IIM-Bangalore Director stresses on the need of good managers to eradicate poverty'

Updated on: Monday, June 25, 2012

Pankaj Chandra, director, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B ), says Indian society needs good managers to eradicate poverty.

Management remains a popular choice among students ; however, the question is whether India's business education is ready for the new needs and challenges. According to Pankaj Chandra, director, IIM-Bangalore , business education is in a state of flux at this point of time in India. Also, the scenario has changed globally as increasingly managers have to play a bigger role in society and its development; therefore, schools have to provide the right education and training for the managers of tomorrow.

On the increasing number of Bschools in India, Chandra believes that every management institution in India is of a different quality and over a period of time the quality will improve. And those who do not offer quality education would eventually close down. However, according to him, IIMs have always been very dynamic. He says, "When other business schools come up, their experiences will enrich us and ours will enrich them and we will grow together." Elaborating on the challenges, Chandra says the focus of developing nations should be on good managers who can work on solutions to eradicate poverty. "Poverty is linked to government and its management. So, in many ways if we manage our government well, manage our public distribution system well, manage our traffic well, manage our urban processes well and manage water well, I think we can get rid of poverty."

As far as the trends in business education in India are concerned, he adds, "People are involved in different kinds of experiments. It's probably too early to say that there are some key trends that are emerging. But people are looking at sectoral MBAs, they are introducing more issues about society into the MBA programme and are starting to do more real-life projects. I believe all these are good trends."

On whether a Bachelor of business administration (BBA) is gaining popularity in India, Chandra says, "I hope not. This is because one needs to have a very strong undergraduate degree in some discipline before actually getting into management." He, however, supports students opting for specialised Master's courses in business education if not an MBA.

IIM-Bangalore Director stresses on the need of good managers to eradicate poverty'

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