It’s back to school: Commentator, entrepreneur, banker... alumni on IIM boards
Cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle, speaker and author Anita Bhogle, beauty products maker Nykaa’s founder and former investment banker Falguni Nayar, and ReNew Power Limited chief Sumant Sinha are among the graduates of the prestigious Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) who have now been snapped up by various IIMs for board positions — in keeping with the new IIM Act passed last year that mandated alumni from the IIMs on the boards.
“There is a requirement that up to five alumni should be on the board of every IIM. Several IIM graduates who are now big names in different fields are part of these boards,” said a government official who asked not to be named. To be sure, since there are 20 IIMs now, with many being set up recently, the newer IIMs have been allowed to taken on alumni from other IIMs on their board.
Harsha Bhogle, who is an IIM Ahmedabad graduate, has been nominated to the board of IIM, Udaipur. Anita Bhogle, who also studied in the same institute, is now a member of the board of governors of IIM Jammu.
Another IIM Ahmedabad alumna, Falguni Nayak is also on the board of IIM Bodhgaya. Sumant Sinha, who is the brother of Union minister Jayant Sinha, studied at IIT Delhi and then IIM Calcutta. He is on the board of his own alma mater, IIM Calcutta.
“Sinha was appointed as a member last year. His name again figures in the reconstituted board,” the government official said. The idea of getting alumni on the board isn’t new, but the new IIM Act codified it. As industry representatives with an emotional connection to the prestigious business schools, the alumni are expected to guide the decisions of the boards.
Another eminent alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad, Sachit Jain, the vice chairman and managing director of the Vardhaman group, is on the board of IIM Amritsar.
Sridevi Raghavan from Kozhikhode is a senior vice president of HDFC. She is also a member of the board for IIM Kozhikhode. Sanhjay Mukherjee, an IPS officer who graduated from IIM Calcutta, is on the school’s board.
“Some of the members of the newly constituted boards have also been repeated, especially in the older IIMs,” a senior HRD ministry official said on condition of anonymity.
“However, many have been appointed for the first time. The IIM boards are star-studded. And they will be more so when the positions marked specially for eminent members are filled up,” the official added.