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The Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), on Tuesday announced the launch of the ‘IIM Ahmedabad Endowment Fund’, with an initial commitment of ₹100 crore from 10 founding alumni. The endowment aims to raise ₹1,000 crore over a period of five years.
This makes IIM-A India’s first management school to come up with a first-of-its-kind fund.
Speaking on the occasion, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairperson, IIM-A Board of Governors, said, “Endowment funds help ensure 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 realising 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, an official statement from the Institute said.
Critical funding support
Errol D’Souza, Director, IIM-A, said, “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 a critical funding support has been missing for most Indian educational institutions and we are happy to create a benchmark.”
Under the guidance of the IIM-A 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 IIM-A, in their ex-officio capacity.
Major contributors
The initial major contributors, who are founders of this Endowment and have committed to contribute more than ₹10 crore each, have come from across the batches of IIM.
The names include 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 and Meenakshi Ramesh, Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company; and Co-Founder of Citizen Matters respectively (1993); Kuldeep Jain, Founder, Cleanmax Enviro Energy Solutions (1999); VT Bharadwaj, Co-founder, 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 ₹5 crore are Arun Duggal, Chairman, ICRA (1974), and SK Jain, Co-Founder of WestBridge Capital and formerly Sequoia Capital India (2000).
Prof Rakesh Basant, Dean-Alumni & External Relations, IIM-A, said, “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.”