Mandarin is the new flavour at IIMs

Mandarin, the language of money and opportunity, which two years ago had found fervor with several small Indian traders who regularly visited China to procure cheap raw material and goods, is now a favourite in India’s management schools.

Although several Indian business schools have been offering students the option of learning Mandarin in the last couple of years, it is only now that the elective is being actively pursued by several students as month-on-month trade traffic between India and China has been growing steadily and appreciably. Moreover, knowing the language will definitely add brownie points to their CVs at the time of placements, especially for consultants who have to work out of their home turf.

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According to a report in the Economic Times , around 44 students from the 2013 batch of IIM-Ahmedabad opted for Mandarin, out of a class of 381, while in the last three years, IIM Calcutta has seen its peak batch sizes doubling from 40-45 three years ago to 80-85 in January 2013 for foreign languages.

Even though India has long benefited from the fact that English is the main language of global business, it cannot underestimate China’s growing economic power, especially since China has now become India’s biggest trading power.

Other business schools and institutions offering a course in Mandarin include IIM Kozhikode, Mumbai’s Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies and Centum Learning Ltd, an associate of Bharti Airtel Ltd that offers postgraduate programmes in management.