IIM Bangalore has entered into two significant collaborations with the Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India, and the National Minorities Development & Finance Corporation (NMDFC), which will leverage the Institute’s strengths in public policy, entrepreneurship and innovation to support public initiatives aimed at creating inclusive and sustainable economic opportunities.

In the presence of Dr. Srivatsa Krishna, Secretary, MoMA, the MoUs were signed and exchanged by Mr. S P Roy, Joint Secretary, MoMA; Mr. Nixon Mathur, General Manager, NMDFC; Dr. U Dinesh Kumar, Director-in-charge, IIMB; and Ms. Rasika Prashant, CEO, IIMB Innovations (NSRCEL), at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, on 25th September 2026. The partnerships mark an expansion of IIMB’s engagement with public institutions on initiatives that require rigorous evidence, institutional capacity and outcome-oriented implementation.

At an Insight Talk by BSmart Business Standard on the theme ‘The AI-first MBA: What should we still teach students when AI can do almost everything’, Dr. Mukta Kulkarni, Dean, Programmes, IIM Bangalore, joined Prof. Aditya Mohan Jadhav, Founding Dean, TAPMI; Dr. Umesh Kothari, SP Jain School of Global Management; and Dr. Sandhya Haridas, VP & Global Delivery Unit Head, L&T Technology Services, to discuss how AI is reshaping management education.

Dr. Mukta discouraged framing discourse surrounding the adoption of AI in teaching and learning as “professor versus AI”. The future, she said, is about “professor and AI”. With AI taking over transactional and repetitive aspects of teaching, faculty can spend more time on what is deeply human – building communities, bringing in a variety of opinions, challenging students, guiding them through ambiguity, and helping them unlearn and rethink.

The shift is also changing how students are assessed at IIMB. Prof. Mukta shared the example of courses where students have traditionally written reports drawing on primary and secondary data from organizations. The focus is now on whether students can understand, defend and extend the work they have done. She also spoke about an “AI-native midterm” developed by a faculty member, where students build chatbots and are assessed on prompt engineering and optimization techniques.

Prof. Mukta does not discourage students from using AI agents. The more important question, she said, is what they do with the output. Students need to test AI-generated responses, introduce counterfactuals and question answers that sound polished but lack specificity or nuance.

“Our careers are not just about our expertise – so much more makes us good humans”, she said. For her, that is where the larger purpose of management education lies: AI can expand what students can do, but education must continue to shape how they think, engage with others and navigate the world.

The panel also examined AI’s implications in decision-making, the importance of contextual and judgmental intelligence, and the changing expectations from management graduates as AI becomes embedded across industries.

The Office of Research & Publications at IIMB will host a research seminar titled ‘Impact and Incidence of Housing Subsidies in Urban Slums: Evidence from India’, delivered by Prof. Sabareesh Ramachandran, Indian School of Business. The session will be held on 8^th October 2026, in Classroom K-21, at 4.00 pm.

Fixit, a start-up of NSRCEL, has received support from the Government of India (GoI) through the Technology Development Board (TDB), Department of Science & Technology (DST), to deepen its AI capabilities. Fixit is an agentic AI platform aimed at helping businesses automate revenue workflows and turn demand into growth.

Dartle, a start-up of NSRCEL from Velocity, raised $100,000 in seed funding, led by Inflection Point Ventures, to expand its US presence and strengthen its AI capabilities. The Kerala-based sports-tech start-up is in the process of building a B2B SaaS platform for youth sports and football academies, with plans to scale its international customer base.

In their latest piece, ‘As AI automates knowledge, experience becomes education’s edge’ for Forbes India, Dr. R Srinivasan, Chairperson, Center for Digital Public Goods (CDPG) and faculty of the Strategy area at IIM Bangalore, and Dr. Amar Saxena, Professor of Practice at RT-MSSU, examine a fundamental question for education in the age of AI: if machines can increasingly provide knowledge, what should education teach us that machines cannot? The authors make a compelling case for bringing “productive discomfort” back to the centre of education.

The Global Leadership Development Programme for ACE Designers, designed and delivered by IIM Bangalore, was a Custom executive education initiative aimed at grooming a cohort of 28 high-potential senior leaders into effective business and organizational leaders. The programme focused on strengthening business acumen, strategic thinking, analytical and decision-making capabilities, leadership effectiveness, and the ability to align organizational priorities with execution.

The programme was completed over 28 days across eight modules spanning nine months, through in-person campus immersions at IIM Bangalore. Its curriculum covered diverse areas including economics, finance, strategy, data-driven decision-making, organizational behavior and leadership, marketing, operations and supply chain management, innovation, technology, and corporate governance.

A key feature of the programme was its experiential learning approach, which combined faculty-led sessions, case studies, group exercises, peer and practitioner interactions, self-learning, and Action Learning Projects (ALPs). These projects enabled participants to apply their learning to real organizational challenges and present their outcomes as part of the programme.

As markets evolve faster and business leaders navigate uncertainty, the ability to think beyond conventional boundaries is becoming a strategic capability. Recognizing this imperative, 3M India partnered with IIM Bangalore for a three-day Strategic Leadership Development Programme, held from 17^th to 19^th August 2026.

Designed for 3M’s senior leaders, the programme brought together strategic foresight, commercial acumen, innovation and executive influence. Under the academic direction of Dr. Mukta Kulkarni, Dean, Programmes; Chairperson, Office of International Affairs, and faculty of the Organizational Behavior & Human Resources Management area of IIMB, participants explored ways to envision future markets, understand macroeconomic forces and translate emerging trends into future-ready strategies.

The 12^th batch of the General Management Programme for Aerospace and Aviation Executives (GMAE) commenced at IIM Bangalore on 16^th September 2026, bringing together experienced professionals from across the aerospace and aviation sector.

Led by Prof. S Raghunath and Dr. G Shainesh, Chairperson, Digital Learning and Initiatives on Consumer Insights and faculty of the Marketing area of IIMB, the programme helps participants develop management and leadership capabilities through sector-focused learning, an international module, and insights from IIMB faculty as well as industry experts.

GMAE equips professionals to broaden their perspectives and take on larger techno-managerial as well as leadership responsibilities in a rapidly evolving industry.

The 79^th batch of the Executive General Management Programme (EGMP) was inaugurated on 17^th September 2026, marking the beginning of an engaging learning journey designed to strengthen participants’ understanding of general management and equip them with contemporary business knowledge as well as leadership perspectives.

The EGMP is a recurring Executive Education Programme offered by IIM Bangalore, providing working professionals the opportunity to enhance their managerial capabilities while continuing to pursue their professional commitments.