One of India’s leading businessman Kumar Mangalam Birla has been appointed the new Chairman of the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) by HRD Ministry.
The HRD committee also shortlisted the names of Deepak Parekh, Chairman of Housing Development Finance Corporation; R. Seshasayee of Infosys and Pawan Munjal, the CMD of Hero Motocorp.
The 49-year-old Chairman of the $41 billion industrial conglomerate Aditya Birla Group is the final choice from HRD ministry. The premier B-school in India has been without a regular Chairman since January when A.M. Naik, the CMD of Larsen & Toubro, quit citing “availability issue due to work”.
Though he has no formal authority, the Chairperson can set the agenda by guiding discussions and influencing the direction of the institute. The Chairperson also takes up the issues of the institute with the Union government.
A search committee to select the IIM-A Chairman was formed soon after Naik’s resignation. the panel included Naik as its head, with Sanjay Lalbhai of the Arvind Group, Pankaj Patel of Zydus Cadila and D. Shivakumar of Pepsico India as members.
Later, a new three-member panel headed by Pankaj Patel was constituted. The panel dropped the name of Munjal and included that of Kumar Mangalam Birla instead.
Aditya Birla Group Looking to invest Rs 20,000 cr in Madhya Pradesh
Aditya Birla Group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla today pledged an investment of Rs 20,000 crore for the state in sectors like retail, telecom and cement.
Addressing the Madhya Pradesh Global Investors Summit here, Birla said the state is among the top markets for Idea Cellular, which has already invested nearly Rs 7,000 crore over two decades.
“So far, our investment in Madhya Pradesh is in the range of Rs 30,000 crore. We have more than 12,000 employees and our ancillary business has generated 25,000 jobs. Going forward, we are looking at investment of Rs 20,000 crore in our various businesses,” he said.