EVENT: IIMK CONCLAVE IN LONDON

Professor Debashis Chatterjee, Director of IIM Kozhikode, Kerala, India, shares his experience of hosting the institute’s first-ever international conclave on ‘Globalizing Indian Thought’ in London. “We aim to be remembered as a pioneering business school that takes Indian management principles to the world,” writes Prof. Chatterjee

The next few decades belong to India and its economic and human capital prowess. At the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode (IIMK), one of India’s premier business schools, we are making a significant international foray to explore why and how this global change is happening. As Director of the school, I’m proud to be coming to London for our first ever international conclave on ‘Globalizing Indian Thought’.

The aim of our conclave revolves around India’s soft power outreach, with discussions exploring ancient Indian wisdom and its relevance in today’s globalised world. We aim to highlight how India’s management principles, deeply rooted in philosophy, leadership, and governance, can offer valuable lessons for global business and policymaking.

One of the Labour party’s newest Members of Parliament, Kanishka Narayan MP, joined us, alongside Lord Meghnad Desai, Baroness Sandy Verma, Director of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies Shaunaka Rishi Das, outgoing Director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research Jagjit Chadha and others.

Shaunaka Rishi Das, Director, Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, giving the Opening Address

We hope that the conference is the start of a conversation in London. Our initiative is based on the hallmark of IIM Kozhikode’s intellectual contributions, which are grounded in a belief that Indian management philosophies – derived from the teachings of ancient texts such as the Bhagavad Gita and Arthashastra – have much to offer in terms of leadership, ethics, and innovation.

We are uniquely placed to initiate this conversation in London, home to the world’s oldest democracy.

IIMK has always set the benchmark for other management programmes in the country – in terms of gender diversity, diversity of management programmes. We hope to be able to showcase this prowess during the event, particularly as we have more than a hundred alumni living and working in London now in senior positions, despite being such a new business school.

Professor Debashis Chatterjee handing over a memento of appreciation to Shaunaka Rishi Das

As early as 2013, our flagship management program was 54 per cent female. That was a defining time for other business schools, with the trend in India for women to make up a mere eight to ten per cent, before our initiative. IIMK should not be remembered just for being a highly ranked business school, but instead as a pioneering one.

Too often, society mismeasures student aspirations: we think students are in higher education only to get a job. That will certainly be a ‘want’ in many cases, but not an aspiration. We don’t operate an employment exchange, but cater to the deeper aspects of student aspirations by providing them a portfolio of options for their future life once they leave our campus. Our Liberal Studies in Management is a way to get a chef or a national cricketer to come to join the campus. So we have stiff entry barriers but provide multiple exit options.

Panel discussion on “The Future of Higher Education and its Role in Addressing Global Challenges” with Prof. Kamran Razmdoost (Dean, ESCP Business School London), Prof. Kirstie Simpson (Dean, Chester Business School, University of Chester) and Prof. Catherine Robinson (Dean, School of Business and law, University of Brighton)

The IIM journey, as we see it, is defined by intellectual capital multiplied by social capital, which gives a graduate his or her reputation capital. Our institution is one of the most credible voices to be talking such perspectives. In the Financial Times Masters in Management ranking in 2024, we leapt nine spots to be recognised as the 68th best in the world. As one of the fastest growing IIM’s in India we’re ranked third in the National Institutional Ranking Framework,. Despite being a comparatively new institution, we are able to bring new management and innovation thinking from India to the world.

As global challenges become more complex, time-tested Indian ideas that provide unique perspectives on balancing material progress with human and ecological well-being, as well as our approach to diversity and building tomorrow’s leaders, has been on display during our Globalizing India Thought conference in London.