IIMB faculty Prof. Srivardhini K Jha selected for the National Teachers’ Awards 2025
Recognition to honor the country’s finest educators whose commitment to excellence enriches quality of Indian education
26 August, 2025, Bengaluru: Professor Srivardhini K Jha, faculty of the Entrepreneurship area and Chairperson of IIMB’s startup incubator, NSRCEL, has been selected for the National Awards to Teachers 2025, instituted by the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Government of India. The award celebrates the exceptional contributions of teachers who, through their outstanding contributions to teaching, research, innovation and institution-building, enrich the lives of students and the pursuit of high-quality education in the country. The felicitation ceremony will be held at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi, on 5 September 2025, with the award being bestowed by the Honourable President of India.
As an educator, Prof Jha is highly regarded by students across programs—MBA, PhD, and the online BBA—where she has designed and delivered several entrepreneurship-focused courses. Her classes are known for their pedagogical innovation, experiential design, and engaging delivery.
Prof. Jha has played an eminent role in strengthening India’s entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem. As Chairperson of NSRCEL since 2022, she has overseen the incubation and acceleration of ventures across sectors in 25 states, with the Centre impacting more than 1000 ventures annually. She has deepened NSRCEL’s focus on women entrepreneurs and ventures tackling complex challenges in areas such as climate action and social innovation. More recently, under her leadership, NSRCEL has also launched iCube (Incubating Incubators Initiative), a pioneering effort to build capacity in Tier 2 and Tier 3 incubators across India, thereby strengthening the entrepreneurial ecosystem nationwide.
“I accept this award with gratitude and humility, mindful that teaching is a journey of continuous learning. This recognition strengthens my resolve to further advance entrepreneurship education—where academic rigor meets the courage to experiment, innovate, and create lasting change”, said Prof. Jha, on being selected for the honor.
She has also actively contributed to policy formulation at the state and national levels. She was part of the Startup20 core team under India’s G20 Presidency, which institutionalized a voice for start-ups in the G20 platform. She has also served on the drafting committee of the National STIP 2020, and as a member of the task force shaping Karnataka’s Research, Development and Innovation policy.
She earned an MS from Stanford University and a PhD in Corporate Strategy and Policy from IIM Bangalore. Prior to this, she held several senior managerial positions at Microsoft, Sun Microsystems and Infosys, bringing a strong industry orientation to her teaching and research.
Prof. Jha’s research interests peer into innovation and entrepreneurship in the emerging country context. In particular, she studies Corporate entrepreneurship, Social entrepreneurship and Hybrid organizing. Her work has been published in leading international journals such as MIS Quarterly, MIT Sloan Management Review, Management International Review, and the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. She also serves as an Associate Editor of the IIMB Management Review.
Prof. Jha was also a co-editor of the 2021 book ‘Shifting Orbits: Decoding the Trajectory of the Indian Start-up Ecosystem’, which provides an in-depth account of India’s innovation landscape and its evolving entrepreneurial practices. At IIMB, she teaches courses across programmes, including Entrepreneurial Mindset and Action (MBA programme), Contemporary Entrepreneurship (doctoral programme), Strategic Partnerships (MBA elective), New Age Business Models (MBA elective), and Entrepreneurial Mindset and Methods (online, BBA-DBE programme).
IIMB faculty Prof. Srivardhini K Jha selected for the National Teachers’ Awards 2025
Recognition to honor the country’s finest educators whose commitment to excellence enriches quality of Indian education
26 August, 2025, Bengaluru: Professor Srivardhini K Jha, faculty of the Entrepreneurship area and Chairperson of IIMB’s startup incubator, NSRCEL, has been selected for the National Awards to Teachers 2025, instituted by the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Government of India. The award celebrates the exceptional contributions of teachers who, through their outstanding contributions to teaching, research, innovation and institution-building, enrich the lives of students and the pursuit of high-quality education in the country. The felicitation ceremony will be held at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi, on 5 September 2025, with the award being bestowed by the Honourable President of India.
As an educator, Prof Jha is highly regarded by students across programs—MBA, PhD, and the online BBA—where she has designed and delivered several entrepreneurship-focused courses. Her classes are known for their pedagogical innovation, experiential design, and engaging delivery.
Prof. Jha has played an eminent role in strengthening India’s entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem. As Chairperson of NSRCEL since 2022, she has overseen the incubation and acceleration of ventures across sectors in 25 states, with the Centre impacting more than 1000 ventures annually. She has deepened NSRCEL’s focus on women entrepreneurs and ventures tackling complex challenges in areas such as climate action and social innovation. More recently, under her leadership, NSRCEL has also launched iCube (Incubating Incubators Initiative), a pioneering effort to build capacity in Tier 2 and Tier 3 incubators across India, thereby strengthening the entrepreneurial ecosystem nationwide.
“I accept this award with gratitude and humility, mindful that teaching is a journey of continuous learning. This recognition strengthens my resolve to further advance entrepreneurship education—where academic rigor meets the courage to experiment, innovate, and create lasting change”, said Prof. Jha, on being selected for the honor.
She has also actively contributed to policy formulation at the state and national levels. She was part of the Startup20 core team under India’s G20 Presidency, which institutionalized a voice for start-ups in the G20 platform. She has also served on the drafting committee of the National STIP 2020, and as a member of the task force shaping Karnataka’s Research, Development and Innovation policy.
She earned an MS from Stanford University and a PhD in Corporate Strategy and Policy from IIM Bangalore. Prior to this, she held several senior managerial positions at Microsoft, Sun Microsystems and Infosys, bringing a strong industry orientation to her teaching and research.
Prof. Jha’s research interests peer into innovation and entrepreneurship in the emerging country context. In particular, she studies Corporate entrepreneurship, Social entrepreneurship and Hybrid organizing. Her work has been published in leading international journals such as MIS Quarterly, MIT Sloan Management Review, Management International Review, and the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. She also serves as an Associate Editor of the IIMB Management Review.
Prof. Jha was also a co-editor of the 2021 book ‘Shifting Orbits: Decoding the Trajectory of the Indian Start-up Ecosystem’, which provides an in-depth account of India’s innovation landscape and its evolving entrepreneurial practices. At IIMB, she teaches courses across programmes, including Entrepreneurial Mindset and Action (MBA programme), Contemporary Entrepreneurship (doctoral programme), Strategic Partnerships (MBA elective), New Age Business Models (MBA elective), and Entrepreneurial Mindset and Methods (online, BBA-DBE programme).