Itankar, wife Shalini among 443 awarded degrees at IIM-Nagpur 10th convocation

Nagpur: The 10th convocation ceremony of Indian Institute of Management (IIM)-Nagpur saw degrees being conferred on 443 students, including two French students, and one Executive PhD scholar. One of the highlights of the ceremony held at IIM-N's Mihan campus on Saturday was the executive MBA degree awarded to municipal commissioner Vipin Itankar and his wife Shalini.Itankar and his wife pursued the two-year executive MBA programme for working professionals. "We were classmates during graduation, and it was nice to go back to the classroom again together," said Shalini. Itankar said continuous updation and continuous learning motivated him to pursue this course.One of the French students, Elise Serlooten, received the degree during the convocation, while another student, David Aranguren, got it in absentia. Both the students are from the University of Lille, France, under the International Exchange Programme.Those who received degrees included 347 students from the MBA 2024-26 batch and 95 students from Executive MBA programmes across the Nagpur and Pune cohorts. The degree recipients included 288 male and 155 female.This year, IIM Nagpur received six international offers and recorded its highest package of Rs 73.17 lakh per annum, with 250 companies, including leading MNCs, reputed Indian companies and major PSUs, participating in the placement drive.Several students were honoured for outstanding academic performance, all-round excellence and achievements in specialised areas.JSW Group chairman Sajjan Jindal was the chief guest of the convocation. Deven J Mehta, chairman of Sigma Capital Limited, was the guest of honour. IIM-Nagpur director Bhimaraya Metri, chairman of the governing board, CP Gurnani, members of the Board of Governors and faculty members were present.In his address, Jindal told the students that great leadership is not built only in high-stakes boardrooms, but through countless decisions made earlier in smaller rooms, with lower stakes, when nobody is watching. "The judgment that looks intuitive in a boardroom is the accumulated product of years of decisions made, reviewed and corrected until pattern recognition becomes deeper than thought," he said.Jindal drew a parallel between tennis legend Roger Federer's effortless-looking backhand and the making of world-class businesses and institutions. He said that what appears elegant or natural from the outside is often the result of thousands of repetitions, corrections and consistently maintained standards. "What looks effortless is almost never effortless. The elegance is real, but what produces it is years of deliberate practice," Jindal said, adding that the same principle applies to leadership, business and institution-building.He told the graduates that in 40 years of building companies, the single most important lesson he learnt was that great results are rarely sudden. "They are the visible surface of years of execution," he said. Jindal urged the Class of 2026 to lead with integrity, courage and love for the country. "India does not need more people who can only see the future. India needs people who can build it," he said.Mehta shared four success mantras with students as they move ahead in their professional and personal journeys. "Integrity, hard work, faith and courage are values that will help you face difficult situations and take sound decisions in life," he said.He encouraged the young graduates to actively contribute to the nation's progress. "India has a lot of growth to achieve. Be a part of India's growth," he said.Info boxThis year, IIM Nagpur received six international offers and recorded its highest package of Rs 73.17 lakh per annum250 companies, including leading MNCs, reputed Indian companies and major PSUs, participated in the placement drivePrashant Gupta received the IIM-Nagpur Gold Medal and GH Raisoni Merit Award of Rs5,00,000, supported by Raisoni Education, for Best Scholastic Performance in the MBA programmeSomani Shubh received the GH Raisoni Gold Medal for Second Highest Scholastic PerformanceShivam Chandra was awarded the IIM-Nagpur Gold Medal for All-Round PerformanceIn the Executive MBA category, scholastic achievement awards were presented to Yogesh Madhavrao Wadhonkar and Anuroop Ajmera from the Pune 2023-25 batch, who shared the position as per merit Vishnu Kant from the Nagpur 2023-25 batch and Ankita Yadav from the Pune 2024-26 batch were honoured for scholastic achievement