Their focus is on developing biodegradable protective packaging material.

18 February, 2019, Bengaluru: Jinit Dharia, Mit Parekh and Yash Parekh, MBA students of the 2018-20 batch at IIM Bangalore, have won the national finals of 'The Ultimate Pitch 4.0', a competition organized by Reliance Industries Limited as a strategic elevator pitch contest to celebrate the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurial zeal among students.

"Our idea was to develop a biodegradable protective packaging material. This will provide a substitute to styrofoam-based packaging," says Yash.

The team from IIMB has won a cash prize of INR 4.5 lakh, including INR 50,000 for winning the campus round, mentorship under the Reliance Jio GenNext Hub, interaction with the Reliance chairman’s office, pre-placement interview and a trip to the refinery at Jamnagar.

‘The Ultimate Pitch’ pits top teams from 55 B-Schools around the country against one another. In its fourth edition, the competition saw participation from 2,239 teams comprising 6,117 students. The competition was organized in two stages – the regional rounds and the national finals. The regional round comprised a video submission, a presentation and a Q&A round, each lasting three minutes.

The top 23 teams were selected for the national finals held at Mumbai on February 14 and 15, 2019. The finals consisted of a three-minute video presentation and a four-minute Q&A round. The primary judging criteria were viability, feasibility, & desirability. Sustainability also formed an important part of the judges focus.