IIM-A seeks donation from board for Louis Kahn Plaza facelift

Premier management institute, the Indian Institute of Management – Ahmedabad (IIM-A), today asked its board members to come forward and donate for the renovation and conservation of the building at its campus here.

The move came after the Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) expanded the coverage of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) spend by including funding for renovation of IIM-A buildings.

In its board meeting held here on Friday, the management asked its board members, which also includes corporate biggies, to consider contributing towards the renovation and conservation of the campus under the new CSR directive by the Government.

“Recently, the MCA has come out with some guidelines stating that donations to IIM-A for restoration of campus will fall under the CSR initiatives. The board members were told that their companies could contribute for the restoration under CSR. The institute will also approach other corporates,” said a person privy to the discussions at the board meeting.

Established in 1961, IIM-A’s iconic Louis Kahn Plaza (LKP), which also houses the main building of the institute, requires extensive repair and conservation work, estimated at Rs 15 crore annually for the next three-five years.

The IIM-A board has representatives of leading corporate groups as directors. The Chairman and Managing Director of L&T, A M Naik, is Chairman of the board. Others include denim major Arvind Ltd’s Sanjay Lalbhai, pharma major Zydus Group’s CMD, Pankaj Patel, and Chintan Parikh of Ashima Ltd, among others.

When approached to comment on the board meeting, Naik declined to elaborate saying it was a routine meeting.

In its circular dated June 18, the MCA had made additional provisions to be included in Schedule VII of the Companies Act, 2013. “Donations to IIM-A for conservation of buildings and renovation of classrooms would qualify as ‘promoting education’…” Also, it would qualify as ‘protection of national heritage, art and culture, including restoration of buildings and sites of historical importance’ and hence eligible for compliance of companies with CSR.”

Designed by the celebrated American architect, Louis Kahn, the complex is a piece of modern architecture having an exposed red-brick structure. But the structure has aged faster than was anticipated as it withstood the earthquake of 2001. The structure started developing cracks over the past two decades and had to be put on external support.

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