Pradip Chopra is chairman and managing director of the Kolkata-based PS Group of companies (founded in 1980 by him and Surendra Dugar), and chairman of the Institute of Leadership Entrepreneurship & Development (iLEAD). PS Group is a major player in eastern India’s real estate sector having completed more than 120 projects in the past quarter-century. iLEAD, promoted in 2010 as a CSR (corporate social responsibility) initiative of PS, offers undergrad and postgraduate study programmes in business management with specialisation in real estate and media science. According to Chopra, iLEAD, which was established two years ago with a capital outlay of Rs.45 crore and has an aggregate enrolment of 200 students and 35 faculty, offers the first well-structured real estate management study programme in India.

Newspeg. The students and faculty of iLEAD are currently producing a documentary on the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, in which the Indian Army won a decisive victory against Pakistan, liberating and facilitating the birth of the new nation-state of Bangladesh. Moreover, the institute is set to celebrate Bangladesh’s liberation between December 16-28 with a series of colourful events.

Genesis. A chemistry graduate of St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata, Chopra, who has also done part-time courses in leadership and general management, began his career assembling television sets and manufacturing plastic goods. In the millennium year, he was awarded the prestigious Plasticon 2000 award of Plast Indian Foundation for developing Eco-wud, an eco-friendly wood substitute manufactured from solid waste.

Dissatisfied that few colleges, universities and B-schools offered well-structured real estate development and management programmes, Chopra pioneered iLEAD in Kolkata which offers a two-year MBA programme with a specialisation in real estate (annual tuition fee: Rs.60,000).

Direct talk. “The market capitalisation of real estate projects is likely to be around Rs.10,000,000 crore by 2030 with the sector growing at 15 percent per year — double the growth rate of the Indian economy. However, the availability of managers with knowledge of the real estate business has not kept pace, with the result that there’s an acute shortage of trained manpower. I believe iLEAD will show the way to bridge this demand-supply gap,” says Chopra.

Future plans. Currently, the iLEAD faculty is busy setting up a business incubation institute that will fund promising projects of students even while they study. “Within the next five years, iLEAD will mature into eastern India’s most preferred B-school for real estate and media management,” promises Chopra.

God speed!

Baishali Mukherjee (Kolkata)