State Bank of India Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya strongly feels that the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Sambalpur needs to be different from other IIMs. She is entrusted with overall charge of the IIM-S
While other IIMs are mostly serving the service sector, the IIM-S would be geared up to serve the manufacturing sector.
Chairing the first meeting of the Board of Governors (BoG) of the IIM-S at the SBI Headquarters in Mumbai, Bhattacharya said that in view of the large industries in and around Sambalpur, this institution needs to take care of the concerns of the manufacturing sector.
Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, Rourkela, Ib Valley and other nearby areas have steel, power, aluminum and other major industries. So, these industries provide ample opportunities for the IIM-S.
Odisha Chief Secretary AP Padhi, Skill Development and Technical Education Principal Secretary lN Gupta and IIM Indore Director and IIM-S Mentor Director Rishikesh T Krishnan attended the BoG meeting.
It was decided that the IIM-S would recruit its fulltime Director and 11 faculties to run the institution as next year 60 more students will be taken for the two-year MBA Course. Now, there are 48 students.
In the meantime, the Union Ministry of HRD has advertised for the post of fulltime Director, and soon the recruitment process will begin.
The BoG approved a `20.49-crore annual budget for 2016-17 for the IIM-S and worked out details as to how to scale up its activities, said sources. `10 crore was provided by the MHRD for 2015-16 as grant-in-aid.
The BoG meeting decided that the State Government would take up fencing the permanent site of the IIM-S. The Department of Works would undertake the job and provide a concrete road to the site.