

The finals featured six rounds: Global Minds, Branded Minds, Racing Minds, Tata World, Lateral Minds and Decoding Minds. In an exciting flow of events and to the surprise of all, Narain Karthikeyan, India's first Formula 1 driver, adorned the garb of the quizmaster during the third round — 'Racing Minds' and quizzed the participants on questions related to the theme 'Business of Sports'.

Ishaat Hussain, finance director, Tata Sons, distributed the prizes to the winning teams. Commenting on the quiz, Hussain said, "The enthusiastic spirit and the quizzing acumen displayed by the participants today is a testimony of the quality of the quiz and the fair play deployed by the quizmaster. The interesting thing about the quiz was that the young quizzers were playing the game beyond the prize."

The theme of this years quiz was 'Speed of thought — clash of the fastest minds'. The 'Pyramid Quizzing' structure, introduced for the first time in Indian quizzing history, added an in-depth meaning to the finals. ('Pyramid Quizzing' participation structure is developed along the lines of the aspiration of any campus student to grow in future.) The new format of the quiz in a subtle way delivered the message, to the youth, that growth and success over time requires one to be agile, quick, and very importantly, consistent.

The eight finalists, one from each of the regional rounds, who competed at the grand finale were:

• Institute of Engineering & Management, Kolkata
• Institute of Management and Technology (IMT), Ghaziabad
• Nirma Institute of Management, Ahmedabad
• Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India (ICFAI), Hyderabad
• College of Engineering Guindy (COE), Chennai
• Centre for Management Studies, Bangalore
• Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIBM), Pune
• KJ Somaiya Institute of Management, Mumbai

Each of these teams had already won a cash prize of Rs 60,000 as regional finalists. At the national finals, they took away ipods and gifts from various Tata Group companies.

A noteworthy feature of the quiz was the deployment of innovative software powered rounds that tested the teams not only on their understanding of business but presence of mind, teamwork, and decision making as well.

Following the tremendous response and success of the quiz over the last two years, the Tata Group presented the third edition of the Tata Crucible — The Campus Quiz 2007, an inter collegiate business quiz, open to all bona fide college students, especially engineering and business school students.

The quiz was kicked off on February 9, 2007 at Chennai. The quiz then moved to the cities of New Delhi, Pune, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Bangalore, attracting close to 900 teams from across the country. The quiz questions covered a wide canvas of subjects from business houses to brands, business history, people to products, business fundamentals, and from creators of wealth to architects of scams, from Wall Street to the Dalal Street, and Manhattan to Chandni Chowk. In short, they were all about innovation and excellence in the world of business.

The cumulative prize money at the Campus Quiz, amounting to Rs 15 lakhs approximately, is among the largest prize amounts at stake in any campus quiz across India. According to a commissioned research amongst participating colleges, Tata Crucible — Campus Quiz is the highest rated business quiz in India.