~ IIM Bangalore emerges as the winner of the 5th edition, JBIMS Mumbai bagged the 1st runner-up position; IIM Indore and IIM Kozhikode shared the 2nd runner-up position ~

~ Number of case solutions submission have more than quadrupled since the first edition of Steel-a-thon held in 2014 ~

Steelathon 2018 witnessed the makers of tomorrow showcase their ultimate intelligence, imagination and innovative thinking. At the end of the 12-week long and grueling intellectual marathon, IIM Bangalore emerged as the winner of the 5th edition of Tata Steel’s Steel-a-thon 2018. The annual business challenge saw a record 561 case submission from 19 premier business schools in India.

At the grand finale held on November 30 in Kolkata, while JBIMS Mumbai bagged the 1st runner-up position, the 2nd runner-up slot was jointly shared by IIM Indore and IIM Kozhikode. The winners of the 5th edition of Steel-a-thon were declared after three exhaustive rounds of the competition which includes initial screening, campus round and the finale.

The teams presented business case solutions to a jury comprising senior management from Tata Steel led by Mr. Peeyush Gupta, Vice President, Steel Marketing & Sales, Tata Steel, Ms. Atrayee S Sanyal, Chief Diversity Officer and Chief Group HR, Tata Steel and Mr. Debashish Choudhury, Chief Corporate Strategy & Planning, Tata Steel. The case studies pertained to various domains including Marketing & Sales, Corporate Strategy, Corporate Social Responsibility, Human Resource Management and Supply Chain & Logistics.

Since the first edition of Tata Steel’s Steel-a-thon held in 2014, the participation from across campuses has been overwhelming year on year. This year, Steel-a-thon received 561 case solution submissions, highest amongst all the previous editions. A total of 4000 students totaling 1350 teams registered for this season.

Congratulating the winner and all the participants, Mr. Peeyush Gupta, Vice President, Steel Marketing & Sales, Tata Steel, said, “The Annual Business Challenge ‘Steel-a-thon’ is Tata Steel’s flagship campus connect programme to identify and hire the best talent passing out of India’s premier B-School. With the global steel industry swiftly moving from a commodity-based business to a highly competitive consumer-facing one, Tata Steel considers engaging, enabling and grooming the best talent to become the future leaders as one of the key strategies to retain its leadership in the market. The growing interest amongst the student’s fraternity, proven by a record jump in the number of participating teams and case submissions each year, has established Steel-a-thon as one of the most sought-after business challenge. Our hearty congratulations to the ‘makers of tomorrow’ who participated in Steel-a-thon 2018.”

Since the first edition of Steel-a-thon held in 2014, a total of 33 students have joined the Tata Steel family as employees. The 2018 edition of Steel-a-thon is also a significant milestone in the Company’s steady march towards creating a better and sustainable future for all its stakeholders. Early this year in the month of September, Tata Steel announced its new brand campaign themed ‘We also make tomorrow’ which resonates with the idea of enabling a better tomorrow through innovation and technology and by collaborating with the bright young minds.

The overarching theme for Steel-a-thon 2018 was about enabling future readiness, redefining possibilities and to create a platform that seeks to make role models, future leaders and makers of tomorrow by application of passion and business acumen.

On the successful completion of season 5 of Steel-a-thon, Mr. Suresh Dutt Tripathi, Vice President, Human Resource Management, Tata Steel said, “As Tata Steel follows the nation’s progress towards a more open and connected world, attracting the best talent is a fundamental requirement to stay ahead and stay competitive. We need to create the right ecosystem, not just to groom good leaders, but also to bring out the best among our youth. Tata Steel will continue to collaborate with the country’s bright minds and leading academic institutions through many forms and forums to enable a better tomorrow. We look forward to engaging and working with the makers of tomorrow from the 2018 edition.”

The champions walked away with a cash prize of Rs. 2,50,000, a trophy and a certificate. The first and second runners-up were awarded cash prizes of Rs. 1,50,000 and Rs. 1,00,000, respectively along with certificates. Besides the direct entry to the prestigious grand finale, all campus winners received a cash prize of Rs. 30,000 and a certificate.

The participants of Steel-a-thon benefited from the mentorship provided by the senior management of Tata Steel which exemplifies the focus on quality and attention to details. The platform intends to groom the budding leaders for real-life business challenges through application of their classroom knowledge on the practical front.

Champions of the competition

Winner

1st runners up

2nd runner up

List of 19 B-schools selected for finals:

1. IIM Bangalore
2. IIM Calcutta
3. IIM Indore
4. IIM Kozhikode
5. IIM Lucknow
6. IIM Shillong
7. MDI Gurgaon
8. XLRI Jamshedpur
9. IIFT Delhi
10. JBIMS Mumbai
11. SIBM Pune
12. FMS Delhi
13. TISS Mumbai
14. XIM Bhubaneswar
15. MICA

College eligible for wild card round:

16. IIM Rohtak
17. IM Raipur
18. IIM Ranchi
19. XISS

About Tata Steel
Tata Steel Group is among the top global steel companies with an annual crude steel capacity of 27.5 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) as on March 31, 2018. It is one of the world's most geographically-diversified steel producers, with operations in 26 countries and a commercial presence in over 50 countries. The Group recorded a consolidated turnover of US $20.41 billion (INR 133,016 crore) in FY18. Tata Steel Group is spread across five continents with an employee base of over 65,000. Tata Steel retained Industry Leader position in FY18 and ranked second overall in the DJSI assessment, 2017. The Company has been recognised as the Climate Disclosure Leader in ‘Steel category’ by CDP (2017). Besides being a member of the World Steel Climate Action Programme, Tata Steel was felicitated with several awards including the Prime Minister’s Trophy for the best performing integrated steel plant for 2014-15 and 2015-16, Best Risk Management by CNBC TV18 (2018) and ‘Corporate Strategy Award’ by Mint (2018). The Company also received the ‘Most Ethical Company’ award from Ethisphere Institute for the sixth time (2018), Steel Sustainability Champions (2017) by the World Steel Association, Dun & Bradstreet Corporate Awards (2017 & 2018), Golden Peacock HR Excellence Award by Institute of Directors (2017) as well as 'Asia's Best Integrated Report' award by the Asia Sustainability Reporting Awards (2017), among several others.

Disclaimer
Statements in this press release describing the Company’s performance may be “forward looking statements” within the meaning of applicable securities laws and regulations. Actual results may differ materially from those directly or indirectly expressed, inferred or implied. Important factors that could make a difference to the Company’s operations include, among others, economic conditions affecting demand/ supply and price conditions in the domestic and overseas markets in which the Company operates, changes in or due to the environment, Government regulations, laws, statutes, judicial pronouncements and/ or other incidental factors.