Dear Practitioner,

It’s that time of the year again when we tend to look back and reflect on the days gone by. I believe that after having started the year with some uncertainties due to the demonetization move in November 2016, the country made some good progress in year 2017. The passing of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill that puts the entire country within a unified GST structure, and the Real Estate Act that protects the interests of homebuyers, were two important pieces of legislation for both businesses and citizens. And in October came the news that India had moved up 30 places to the 100th position in the World Bank’s Doing Business 2018 ranking. The country still has a long way to go, but this is a reflection of recent developments such as the passing of the GST Bill, and is definitely welcome news.

Project management will be a critical part in the success of the government’s mega programs such as Make in India, Smart Cities or Digital India. We have been saying that this is the right time for us to take the message of project management across industries. Our CEO Round Table Series in association with The Economic Times and CNBCTV18, on the theme India at 75: Opportunities and Challenges, helped us achieve this objective to a great extent. A number of industry captains from different sectors, key influencers, and decision makers spoke at the round-table discussions in Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Delhi, and Kolkata.

You may have heard about India’s Best Jobs, a new series by Discovery Network. PMI India had associated with the channel for this series that identifies project management as one of the best jobs in India. The host, who is actor, singer, and Indian Idol host, Meiyang Chang, travelled across India to pick professionals who love what they do and have seen success in their career.(Check this link for an exclusive episode on project management.)

On November 10, we had a roundtable discussion on IT project management education and research at the International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore (IIIT-B). Notable academicians Prof. S. Sadagopan, director (president), IIIT-B and Prof. K. N. Satyanarayana, director, Indian Institute of Technology, Tirupati, and chair, PMI Academic Advisory Group, spoke at the event. There were several presentations on ways to improve industry-academia collaborations to improve project management education and research.

I’m happy to announce the fourth PMI India Project Management Regional Conference on 10 March 2018 in Pune. Please follow #PMRC18 for further details.

I wish you and your family a very happy, healthy, and successful 2018. I also look forward to your continued support to PMI in the year ahead.

Warm regards,

Raj Kalady
Managing Director, PMI India