NUS team wins at the Tata Crucible Campus Quiz

Third edition of the annual campus quiz sees new winners walk away with cash prizes and internship opportunities
23rd October 2009, Singapore - The Tata Crucible Campus Quiz 2009 came to a grand close last Friday, with Bai Zhiyong and Tay Shi Jia of the National University of Singapore (NUS) winning the $7,000 cash prize and a coveted internship position with a Tata company in India. The second position went to Singapore Management University (SMU) team of Hie Guang Long and Navin Nair who took home a cash prize of S$ 3,000. The team of Sohail Sardana and Nabil Rasheed also of SMU stood third and won a cash prize of S$ 2,000.

The top two teams from the quiz will participate in the grand international finals to be held in India early next year.

Tata Crucible Campus Quiz, now in its third year in Singapore, is the first business quiz of its kind here. The quiz, which was held at the Rock Auditorium in Suntec City, is an initiative by the India-based Tata group of companies. Senior Minister of State for Trade, Industry and Education Mr. S. Iswaran graced the event as the Guest of Honour. Hosting the quiz was Giri Balasubramanium, the witty quiz master who also conducts the Indian and UK editions of the quiz.

Brought into Singapore in 2007 (which was also the international debut of the quiz), the Tata Crucible Campus Quiz has proven to be popular with students. This year, a total of 137 teams (of 2 students each) from higher education institutions were tested on business subjects ranging from business houses and history, to people and products. Some interesting questions included in the quiz were: Who is a transumer? (People who shop while they travel); What is White Star Line Company famous for? (The Titanic); Which company started as “Galvin Manufacturing Corporation?” (Motorola); Which ice cream chain has a "free cone day" every year? (Ben & Jerry’s)

Mr. Girija Pande, Executive Vice President and Head of Asia-Pacific, Tata Consultancy Services, said, “Through Tata Crucible Campus Quiz we have been able to strengthen our direct connect with the student community in Singapore. Along with the International Internship Programme and Tata Crucible, we continue to reach out to these young sharp thinkers and are delighted with the strong, enthusiastic response received over the years.”

TATA PRESENCE IN SINGAPORE
Singapore is an extremely important market and hub for the Tata group. The group has significant business interests in Singapore, including NatSteel Holdings, Tata Communications, TATA Technologies, Tata Power, TATA Chemicals, Voltas, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata NYK Shipping, York Transport Equipment, Tata Precision, Corus and Tata Capital. Tata companies employ more than 2000 people in Singapore.
The Tata Crucible Campus Quiz offers a unique opportunity to Singapore's student community to involve themselves with the subject of international business, in an engaging and intellectually stimulating contest. It is of mutual interest coming from the Tata group of companies, which has its own structured engagement activities for global talent development including the International Internship Program (IIP) with key Singapore universities.

ABOUT TATA
Tata companies operate in seven business sectors: communications and information technology, engineering, materials, services, energy, consumer products and chemicals. They are, by and large, based in India and have significant international operations. The total revenue of Tata companies, taken together, was $70.8 billion in 2008-09, with 64.7 per cent of this coming from business outside India, and they employ around 357,000 people worldwide. The Tata name has been respected in India for 140 years for its adherence to strong values and business ethics.

Every Tata company or enterprise operates independently. Each of these companies has its own board of directors and shareholders, to whom it is answerable. There are 27 publicly listed Tata enterprises and they have a combined market capitalisation of some $60 billion, and a shareholder base of 3.5 million. The major Tata companies are Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Tata Power, Tata Chemicals, Tata Tea, Indian Hotels and Tata Communications.

Tata Steel became the sixth largest steel maker in the world after it acquired Corus. Tata Motors is among the top five commercial vehicle manufacturers in the world and has recently acquired Jaguar and Land Rover. TCS is a leading global software company, with delivery centres in the US, UK, Hungary, Brazil, Uruguay and China, besides India. Tata Tea is the second largest branded tea company in the world, through its UK-based subsidiary Tetley. Tata Chemicals is the world’s second largest manufacturer of soda ash and Tata Communications is one of the world’s largest wholesale voice carriers.

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