Dear Alumni,

Greetings!

While the mobility of IIT graduates to foreign shores started much earlier, significant number of graduates from IIMs have also made this journey, especially since the mid-1980s. IIMA has a very large alumni base in different parts of the world and many of its foreign alumni chapters have been super active. In earlier years, our graduates were typically recruited for positions in the US and Europe by international and national organizations. While global organizations continue to recruit significantly from IIMA, most positions are located in India, in the Asia-Pacific or East Asia regions. During 2015-2019, 72 students were recruited for placements in foreign countries; 31 of these were hired for Asia-Pacific or East Asia regions. The experience of being an IIMA alum abroad has changed over time as the achievements of our alums has created a distinct brand. We carry a feature on being an alum abroad in this issue and would like to cover more stories on this theme.

IIMA Archives were launched during the international conference on Indian Business and Economic History in which many well-known academics, young faculty and PhD scholars working in the area participated. Even while we were getting ready to launch of the archives, many scholars showed tremendous interest in the materials that we have been able to put together. Interest levels have multiplied after the launch. All of you are most welcome to share documents and other material from your days in the Institute to enrich it further. This issue provides you a glimpse of the Conference and some information on the Archives.

The Campus resembles a big construction site these days with a lot of activity, especially in the new campus where a new administrative-cum-faculty block, sports complex, a high-rise dorm and JSW School of Public Policy are being built simultaneously. A faculty and staff housing complex is also being built in the old campus. Starting December, 2019, the restoration work on the faculty wings in the heritage campus would begin with faculty moving to temporary offices. We have been trying to raise resources for all this expansion and reconstruction. There has been some enthusiastic response. The Singapore alumni chapter has done a wonderful job of raising SGD one million for the reconstruction of faculty wings. We hope that this momentum would continue!

The activities of Special Interest Groups (SIGs) are slowly picking up. The healthcare SIG has been particularly active. The challenge has been to identify activities that will excite all stakeholders – alumni, faculty and students on campus. It will be very useful if you share your ideas on what can potentially be done to energize these SIGs even further.

In the editorial of the last issue, I had written about several legendry faculty members of IIMA leaving for their heavenly abode. We recently lost one more legend – Professor VL Mote. Alumni from the older batches have very fond memories his class-room antics which complemented his remarkable teaching skills and made his delivery very efficacious. The passing of these legends has created a void. Their memories will continuously remind us of the primacy and importance of teaching at IIMA.
The festive season has just got over. I trust all of you had a wonderful time. My belated greetings and best wishes for the same.

Warm regards,

Rakesh Basant

Professor of Economics

Dean, Alumni and External Relations