Bodh Gaya: Indian Institute of Management Bodh Gaya inducted 542 students into its postgraduate and PhD programmes during its two-day orientation programme that began on July 5, with leading voices from industry, academia and public service urging the new cohort to embrace responsibility and innovation.
The 2025-27 intake includes 354 students in the flagship MBA programme, among them 51 students from the Integrated Programme in Management stream, alongside 18 scholars in the PhD programme. The third batches of MBA in Digital Business Management and MBA in Hospital and Healthcare Management, comprising 94 students each, were welcomed on July 6.
Vinita Sahay, director of IIM Bodh Gaya, underscored the institute’s commitment to mindfulness and building socially responsible leaders. Chairperson of the Board of Governors L Ramkumar and board member Sandip Ghose addressed the inaugural session, encouraging students to build purpose-driven careers.
Key speakers included Mrutyunjay Mahapatra, chairman of the Audit Committee at RBI Innovation Hub; Roopank Chaudhary, partner and country head – Talent and Rewards Consulting, AON India; Ashish Kulkarni, partner at BCG; and Venkat Chalasani, CEO of the Association of Mutual Funds in India, who spoke about evolving industry landscapes and career opportunities.
Public service leaders such as Prafulla Kumar Jain, director at IN-SPACe; Shashank Shubhankar, district magistrate of Gaya; Anand Kumar, SSP Gaya; and Varun Kapoor, special DGP, Madhya Pradesh, offered perspectives on governance and cybersecurity.
The second day saw sessions by Anil Sahasrabudhe, chairman of the National Educational Technology Forum and National Board of Accreditation; Hitesh Tak, managing director and partner, BCG; Udit Sethi, partner, KPMG; Vineeth P Mathew, head of HR at Agappe Diagnostics; Badrish Prakash, global head of alliances, Tiger Analytics; Debopriyo Bhattacharyya, associate partner, McKinsey; Rajesh M Patel, CEO, AGD Biomedicals; and Safeena AN, commissioner of Magadh division.
Programme introductions were led by Ashish Sharma, chairperson – MBA; Swapnarag Swain, chairperson – MBA HHM; and Molla Ramizur Rahman, chairperson – MBA DBM, while C V Sunil Kumar, chairperson – Admissions, presented the diverse batch profile.
The new MBA batch comprises 78 female and 225 male students, with 123 having prior work experience averaging 23 months. The batch includes 50.83% engineers and 49.17% non-engineers. The MBA-DBM and MBA-HHM batches each include 94 students with 14 female students each, while the PhD batch includes 18 scholars, among them eight women, representing engineering, science, social sciences and liberal arts.
