Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu handing over a certificate to an official at the graduation ceremony of ISB and State government joint programme on Friday. | Photo Credit: ARRANGED

VIJAYAWADA

24 February 2018 00:41 IST

The untold story from breakfast diplomacy to incentives

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Friday came up with an interesting anecdote of how he managed to bring the Indian School of Business (ISB) to Hyderabad. The ISB is now a global institution.

“I know how I struggled to get the ISB (to Hyderabad). It is an inspiration how to get an institution. Even Srivastava (ISB Dean Rajendra Srivastava) may not know,” Mr. Naidu said addressing the graduation ceremony of the certificate programme on digital transformation in public governance, which was jointly conducted by the State government and the ISB.

Going down the memory lane, Mr. Naidu made an interesting revelation: “I personally served breakfast to the industry captains in a bid to win them over and grab the ISB.”

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He said that it all started when his then secretary Randeep Sudan told him that the leading industrialists were planning to establish a world-class business school and A.P. should grab the opportunity.

The journey started with contacting each member of the ISB scouting team personally and sending them a letter. But the members informed that Hyderabad was not on their list saying they shortlisted three metros — Chennai, Mumbai and Bangalore.

‘No giving up’

“The ISB would not have come to Hyderabad if efforts stopped there. But, I was reluctant to give up. I invited them for a cup of coffee, ” he said, “and it was one step closer towards success.”

The team agreed for breakfast meeting. The Ministers were sent to airport to receive the ISB team. A presentation was made to them after breakfast. The delegation sought to know what incentives they can expect from the government as the ISB was no-profit organisation and run by a trust, he said.

“I told them, ‘since you will be visiting other States, whatever they offer, please let me know. If they offer X, I will make it X+1.’ ”

Finally, Hyderabad was zeroed in on as some States asked for reservation, while some didn’t even give an interview to the team. “The ISB is now among the premier and reputed institutions across the globe. It maintains high standards. The admissions are never based on recommendations but purely on merit,” Mr. Naidu said.