Wharton School’s Business Journal, Knowledge@Wharton, Announces Launch of India Version
Gala Launch Event Also Features Announcement of India Wharton Business Plan Competition Grand Prize Winners

MUMBAI, INDIA & PHILADELPHIA, PA., Nov. 1, 2006 –- Knowledge@Wharton, the online research and business analysis journal of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, today launched a new version of its website called India Knowledge@Wharton at a ceremony in Mumbai. The new site, which is free and published in English, will include articles that focus on India’s growing importance to the global economy.

“Knowledge@Wharton is widely acknowledged as without peer in its ability to provide free, timely, in-depth, and targeted business content, enabling the Wharton School to reach a worldwide audience,” Wharton School Dean Patrick Harker told an audience of business executives, students and alumni during the launch event. “And by expanding Knowledge@Wharton with our India edition, we hope to continue our unparalleled outreach and contribute to the growth of this vital economy.”

Dean Harker also announced that simultaneous to the launch of India Knowledge@Wharton, the School is launching its first-ever mobile platform to meet the needs of mobile phone users, including those in India where usage outpaces PC Internet usage nearly two to one. India has 100 million mobile phone users and the numbers are growing at 5 million per month. The new India Knowledge@Wharton Mobile permits alerts, search, sign-ups, and browsing, and eventually will include the ability to download and listen to podcasts.

At the ceremony, HCL Technologies was announced as a charter sponsor of India Knowledge@Wharton. Saurav Adhikari, HCL’s corporate vice president, strategy, said, “Knowledge@Wharton is the leading online knowledge journal, and provides access to thought leaders on issues that challenge and impact global business. HCL is a leading $ 3.7 billion global technology enterprise, India’s original technology garage start up, which was born out of an entrepreneurial vision three decades ago. HCL is delighted to partner with Knowledge@Wharton for the launch of its India portal, and to utilize Knowledge@Wharton’s reach to engage effectively with a global audience.”

Since its inception in 1999, Knowledge@Wharton has tracked the rise of India as a global economic force through dozens of articles, case studies, special sections and exclusive interviews with business leaders. India Knowledge@Wharton, published by a staff based in Mumbai, will provide timely articles, podcasts and research papers related to India and uniquely created for the new version. It will draw upon the expertise of Wharton’s 11 academic departments, more than 19 research centers/initiatives, and the broader faculty at the University of Pennsylvania in exploring topics such as business process outsourcing, private equity, family business and the impact of economic growth on India’s 1.1 billion people.

Articles from the launch edition of India Knowledge@Wharton include an analysis of joint research between Wharton Finance Professor Franklin Allen and Indian School of Business faculty; exclusive interviews with Indian Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and Ronojoy Dutta, former CEO of Air Sahara and United Airlines; and a story entitled, “Pedal to the Metal: Challenges of Tata’s Corus Takeover.”

As a new member of the Knowledge@Wharton Network, the Indian version joins China Knowledge@Wharton (Chinese), Universia Knowledge@Wharton (Spanish and Portuguese) and the original English language Knowledge@Wharton. In addition, the Network includes academic partner sites at Emory and Arizona State Universities. As of this month, the Network has approximately 740,000 subscribers in 189 countries and more than three million total page views each month.

At the India Knowledge@Wharton launch event, an awards ceremony bestowed prizes to winners of the first-ever India version of the Wharton Business Plan Competition. The grand prize winning team was announced as ERP Construction, which proposes to offer enterprise software for the construction industry. ERP won a portion of the prize money worth 180,000 rupees (about US$4,000) as well as valuable feedback from a panel of judges that included accomplished entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. The other finalists recognized at the award ceremony included second prize winner TRI-The Robotics Institute, third prize winner DuraFibre as well as runners-up Nav-Nari and BioDiesel. Leading up to their presentations today, Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs, helped each team hone their entries by providing mentoring from seasoned entrepreneurs and business managers.

About Knowledge @ Wharton and the Wharton School
Knowledge@Wharton is a free biweekly online resource that captures knowledge generated at Wharton through such channels as research papers, conferences, books, and interviews with faculty on current business topics, and distributes that knowledge online to a global business audience. The Knowledge@ Wharton network includes more than 700,000 subscribers and contains more than 2,000 articles and research papers in its database, with more added every week.

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania -- founded in 1881 as the first collegiate business school -- is recognized globally for intellectual leadership and ongoing innovation across every major discipline of business education. The most comprehensive source of business knowledge in the world, Wharton bridges research and practice through its broad engagement with the global business community. The school has more than 4,600 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral students; more than 8,000 annual participants in executive education programs; and an alumni network of more than 81,000 graduates.

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