Campuses of the Indian School of Business (ISB) in Hyderabad and Mohali were the scene of joy, pride and celebrations over the weekend of April 8-10, 2016 with over 700 students of the PGP Class of 2016, PGPMAX Class of 2015 and MFAB Class of 2015 graduating with flying colours. 
 
It was only apt that two of India’s best known corporate leaders, Chanda Kochhar, CEO & MD of India’s largest private sector bank, ICICI Bank, and Rahul Bhatia, Group MD, Interglobe Enterprises, which operates India’s largest private sector airline, addressed the students and their families in Hyderabad and Mohali respectively.
 
Hearts swelled with pride as the students, smartly turned out in graduation gowns, marched behind the Dean’s entourage that included the respective guests of honour, members of the ISB Executive Board and faculty into the Convocation venue.  The occasion marked the culmination of a grueling and exacting year of study, business competitions, conferences, and industry activities. 
 
Sound advice was forthcoming from each of the dignitaries who took to the podium.  “Learn, unlearn and relearn”, exhorted Chanda Kochhar, asking the 588 students of PGP Class of 2016 and 57 students of the PGPMAX Class of 2015 in Hyderabad to brace themselves for competition and tough times ahead.
 
“The global economy continues to be very uncertain and very volatile,” she warned. But the heartening news is that “India is a very, very bright spot,” she added stressing India was the best time and place to be.
 
InterGlobe’s Rahul Bhatia sought to life lessons he learnt in the process of stating IndiGo Airlines. “Many said I would fail with IndiGo”, he recounted in an emotion laden speech at the Mohali Campus adding it was dogged perseverance and diligence that resulted in the airline taking to the air.
 
“Planning is the key to success. Successful companies break down complex processes into several small processes & then execute them well”, Rahul said. “Have the honesty of purpose and the resolve to practice it all the time,” he advised the students.
 
Addressing the students earlier Adi Godrej, Chairman Godrej Group and Chairman of the ISB Executive Board, recounted how ISB was the brainchild of a few visionaries who dreamed big. “I am proud to say, that dream is not only a reality today, but it is a reality that stands tall. I am witness to the phenomenal growth of this School which is spread across two campuses today. I have seen the transformation of both the School over the years, and of its students who pass through these portals every year. The manner in which academia, government, and most importantly the corporate sector have heartily welcomed ISB students into their fold, speaks volumes about this transformation and the institution that has made it possible,” he said.
As you go on to make your destinies, I would like to stress on the importance of continuing with this transformation for your own and societal impact. Challenging the status quo and breaking the traditional bonds that restrict transformation has been the philosophy on the foundations of which this institution was built, he advised. 
 
ISB Dean Professor Rajendra Srivastava highlighted the entrepreneurial spirit that ISB inculcated among its students and how it was already bearing fruit. “It is heartening to see that the alumni are already taking on leadership positions. We now have over 400 alumni who have moved into CXO positions in the corporate world,” he said. More significantly, ISB alumni have also started over 400 businesses to date.
 
Adding that faculty, students and alumni were the key pillars to the School’s success, he stressed that ISB, which has completed 15 years of its existence this year, has grown strength to strength establishing itself as a premier management institutions and counted among the very best in India. But it needs to develop to be one of the best management schools in the world that just happens to be from India, he stressed.
  
Furious click of photos and selfies, warm embraces and farewell hugs were the order of the day. The venue was a sea of delightful faces. The sacrifices and hard work the students had put in, had after all borne fruit.
 
Apart from receiving the certificates from the dignitaries on the dais, the customary and mandatory “hat toss” was the much awaited ritual of the evening and morning in Hyderabad and Mohali respectively. The hats seemed to rise and rise, propelled by big daring dreams, carrying bright new hopes for an extraordinary career for those who walked out of the precincts of ISB on this day.
 
Heartiest congratulations to all our graduating students and their families!

Please check the Graduation website for more details.