IIM Amritsar Held Its First Annual Convocation

Amritsar: Indian Institute of Management Amritsar (IIM Amritsar) held its first annual convocation, today. The inaugural batch of 44 students’ of the premier institute received their post graduate diplomas for the flagship Post Graduate Programme (PGP) during the convocation ceremony at Punjab Institute of Technology, at the Government Polytechnic compound, where IIM Amritsar is currently operating.

IIM Amritsar is the 15th IIM set up by MHRD in 2015 under the mentorship of IIM Kozhikode.

Prof. Bibek Debroy, Member, NITI Aayog, the chief guest, delivered the convocation address in the presence of the faculty members of IIM Amritsar and the Board of Governors and members of the IIM Amritsar Society.

Prof. Bibek Debroy, in his convocation address, while heartily congratulating the graduating class of 2017, for being the first batch of the IIM Amritsar, which has already made its mark as one of the emerging outstanding management institutes in the country. He emphasized the importance of entrepreneurship for the youth of India, consistent with the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s development plan for India such as Start-up India, Make in India etc.

Prof. Kulbhushan Balooni, Director-in-Charge, IIMK and Mentor Director, IIM Amritsar while addressing the graduating class, presented the report of the immense progress the Instittue has made during the last two years – the invaluable faculty inputs received from some of the prestigious institutes in the country, the success of the summer internship programme, the multitude of extra-curricular activites and achivements of the students, the commendable final placements etc. Highlighting the salient featurses of IIM Amrtsar’s PGP Programme he said “IIM Amritsar is going to be a prominent feature in the landscape of Amritsar City – Guru dee Nagari – in the near future. We foresee great growth of IIM Amritsar in due course to surpass the achievements of all older IIMs”. He then called up on the students to judiciously exercise the learnings they have had from the Institute, to make the right choice in life without ever compromising the human values.

Shri. Kewal Kumar Sharma IAS, Chairman BoG IIM Amritsar and Secretary, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resources Development, Government of India in his message, emphasized that the vision of the Department, the Ministry and the Government is to realize India’s human resources potential to its fullest and with equity in excellence. To this end, the mission is to expand access to higher education by establishing new high quality educational institutions and to provide greater opportunities to all who are eligible. He also expressed pleasure in presenting 44 graduating students who are well trained and are ready to take their place in the corporate world and to render service in the global business ecosystem, towards making a greater and better India.

In its first two years of existence, IIM Amritsar has been able to foster a robust industry-academia relationship and has conducted three Management conclaves – “Asquare”, “Yukti” and “Sankshetra”. Industry leaders from the top echelons of the business world like Godrej, Polaris, Deutsche Bank, Holiday IQ, KPMG, Leo Burnett, Accenture, Philips etc. attended these management conclaves.

IIM Amritsar Gold medals for scholastic performance were awarded to Ms. Himshikha of the PGP batch. The Gold Medal for all round performance was awarded to Mr. Darshan Sharma.

The first batch has laid a strong foundation for the upcoming batches to build on the legacy of the institute and the brand IIM. In the years to come, these students would be looked up to as an epitome of leadership. This also reflects in the stellar summer and final placements bagged by the students.

In last two years, IIM Kozhikode, the mentor IIM offered an unwavering and strong support in terms of faculty and able mentorship to IIM Amritsar.

It is commendable of IIM Amritsar, one of the junior most IIM, in its second year of inception, has been able to increase its intake by a whopping 133% to 104 from 45 in the first year. This makes it the only IIM among the new IIMs to increase its batch strength to more than 100.

Present for the convocation were IIM Amritsar fraternity, invited guests, parents, relatives, family and friends of students.