IIM Ahmedabad becomes first B-School to launch endowment fund, aims to collect Rs 1K crore in five years

NE EDUCATION BUREAU
AHMEDABAD, JUNE 23
The country’s premier B-School, Indian Institute of Management (IIMA) Ahmedabad, became the first management school in India to launch a Rs 100 crore endowment fund on Tuesday.
With an initial commitment of Rs. 100 crore from 10 founding alumni, including Info Edge founder Sanjeev Bikhchandani and Makemytrip founder Deep Kalra, the fund was launched by Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairperson, IIMA Board of Governors. The endowment aims to raise Rs. 1,000 crore over a period of five years, an IIMA release said.

Speaking on the occasion, Kumar Mangalam Birla said, “Endowment funds help ensure the financial health of any institute, thereby encouraging growth and self-sufficiency. We truly appreciate the Founder alumni for their generous contributions to kick-start the IIM Ahmedabad Endowment Fund. These funds will play a significant role in realizing the long-term goals of the Institute and retain its autonomy.”
Since its inception in 1961, IIM-A has produced over 33,000 alumni working across India Inc, contributing significantly across corporates, fields of entrepreneurship, academia, public policy and service.
With one in seven CEOs with a management degree from IIM-A, the Institute has the highest number of alumni in CEO/CXO-level roles in India”s top 500 companies, the statement said.
Commenting on this initiative, Prof Errol D’Souza, Director, IIMA said, “Alumni are a source of pride and strength for the Institute. While they have contributed in many ways to support the Institute’s priorities; the endowment corpus will be very impactful as we expect it to emerge as an important source to support key strategic initiatives and innovative projects. Such critical funding support has been missing for most Indian educational institutions and we are happy to create a benchmark.”
The fund was launched via a webinar attended by the teachers and alumni of the institution.
Under the guidance of the IIMA Board of Governors, the endowment fund will be managed by an independent Endowment Committee consisting of initial alumni contributors and the Director and Dean (Alumni and External Relations – AER) of IIMA, in their ex officio capacity.
“The initial major contributors who are founders of this Endowment and have committed to contribute more than Rs 10 crores each have come from across the batches of IIM starting from Sandeep Singhal & Kavita Iyer, Co-Founder of WestBridge Capital and formerly co-founder of Sequoia Capital India; and trustees Of SIFF respectively (1999); Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Founder & Executive Vice Chairman, InfoEdge (1989); Deep Kalra, Founder & Group CEO, Makemytrip (1992); Ramesh Mangaleswaran & Meenakshi Ramesh, Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company; and Co-Founder of Citizen Matters respectively (1993); Kuldeep Jain, Founder, Cleanmax Enviro Energy Solutions (1999); VT Bharadwaj, Cofounder, A91 Partners (2001); Peeyush Misra, Partner, Growth Source Financial Technologies (1999) and GV Ravishankar, Managing Director, Sequoia Capital India (2004). Other significant contributors who have committed to more than Rs 5 crores are Arun Duggal, Chairman, ICRA (1974), and SK Jain, Co-Founder of WestBridge Capital and formerly Sequoia Capital India (2000),” the statement added.
Prof. Rakesh Basant, Dean – Alumni & External Relations, IIMA said that “The transparent structure of the fund will help IIMA engage more actively with its alumni and they will be able to meaningfully participate in shaping the future of their alma mater. This will also help the Institute deliver greater value through contemporary, high-quality teaching and research.”
“Endowments form the backbone of all great Universities around the world. An endowment is a glue that binds the University with its alumni. Greater the University, larger is the Endowment. With this initiative, the management and the alumni have sowed a seed for what will one day be a large endowment proportionate to the stature of IIM Ahmedabad,” said Sandeep Singhal and Sanjeev Bikhchandani.