Changing the Orbit: IIMBue 2026 opens with a call to build institutions, enterprise and enduring partnerships

Over 1500 delegates unite as alumni, policymakers, business leaders and industry experts chart new trajectories for leadership, capital and AI in a rapidly changing world

1 August, 2026, Bengaluru: Themed 'Changing the Orbit', IIMBue 2026 drew over 1500 delegates to its flagship leadership conclave this morning. The alumni-led summit began with the ceremonial lighting of the lamp, followed by addresses from Prof. U Dinesh Kumar, Director-in-charge, IIMB; Chief Guest Omar Abdullah, Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir; Subodh Patil, EGMP 2009, Convenor of IIMBue 2026 and Director, Bangalore Chapter, IIMBAA; Harish Mittal, President, IIMB Alumni Association; and Prof. Vasanthi Srinivasan, Dean, Alumni Relations & Development, IIM Bangalore.

In his welcome address, Prof. Dinesh Kumar urged the alumni to picture themselves back on the IIMB campus and the iconic L-Square, and after they roared their approval at this, he shared updates on IIM Bangalore. Prof. Dinesh Kumar spoke of the new UG programmes with “17-year-olds now on campus”, acknowledged the significant and generous support extended by the Tata Trusts to set up this campus, and listed the next steps on IIMB’s Indonesia campus. “Nation building remains our key goal. We remain committed to making an impact. We are reimagining our engagement with our wonderful alumni. We will also be setting up Alumni Archives soon”, he said.

Omar Abdullah: Institutions are what change the orbit

Delivering the inaugural keynote, 'Redefining Orbits: Charting the Next Global Trajectory', Chief Guest Omar Abdullah applauded IIMBue, observing that Bengaluru had "changed its orbit" thanks to alumni from institutions such as IIM Bangalore, and urged talented professionals to help transform other regions of the country.

"Can the long-term direction of a society really be changed, and if yes, by whom and by what? The productive asset of the 21st century is enterprise. Widening access to enterprise calls for institution-building from the ground up, and it is slow work. However, it must be done, especially by governments like ours."

He added: “Development is the slow work of the institutions that decide whether ordinary effort is rewarded. Institutions change the relationship between effort and reward. They ensure that trust outlasts the people who hold office. Reforms must be defined in stages –be it agrarian reforms, education reforms or digital and technology reforms”.

Drawing from the journey of Jammu and Kashmir, he observed that human development and resilience remain hallmarks of this journey. "Many mountain economies like ours face structural constraints such as market access, the cost of public services and supply chains, but look at our outcomes in health and life expectancy. The primary purpose of our economy is resilience and stability. So, the orbit we raise must be our own. Mountain economies must choose specialization over scale and quality over quantity. Our sectors need better branding, stronger logistics, better connectivity, deeper market access and institutional renewal”. Inviting business leaders to look beyond traditional investment destinations, he asked: "What do you need to see before you put a second centre in a place like ours?"

Highlighting opportunities beyond tourism, he added that agriculture and allied sectors present significant entrepreneurial potential and called for support in diversifying markets for Kashmir's fruits, flowers and grains. He also pointed to football as a natural strength of the region and encouraged efforts to convert that passion into greater opportunity and access for young people.

India and Japan: Building capital for the long term

The first fireside chat, 'Bridging Capital, Building Futures: The India-Japan Story', featured Sundeep Sikka, Managing Director & CEO, Nippon Life India Asset Management Ltd., in conversation with Prof. Chetan Subramanian, Economics Area, IIM Bangalore.

"In my firm, we have kept things simple and boring!" remarked Mr. Sikka, prompting Prof. Chetan to respond, “As an academic, let me tell you boring is sometimes good!”

To the academic’s question on what one can learn from the Japanese way of doing business, Sundeep replied, “India has scale; Japan teaches you how to sustain that scale. We need to mesh Indian flexibility with Japanese discipline and long-term planning”.

On managing global partnerships, he observed, "Cultures are different, so one must accept these differences. We must follow best practices but do what is best for the local markets."

Discussing the Nippon India Digital Innovation Fund, he described it as “less of RoI and more of RoE (Return on Equity)”. Referring to Japan's large pool of household savings, Prof. Chetan asked what it would take to unlock greater investment into India. Sudeep replied: "Japan has capital but not the growth to match. This can be channelled to high-growth sectors in India, and India can be the biggest beneficiary if we do things right”.

On the change in the Indian saver’s mindset towards SIPs, Sundeep said: “Education is important to keep the Indian saver in this stream invested in the long term. Japan has built the highest amount of household savings and pension funds because they think long term. Again, boring is key! As markets evolve, more sophisticated products are sure to find favour."

On strong domestic flows and its impact on market growth, Sundeep said, “My view is money has no colour! We need both foreign capital and domestic flows. While it is a great feeling that domestic flows are increasing, economies also need foreign capital for growth”. In his message to start-ups in the room, he said: “Understand three things which define the success of a company – people and culture, long-term sustainable growth, and trust. Trust and culture compound faster than capital, and direction is more important than speed”.

A changing world demands a confident India

Before delivering his special address on 'The Gravity Shift: Leadership in a Multipolar World', Ambassador Deepak Vohra felicitated Prof. U Dinesh Kumar and Prof. Vasanthi Srinivasan with shawls and blessings from His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Focusing on the idea of ‘Shrestha Bharat’, he said: “Our time as a country has come and everyone now wants to be part of this story” and interspersed his presentation with popular Bollywood tracks to make his point, be it about the country’s gold reserves or GCCs, diplomacy or demographic dividend. He also spoke about the country’s capabilities in education, digital public infrastructure and defense and paid robust tribute to what he described as the “Bharati spirit”.

Reimagining GCCs in the age of AI

The panel discussion, 'Rewiring the System in the Era of AI Flares', featured Vineeth Suresh, Centre Director & India Head, Heineken Business Services India, and Deval Shah, VP & GCC Practice Head, Infosys, in conversation with Dr. Anilesh Seth, GCC Advisor, Consultant and Researcher.

With sudden leaps in AI capability, the panellists made the case for GCCs to rethink architecture, talent and governance. Deval Shah spoke of the need for GCCs to become innovation hubs or transformation centers, while Vineeth focused on how AI and Data series for markets is being built. “Partnerships help us achieve rapid scale-up and give us the skills we need immediately”, said Vineeth, adding that market intelligence from partners would become increasingly valuable.

To the question is there a possibility of duplication between service providers and GCCs, Vineeth said those were in the past. “The model is evolving in a way that GCCs that are close to the enterprise have a deep and clear understanding of the business and can articulate that well. GCCs then bring in the transformation by bringing in acceleration and best practices,” explained Vineeth. Deval remarked that now it is a three-party ecosystem with GCCs, enterprises and partners. Vineeth said while getting people upgraded on the tooling is important, what is truly necessary is to build domain/ sector knowledge to be able to question what the AI tools throw at you. “That won’t shrink; it will only exponentially grow”. Deval pointed out that AI strategies are constantly evolving, so the challenges for industry are to be nimble to be able to adapt to constantly changing models and landscapes and build a talent force of engineers, not developers. “Constant recalibration is required”.

Shifting gears, the panel discussed the need for governance, particularly to deal with model drifts and hallucinations. “Accountability towards consumer and regulator is important. We must have shared responsibility with partners on accountability and outcomes,” said Vineeth. 

On talent models that GCCs must build internally and what they must source, Deval said domain and product-centric work must stay with GCCs, while technology can be sourced. Vineeth added that traditional models, where juniors run operational models using AI, must shift to get them into decision-making jobs and to challenge the status quo by questioning because, as an industry, we owe it to them. “We must train them to understand the domain and the industry”.

Truth, trust and the making of an entrepreneur

The curated leisure session, ‘Truth or Beat’, featured PC Musthafa, PGSEM '07, Chairman & Global CEO, iD Fresh Food, in conversation with Deepu Chandran, PGP 2010, Partner, EMA Partners. Musthafa’s iconic journey to success has been well documented, celebrated and feted. At the conclave, he shared that iD Fresh Food began as a campus project. “iD stands for identity, not idli-dosa, despite the popular perception!” he quipped. On the meaning of the “clean” label that iD wears with pride, he explained that, to him, “clean” simply stands for food—“no nasties like preservatives, colouring agents, etc”.

Looking back at the early days of iD, he shared the story of “exploding batter packets” in a supermarket. The batter had fermented and the packets had burst. “I had no clue about food technology then! I learnt many valuable lessons from that incident!” he said. Reflecting on the journey from exploding packets to iD's hypergrowth, he observed that while the company has grown rapidly, its values and philosophy have remained unchanged. “Growth at any cost is the philosophy of a cancer cell, not of a business. I will be proud to tell my grandchildren that I was part of the founding team of a multi-billion-dollar business without taking shortcuts!”

The conversation took an intriguing turn when Musthafa took a lie detector test on stage and responded to questions about his products. “I was always a bit of a risk taker”, he laughed. The polygraph machine had the audience hooked, with applause following almost every green light. “There is no rocket science in making batter that is clean, and if you pack it and store it properly, the batter will last for a week”, said Musthafa.

The IIM Bangalore Distinguished Alumnus Award (DAA) recipient said the honour is particularly precious to him because, while he was never a brilliant student, he always dreamt of creating opportunities for others in his village. “When I first saw the IIMB campus on my way to Bannerghatta National Park, I was determined to enter it – as a student. I practiced hard, and once I wrote my refresher paper at IIMB as part of my course, I got clarity of purpose. That's why this award is so special. I am blessed to have received this award in my parents' presence. My dad cried when he saw my name on the IIMB Wall of Fame”.

Deep tech – India's innovation moment

The deep tech panel, ‘Frontier Technologies Reshaping India's Future’, featured Ashok Atluri, Chairman & MD, Zen Technologies Ltd.; Anand Ramamoorthy, Founding MD, Micron Technology India; Dr. Sandeep Kumar, Chief Executive Officer, L&T Semiconductor Technologies; and Rajiv Raghunandan, PGP 2000, Managing Partner, Arali Ventures.

Noting that India is moving from being a technology user to a technology creator, Rajiv invited the panellists to reflect on this evolution. “The progression was slow and gradual. But years of talent development and some strong policy changes have resulted in us being in a good position. This makes me look at the last decades as a great learning experience and look ahead with cautious optimism”, said Anand. Ashok spoke about the need for India to invest in deep R&D and build ownership of its deep-tech capabilities.

On the early challenges of his start-up, Ashok spoke about how the three-vendor requirement for government and defence contracts proved a hurdle, despite his patents as an innovator. “The system needed to differentiate between true innovation and market capture!” he said, adding that the then Defence Minister recognized the dilemma faced by entrepreneurs like him and argued for the necessary policy changes. Sandeep spoke about the significant shift towards "Build in India". "The policy is just two years old, and we should be patient. The knowledge is there, the talent is there, and patient capital is available. It's time to elevate our thinking to build products in India. We are, indeed, in the game”.

When asked what advice they would offer young graduates, the panel encouraged them to seize the opportunities emerging in deep tech. “You live in an age when something new is beginning in deep tech, and this is your time to dive in. Take risks. As a nation, build innovation and celebrate deep tech's success. That will attract young people to classic first-principles problem solving”.

Boman Irani on resilience, reinvention and chasing joy

Welcomed to hearty applause, Boman Irani, Actor, Producer, Director and Storyteller, had the audience under his spell from the moment he walked in. “Does everybody in this room know who I am and what I do?” he asked, before sharing a joke that left the audience in splits. “You also know me as Director/Dean of IIM Bangalore”, he quipped, referring to his iconic role in 3 Idiots. Full of anecdotes, stories and humour, he took the audience behind the scenes of his life and career. “Everyone wants to know about Alia Bhatt and Deepika Padukone, but you do know that I only play their father, don't you?!” he joked. “In fact, I am now a grandfather! I did play a romantic lead once, and my lead actress was Farah Khan!”

On a more serious note, he said his story could be anyone's story. “I was born posthumously and was surrounded by strong women in my early years – my grandmother, my three sisters, my mother, her sisters and their friends. I had a lisp, a stammer and a stutter, just like Virus in 3 Idiots. I really believed I was damaged goods. I had dyslexia. I scored seven marks in Maths. I hated school”.

He recalled how his mother recognized what brought him joy. “She never judged me”. Instead, she enrolled him in theatre and spoken English classes, encouraged him to watch films and narrate their stories back to her, and introduced him to his late father through the movies he had loved. Living in Mumbai's cinema district only deepened his fascination with films. She also sent him to the cinema with a 75-year-old family friend who was blind, and he would recount every scene to him afterwards. “That was the day my love for cinema was born”.

Remembering his paternal grandmother, who crossed the Persian desert on a donkey as a refugee, he paid tribute to her resilience. “Whenever I have a problem with service in hotels or on flights, I just shut up because these are just perks. Don't get high on the opium of success”.

He shared another lesson from his grandmother. When he told her he wanted to become a waiter, “she didn't bat an eye. She simply told me to be the best waiter in the world”. That advice led him to the Taj Mahal Hotel in 1978, where, he recalled, a hiring manager encouraged him to “go down to the basement and work your way to the top”.

Boman also reflected on returning home to run the family shop for 14 years, discovering sports photography, and learning to recognize opportunity in unexpected places. Covering the World Cup of Boxing proved to be a turning point. “It was that day that I learnt never to turn my back on any resource. Opportunity comes to everybody, so keep your eyes on the viewfinder”.

He recounted how, when his photography studio was on the verge of bankruptcy, his wife offered him her wedding jewellery to sell and urged him to pursue his dream. Soon afterwards, choreographer Shiamak Davar encouraged him to audition for a three-minute stage role, which eventually led to his breakthrough in Munnabhai MBBS. Looking back, Irani described the film as one about “redemption, passion and insurmountable goals”, recalling that although it opened to almost empty theatres, those who watched it laughed and cried – setting the stage for what would become one of Indian cinema's most beloved films.

Concluding with another full-circle moment, Irani recalled travelling to Oslo years later to receive an award, where he was interviewed by a journalist from the very magazine that had once paid him for his boxing photographs. He thanked the IIMBue audience for the warmth, love and respect they had shown him.

The legacy of purpose-driven leadership

In his keynote, ‘From Influence to Impact: Shaping Society for Tomorrow’, Siddharth Sharma, Chief Executive Officer, Tata Trusts, spoke of converting stories into reality. “It takes decades to make change real”, he said, observing that leadership shapes whether opportunity reaches many or remains with a few. “Influence gets its meaning when it creates impact and leaves society better than it was. Influence can shape conversations, while impact is measured by something far more enduring”.

Reflecting on the Tata philosophy of philanthropy, he said, "Jamsetji Tata believed that what comes from the people must go back to them many times over. That is central to the philosophy of the Tatas. Business is rooted in philanthropy. It is this DNA that continues to define the Tata Group”.

Talking of the CSR mandate introduced in 2013, Siddharth noted that while corporate social responsibility became a mandate for Indian businesses, the Tata Group had embraced the idea much earlier through the JN Tata Endowment, established in 1892. He also referred to the founding of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru following the historic conversation between Jamsetji Tata and Swami Vivekananda aboard a steamer in September 1893. In keeping with this legacy, he said, the Tata Trusts was pleased to make a significant contribution towards supporting IIM Bangalore's foray into undergraduate education.

On the Tata Trusts investment in making healthcare affordable and accessible across the country, especially in under-served and vulnerable regions, he highlighted the setting up of cancer hospitals, research centres and chemotherapy centres by the Trusts. “Resources are finite and the Tata Trusts have proven that a model exists, and it is for governments to scale. It is important to distinguish between philanthropy and CSR. Philanthropy is long-term and incubates ideas when no one else is ready to take that risk”.

The keynote was followed by a fireside chat with Ms Revathy Ashok, PGP 1980, independent director on the boards of several companies, investor and Distinguished Alumnus Award recipient. Talking about the structural approach to philanthropy post 2014 in India, Siddharth highlighted how the Tatas were fundamentally different in their approach to philanthropy. “They had settled their wealth in Trusts from 1892 onwards. The Trusts held 66 per cent in the Group Holding Company and the dividends that flowed were invested in human causes and socio-economic causes. This shows that there is no binary between business and social causes. The Tatas are a shining example of the truth that what works in the business space also works in the social space”.

Expert Talk 

Day 1 of IIMBue concluded with an expert talk on ‘India’s Final Frontier: SpaceTech and the ISRO Story’ by P. Kunhikrishnan, Former Member, Space Commission; ISRO Distinguished Scientist (Apex). He said the theme of IIMBue 2026, centred around orbits, and the set-up on stage, with giant screens, instantly transported him to his comfort zone – a space mission control room! He drew upon his own experience to tell the incredible story of ISRO and highlighted why space tech matters to humanity.

He traced the genesis of India’s space programme, which he said was driven more by vision than resources, and listed the first three breakthroughs – first rocket launch in 1963, Aryabhatta launch in 1975, and SLV-3 launch in 1980. “Space has become an essential infrastructure for modern civilization, be it telemedicine, distance education, connectivity, agriculture, disaster warning, identification of fishing zones, search and rescue operations, navigation, banking, and more. The global economy has become deeply intertwined with space infrastructure. Space tech plays a big role in strategic national capability”, he explained. Paying tribute to the ISRO culture, Dr Kunhikrishnan listed multi-disciplinary teamwork, collective achievement, lessons from setbacks, and reviews and technical freedom as key drivers of this culture, and said stalwarts like Dr Vikram Sarabhai, way back in the ’60s, emphasized that institutions outlive individuals.

Sharing highlights of ISRO’s journey to building indigenous capabilities, he said there was a deliberate pursuit of technological self-reliance, setting up of research labs, and building academic interface, and active industry collaboration and supply chains.

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