The much-awaited Crystal Jubilee Celebration of the PGPEX VLM program was held on 6th March 2022 which heralded a new era in the program’s history. The brainchild of our president, late Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam & Professor Shoji Shiba, PGPEX-VLM (Post Graduate Programme for Executives for Visionary Leadership in Manufacturing) was perhaps the most audacious experiment of its time – involving three of the premier institutes of the country, namely IIM Calcutta, IIT Kanpur, IIT Madras, targeted at the triple bottom line.
This auspicious occasion was graced by the eminent guests from the industry- Mr. Peyush Bansal (CEO – Lenskart), Dr. Amitabh Saran (CEO – Altigreen Propulsion Labs), and Mr. Jyoti Kumar Agarwal (CFO – IndiGrid). The event was inaugurated by Professor Uttam Kumar Sarkar (Director – Indian Institute of Management Calcutta), Professor Sumanta Basu (Chairperson PGPEX-VLM program), Professor Manish Thakur (Dean– NI & ER Indian Institute of Management Calcutta), Professor Bhaskar Chakrabarti (Dean-Academics Indian Institute of Management Calcutta), Professor Deepu Philip & Professor BV Phani (Coordinator IIT Kanpur), Professor Arshinder Kaur & Professor Lata Dyaram (Coordinator IIT Madras), Mr. G Sunderraman from CII, founding members of VLM program Dr. Sarita Nagpal, Professor TT Narendran, Professor Asok K Mittal, Professor Peeyush Mehta, Professor Kripa Shanker, Professor Bodhibrata Nag, Professor RN Sengupta, Professor Rahul Marathe, existing members of the VLM committee across three institutes and all alumni of the VLM program.
The event started with a short recapitulation of the VLM journey from Batch 1 to 15. The Director of IIMC, Program Chairperson, and the Coordinators from IITK and IITM addressed the august gathering re-emphasizing the uniqueness of the program & its importance in the evolving landscape of Indian Manufacturing.
Mr. Peyush Bansal from Lenskart emphasized how manufacturing in India has accelerated in the post-pandemic period and discussed the role of leadership in creating a conducive work environment for the development of world-class manufacturing in India. Dr. Amitabh Saran from Altigreen spoke about start-up & entrepreneurial journey in the last mile transport & associated importance of clean energy. Dr. Saran emphasized that startups do not fail due to starvation, but due to indigestion. Mr. Jyoti Kumar Agarwal from IndiGrid highlighted the requirements of an adequately trained workforce to bridge the skill gap for India’s aspirational journey from the top five economies to the world’s top three economies. Mr. G Sunderraman from CII advised the graduating students to use the learnings from the three institutes as Lego blocks to build their careers. Dr. Sarita Nagpal shared her experience during the initial formative years of structuring the program.
All founding professors from the three institutes spoke about their experience in the incubation period of the program. The dignitaries expressed their best wishes to the graduating batch. The event concluded with a promise to leverage technology & leadership to establish India as a manufacturing superpower. There were more than 200 attendees, who made it a memorable occasion.
