Dr. Suresh Ramanathan

A Shared Ambition.

An institution’s legacy matters most when it gives us the confidence to attempt something more ambitious. At IMI, our legacy is solid: a pioneering corporate-sponsored heritage, a close connection with business, accomplished faculty, and generations of alumni whose achievements demonstrate the possibilities of an IMI education. 

I believe the next phase of IMI’s growth will depend on how effectively we connect the strengths we already possess and how willing we are to develop new ones. The opportunity before us is to turn this foundation into a more durable edifice for the future: graduates who create a lasting impact in their workplace and on society, research that influences understanding and practice, and partnerships that give IMI a significant domestic and international presence.

We have much to build upon. Our heritage and international roots have shaped an institution closely connected to management practice. Our association with the RPSG Group gives us access to the perspectives and challenges of business. Across Delhi, Kolkata, and Bhubaneswar, our faculty bring scholarly expertise and professional experience, while our alumni connect us with organisations and communities around the world.

AMBA accreditation across our three campuses, alongside IMI Delhi’s AACSB accreditation and recognition in the Financial Times rankings, provides external recognition of our progress. I value these achievements as milestones that give us confidence and a responsibility to keep raising our standards.

The context in which we work is changing rapidly. Technology is transforming professional roles and making knowledge more accessible. India’s growth is creating new opportunities for enterprise and leadership. The value of management education will increasingly depend on how well it develops judgment, adaptability, and the ability to turn understanding into action.

Our strategy concentrates on three connected priorities.

Education that creates lasting career opportunity

Our flagship PGDM programmes remain central to IMI. Students and their families make a substantial investment in us, and we must honour that trust through the quality of their experience and the capabilities they develop.

I want our graduates to demonstrate independent thinking, analytical rigour, technological fluency, and the ability to work with and lead others. Recruiters should recognise their preparation in the way they approach unfamiliar problems, take ownership, and contribute to a team. Their education should support them as they move into positions of greater responsibility.

We will also extend our engagement across a longer professional journey. Executive education, programmes for working professionals, corporate learning partnerships, and flexible learning formats offer significant opportunities to help individuals and organisations renew their capabilities. Growth in these areas will broaden our contribution and strengthen our capacity to invest in academic quality.

Research that advances understanding and practice

As an academic, I care deeply about whether we are asking worthwhile questions and pursuing them with sufficient rigour. I want IMI to be an environment in which faculty and doctoral scholars can develop ambitious ideas, undertake sustained inquiry, and contribute original insights.

India’s changing markets, enterprises, and communities present questions of global significance. Our industry relationships can help us engage closely with these questions and understand the realities behind them. We must support this work through investment in faculty capability, rigorous doctoral training, research resources, and collaboration with influential scholarly networks.

Our aim is to produce knowledge that others build upon—in their research, their teaching, and their decisions.

Partnerships that establish a significant international footprint

We will pursue deeper relationships with institutions that share our academic aspirations and bring complementary strengths. Joint research, sustained faculty engagement, collaborative teaching, and meaningful student mobility should make these partnerships part of IMI’s everyday intellectual life.

I want students and faculty across all three campuses to participate more fully in a global academic community. Equally, IMI should contribute distinctive Indian perspectives to international conversations about management, business, and society.

Our alumni and corporate partners are essential to this ambition. Their experience and relationships can help us identify important questions, create learning opportunities, mentor emerging talent, and connect IMI with new possibilities.

Impact as the test of our strategy

These priorities must produce outcomes that others value. Academically, our work should advance understanding and develop the next generation of researchers and educators. In industry, it should inform decisions, improve practice, and strengthen organisational capability. In society, it should encourage responsible enterprise, widen opportunity, and contribute to sustainability and inclusion.

These forms of impact reinforce one another. A research insight can change business practice. An organisational innovation can improve livelihoods. A graduate’s decisions can affect employees, customers, and communities. Our responsibility is to help people recognise that reach and use it thoughtfully.

One IMI: excellence and agility in execution

One IMI is how we bring this strategy to life. Each campus contributes distinctive strengths to a shared purpose. Progress in one part of the institution should create possibilities across all three campuses. Connecting expertise, relationships, and resources more effectively will allow us to undertake work of greater scale and significance.

Excellence and agility must shape how we execute. Excellence requires demanding standards, attention to detail, and reliability in our commitments. Agility requires us to recognise emerging needs, test ideas, learn from evidence, and act decisively. We must give promising initiatives room to develop and be willing to change approaches that are falling short.

As CEO, I will judge our progress by the capabilities our graduates demonstrate, the influence of our scholarship, and the substance of our partnerships. My responsibility is to establish clear priorities, invest in people, and ensure that we follow through.

I invite our students, parents, recruiters, alumni, and partners to help shape this next chapter. We have strong foundations and considerable potential. Our task is to convert that potential into achievements that give every member of the IMI community greater confidence in its future.