I am deeply honored to be appointed the Director of Bharathidasan Institute of Management (BIM), Trichy, an institute with a rich heritage. I am thankful to the Board of Governors for the confidence and trust placed in me to lead BIM. My heartfelt thanks to the faculty, staff, students, alumni, and my family and friends for their overwhelming support and affection.

I start my tenure here when the world is trying to come out of the Covid pandemic and the consequent economic downturn. But I believe, clouds always have a silver lining. I am happy to see the institute successfully demonstrating its resilience, having quickly adapted to the virtual platform and the new work norms. The academic, placement, and admission schedules have been on track. The Institute’s Covid response protocol ensured the health, safety, and job security of all our stakeholders. We have won!

It is now time to rewire ourselves to make BIM great again. With digital technology, the traditional sources of competitive advantage take a back seat. Institutes that succeed now will be the ones with a strong differentiator based on values and culture. In the digital age, the value proposition is passee. Our actions are watched by the community. Values and culture, therefore, is the new currency of this age, and we have an edge over here, carefully built and preserved over the last thirty-six years. Thanks to our faculty, staff, and alumni.

The great Indian saint Thiruvalluvar wrote, ‘The lotus’ stem is as long as the depth of water. So men’s height is just as great as their inner strength’. We have carefully designed our program architecture to build this inner strength in each of our students while staying true to BIM’s vision of being an innovative, socially responsive, and inclusive institute of excellence in management education. Through a well-crafted program architecture, we nurture 𝝅 shaped professionals for the careers of tomorrow. The top horizontal bar denote the core subjects, practice courses, and the programs to build the ‘self’, and practice ‘values’ besides being an outstanding generalist. The first vertical bar denotes the specialization courses in five areas like Marketing, Finance, HR, Operations and Digital Business and Analytics with the second vertical bar representing a plethora of new-age courses across each specialization, like Text Mining and Social Sentiment Analysis and Martech in Marketing; Fintech and Blockchain in Finance; HR analytics in HR; Supply Chain and Logistics Analytics in Operations. Our proposed Centres of Excellence in the area of Operations Excellence and Development Management will ensure the best of students receiving a world-class consulting experience in contemporary areas.

Our students carry a lifelong memory of our beautiful green campus in a natural setting and the care they receive here, with many even wishing the duration to be a little longer than just the two years of their MBA program! I am overwhelmed with the students’ reviews on social sites. The wonderful achievement of our 3000+ alumni spread across the globe further stands testimony to the BIM spirit.

I look forward to working with you as we script a new chapter in BIM’s journey. I am inspired by a quote from Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. “Dream is not that which you see while sleeping, it is something that does not let you sleep. And thoughts result in action.” I am having this dream now, do you?

Thank you, and wish you all the best!

Dr. Asit K Barma
Director