BIMTECH Completes 38 Years as Blockchain Innovation, Global Accreditation, and UN Recognition Strengthen Its Position Among India’s Top B-Schools

Birla Institute of Management Technology (BIMTECH) marked its 38th Foundation Day with a grand celebration that reflected the spirit of dedication and excellence. The event was graced by distinguished guest, Shri P. Balaji, Group Head- Governance, Risk, Compliance, and Corporate Affairs, Air India Ltd.

In recognition of outstanding contributions, the Best Researcher Award 2024 was conferred upon Dr. Archana Shrivastava, and Best Researcher (Runner-up) Award 2024 was conferred upon Dr. Neha Sharma. Long-serving faculty and staff members who have completed a decade at the institute were also felicitated.

In her Foundation Day address, Dr. Prabina Rajib, Director, BIMTECH, shared, “Since our founding in 1988, BIMTECH has always aspired not merely to teach management, but to shape leaders who act with integrity, think globally, and bring positive change to society. Days like this remind us that great institutions are not built in a day. Over the years, we’ve built innovative programs, and built bridges between academia and industry. As we celebrate our journey, we recommit to society, environment and the future. As we celebrate this day, remember the legacy, you inherit, of courage, conviction and contributions.”

Shri P. Balaji, Group Head- Governance, Risk, Compliance, and Corporate Affairs, Air India Ltd., motivated students and said, “Know yourself first and don't measure yourself against somebody else's timeline. Because fulfillment comes from internal alignment. It's okay to take a few years to finally figure out your passion. What you know today will definitely become obsolete tomorrow. So, stay curious and learn new skills. Read widely, take online courses and invest in networking. In short, delve deeper and gain diverse experiences, because each new experience adds a layer to your professional career. And organizations truly value those who bring diverse perspectives.”

Reflecting the institute’s long-standing commitment to social responsibility and compassion, the institute invited students from various schools and orphanages. Faculty, staff, and students collectively contributed to organize a special lunch and distribute thoughtful gifts to the visiting children.

The ceremony also witnessed the release of the Annual Activity Report 2024–25 along with Rural Immersion Programme Report 2025, showcasing the institute’s achievements in research, student engagement, international collaborations, and community initiatives.

Adding to the week of celebrations, the institute also celebrated the Silver Jubilee of its PGDM–Insurance Business Management (IBM) Program. The event welcomed the Chief Guest Mr. Sanjay Joshi, Chairman-cum-Managing Director, The Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd., to celebrate 25 years of academic excellence and contributions to the insurance sector. A key highlight of this occasion was the engaging ‘Kal, Aaj Aur Kal’ session, led by eminent alumni Mr. Pankaj Tomar, Head- India & South East Asia - AXA Climate, Ms. Surbhi Goel, CEO, Munich Re India and Mr. Sudip Indani, Managing Director, Head People Solutions, India.

Over the year, BIMTECH has continuously set benchmarks with the launch of Bloomberg lab, BIMCOIN, a blockchain-based campus currency, and a strategic partnership with UNIQLO for retail talent development. Students from institute had won the PRME Global Students Sustainability Award 2025 at the United Nations, while the Google AI Startup Day fostered innovation among 150+ startups. Recently, BIMTECH’s Centre of Education for All (BCall) organised a Train the Trainer workshop for inclusive higher education. With AACSB accreditation, the B-school reinforces its position as a globally recognized business school, committed to preparing students for a rapidly evolving world.

Inspired by its founders, Late Basant Kumar Birla and Sarala Birla, BIMTECH has pioneered innovative programs like PGDM, PGDM-International Business (IB), PGDM-Retail Management (RM), and PGDM-Insurance Business Management (IBM), nurturing individuals into global leaders. BIMTECH is amongst the Ivy League of Top Globally Recognized B-Schools that excels in management education, supported by its globally placed robust alumni network of over 8000 individuals.

NITIE and NSE Join Hands for Academic/Research Collab in Economics & Finance Including FinTech

The National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE), India’s leading stock exchange, and the National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE) Mumbai, one of the leading business schools in the country offering education, training and industrial consultancy in the field of Engineering Management signed an MoU for academic and research collaboration in the field of Finance and Economics.

NITIE was formerly known as National Institute for Training in Industrial Engineering, and is a graduate business school under Ministry of HRD, Government of India. It has been ranked 7th in the NIRF Ranking 2023 management category.

The NITIE & NSE MoU covers a wide range of activities including capacity building through design and development of courses in Finance & Economics, undertaking research in cutting edge areas including Fintech and organizing seminars, conferences, and symposia among others, with the underlying objective of creating an industry-ready talent pool by utilizing mutual capabilities.

NSE and NITIE will also collectively work towards contributing to the literature on financial market research in the country and promoting general financial market awareness and policy advocacy. The MOU was signed by Prof. Vivekanand Khanapuri, Dean (Sponsored Research & Industrial Consultancy), NITIE and Dr. Tirthankar Patnaik, Chief Economist, NSE on Thursday, June 22nd, 2023 at NSE’s headquarters in the presence of Shri. Ashishkumar Chauhan, MD & CEO of NSE and senior faculty members from NITIE.

On this occasion, Shri Ashishkumar Chauhan said: “Financial market education is pivotal for attaining greater financial inclusion in our country. The youth of today are the growth engines of our country and therefore require access to the best pedagogy that is designed to meet the current demands of the economy and provide the competency required to fulfill their career aspirations and achieve financial freedom. NSE is happy to collaborate with NITIE to work towards enhancing financial education in India that will the economy, markets and investors.”

Prof. Manoj Kumar Tiwari, Director, NITIE said “This is a momentous occasion for us as it will open newer learning opportunities for our students in the field of finance. The NSE would benefit from the in-depth knowledge and analytical abilities of the NITIE faculty and students. Moreover, the synergistic effects of this collaboration will help in building the right kind of talent pool that India’s ever-expanding financial sector requires. I am confident that the outcome of this association will be positive and mutually beneficial”.

Mesa School of Business Launches India's 1st Startup-focused B-School, Raises INR 34 Cr from Elevation Capital, Other Prominent Angels

• Mesa School of business is India’s first B-school programme aimed at transforming young professionals by preparing them for the challenges of leadership roles in Indian startups
• With access to founders, and seasoned startup practitioners as mentors, the students will be encouraged to learn about running and scaling startups by building their own startup businesses as part of coursework
• The school has designed a unique learning system with a heavy focus on learning-by-doing, industry exposure and 1:1 industry mentorship
• Applications for the first inaugural cohort are live now. 

With an aim to build India’s first business school focused on creating Startup Leaders, Mesa School of Business has raised INR 34 Crores from Elevation Capital and notable angel investors such as Kunal Shah (Cred), Vidit Aatrey (Meesho), Abhiraj Bahl, and others who continue to join each week.

With the help of these funds, Ankit Agarwal and Varun Limaye (alumni of Harvard, Kellogg, Urban Company and Amazon) aim to build a cutting-edge, hands-on, and application-based curriculum, designed and delivered in partnership with startup leaders and potential future employers for a founding cohort of just 60 hand-picked students.

Founders Varun Limaye (Kellogg, ex Amazon) and Ankit Agarwal (Harvard, ex-Urban Company) aim to create India's first B school focused on creating Startup Leaders of tomorrow

This comes in contrast to traditional MBAs that focus on teaching theoretical topics and focus on equipping their students for careers in Consulting and other similar traditional roles and industries. The founders are leveraging their deep industry networks to design a unique learning system with a heavy focus on learning-by-doing, industry exposure and 1:1 industry mentorship. This will be a 12 months, full time PG program in Startup Leadership, based out of Bangalore. At the end of the program, students will get access to opportunities for leadership roles at top startups and technology companies in the country.

Following up on the fund announcement, In a joint statement, the founding team of Mesa School of Business said, “We believe startups will be responsible for creating the bulk of the new aspirational jobs in India, and yet there isn’t a b-school focused on preparing candidates to be successful in these leadership roles. This gap inspired us to start Mesa School. We have kept ‘learning by doing’ as the core principle of the program where every candidate will get to learn business directly from startup CXOs and practitioners, build startup businesses from scratch as part of coursework and deeply immerse themselves into Bangalore’s startup ecosystem. We have kept our inaugural cohort small at only 60 exceptional students to keep the experience personal, deliver an unparalleled learning experience and ensure strong outcomes for our students.”

The program will also focus on individual leadership growth for students with 200+ hours of leadership workshops with army veterans, communication & stage presence hackathons with coaches & theatre artists and 1:1 industry mentorship. For example, Lt General V K Mishra (AVSM, PVSM, Commandant Indian Military Academy), has been invited to share “Leadership Lessons from the Field” with the founding cohort of students.

The campus is strategically located in Bangalore with 500+ startup offices within a 5 km radius, providing unprecedented access for students to the startup ecosystem and its prominent leaders. Additionally, the campus will offer a state-of-the-art, immersive learning and living space for students to build lifelong peer and industry connections through 20+ boot camps & hackathons to learn, get feedback from and network with top startup CEOs in new-age industries and skill areas like EV, B2B SAAS, Open-AI applications, Design Thinking & UI/UX for leaders, Product & Growth Hacking, Agritech, Building for Bharat, etc.

Commenting on the announcement, Mukul Arora, Managing Partner, Elevation Capital, said, “We believe there is a clear opportunity to build new age, outcome-focused higher-ed institutes in India. Therefore we could immediately relate to Ankit and Varun's vision of building a business school of the future, focussed on entrepreneurship and the start-up ecosystem. Their long term orientation, and their focus on creating very high quality experience and outcome for students really stood out for us. We are thrilled to partner with them on this journey to create an iconic Indian higher-ed institution."

Seasoned startup founders, practitioners and senior leaders have been involved in designing the curriculum and program, out of which many have agreed to come onboard as faculty and mentors. Some key names include Aditya Shrivastava (SVP, Urban Company - “Operating at scale in India”), Himesh Joshi (Founder - Ayu Health, GoZefo, “Build for Healthcare in Middle India”), Mukul Arora (Managing Partner, Elevation Capital - “How to evaluate startup opportunities”), Saurabh Jain (Founder StableMoney, ex-Navi - “Build Fintech business in India”), Suhail Vadgaokar (Head of People, Deserve - “How to build culture & teams in a high growth startup”), Madhura Kale (Principal Product Manager - Amazon - “Product Management in Big Tech”), Rahool Gadkari (Co-Founder - Neufin, Kellogg - “Business of Climate Tech in India”), Neha Bareja (Brand Meesho, “New age marketing for Indian consumers”), among many others.

The Mesa School of Business program promises to give better return on investment (ROI) for working professionals over traditional 2-year MBAs. The founding cohort for the one-year PG program in Startup Leadership is set to commence in September this year. The course fee is INR 14.95 lac for a full year, and residential facilities are available upon request. There will be significant scholarship support offered to the founding cohort to remove all financial hindrances and build a truly diverse group of exceptional student peers, like women leaders, entrepreneurs and ex-armed forces/athletes/creative artists, and more.

To ensure that the student peer group is of exceptional quality, the founding cohort is being kept very exclusive and limited to only 60 students. First application deadline is on 28-May 2023. More than 300+ applications have already been submitted with founders expecting final numbers to be more than 1000. Final selection will be very exclusive and kept at less than 5% of all applicants.

For more information on Mesa School of Business, the PGP in Startup Leadership, and the application process, visit their website: https://mesaschool.co/