Dr Pritam Singh to step down as DG of IMI; Dr B Dholakia to take charge

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MBAUniverse.com News Desk |
September 22, 2014
Dr Pritam Singh, DG, IMI New Delhi, is stepping down owing to health reasons. Former IIM Ahmedabad Director Dr Bakul Dholakia will be stepping into his shoes from October 1, 2014
Building on the strong foundation that Dr. Pritam Singh has built, I will work with the distinguished faculty members & administrative staff Dr Bakul Dholakia, DG Designate, IMI New Delhi

After lending his Midas touch to yet another institution, Dr Pritam Singh, Director General (DG), International Management Institute (IMI) New Delhi, is stepping down from his office owing to health reasons. Former IIM Ahmedabad Director Dr Bakul Dholakia will be stepping into his shoes as Director General of IMI New Delhi from October 1, 2014. Both Dr Pritam Singh and Dr Bakul Dholakia have confirmed this significant development with MBAUniverse.com.

Confirming the development, Dr Bakul Dholakia told MBAUniverse.com, “I am looking forward to my association with IMI New Delhi at its new Director General from Oct 1, 2014. Building on the strong foundation that Dr. Pritam Singh has created, I will work with the distinguished faculty members & administrative staff to make IMI a premier world-class Business School.”

Dr Pritam Singh took over as the DG of IMI in April 2011. In a short span of three years, IMI New Delhi has significantly improved its position on major B-school Rankings, expanded physical infrastructure at its New Delhi campus, significantly increased applications to its PGDM programs and shored up the Placements significantly. IMI has also doubled its faculty strengths in this period. The recent rapid growth at IMI New Delhi gains even greater significance, as the period (2010-2014) coincided with an unprecedented churn in Indian management education.

Dr Singh's colleagues give him full credit for resurrecting IMI and other institutions in past. Dr Subir Verma, Dean, Placement & Corporate Connections, IMI said, “There are three facets of Dr Singh that make him unique. As a leader, he creates a shared-vision, and then aligns all institutional resources towards executing the vision. He is a great academic administrator, who believes in empowerment to Deans and Faculty Council. Finally, as a person, he stands for fairness & justice.” Dr B Metri, Dean, Academic at IMI, added, “Dr Singh is a wonderful leader. He is a visionary who always has the big picture in mind.”

A recipient of the Padma Shri, Dr Singh is widely known as the man with the 'Midas Touch'. He is credited with turning around the fortunes of Management Development Institute (MDI), Gurgaon, and the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow. He was Director of MDI twice - from 1994 to 1998 and then from 2003 to 2006. He headed IIM Lucknow from 1998 to 2003. He was also the Dean at IIM Bangalore & ASCI, where he played a significant role in repositioning the institutions.

IMI New Delhi, established in 1981, is known as India’s first corporate sponsored Business School with sponsorship from corporate houses like RPG Enterprises, Nestle, ITC amongst others. With its focus on building intellectual capital, IMI quickly rose to become a leading B-school in 1990s. However, IMI went into a quiet phase in 2000s, even though the competition within B-schools increased ferociously. Since Dr Singh took over as its DG in 2011, IMI has risen significantly on the B-school ranking. IMI was ranked #10 by Business Today in October 2013 and was ranked #6 by NHRDN Ranking in May 2013.

Speaking on his vision for IMI New Delhi, Dr Dholakia said, “IMI is very strong on intellectual capital. We will work on enhancing its National, Asian and Global visibility and will further enhance IMI's stature and appeal to key stakeholders like Recruiters, Applicants and Peers among Global B-schools.”

Much respected for his bold stance on the ‘Autonomy of Higher Education Institutions’, Padma Shri awardee Dr. Bakul Dholakia was the guiding force behind the expansion of activities at IIMA. Dr Bakul Dholakia is currently the Director of Adani Institute of Infrastructure Management, Ahmedabad and Advisor to Adani Group. Dr Dholakia was awarded the Padma Shri in 2007.

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