IIMB welcomes first-ever batch to the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore – Dorabji Tata School of Undergraduate Studies

• 80 students join the inaugural cohort from 20 states across India

BANGALORE: IIM Bangalore welcomed the first-ever batch of its BSc (Hons) Programmes in Data Sciences and Economics to the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore – Dorabji Tata School of Undergraduate Studies, with an inauguration ceremony on 31^st August, marking the institute's entry into undergraduate education as one of the world's leading management schools. The ceremony brought together the institute's leadership, faculty, and the inaugural cohort of 80 students for what speakers repeatedly called a ‘historic moment’ for Indian education.

The event opened with a welcome address by Prof. Mukta Kulkarni, Officiating Dean, UG Programmes and Dean, Programmes, IIM Bangalore, who welcomed the gathered students, faculty, former directors, members of the Tata Trusts, and dignitaries to the occasion, followed by an invocation and the ceremonial lighting of the lamp by the dignitaries on stage.

Chairperson’s Address

Addressing the gathering, Dr. Devi Prasad Shetty, Chairperson, Board of Governors, IIM Bangalore, and Chairman and Founder, Narayana Health, called the inauguration a momentous occasion for India's education system and one he believes will guide the transformation of Indian education. He thanked Mr. Noel Tata, Chairman, Tata Trusts, for his generous contribution toward building the institution. He placed the new school within a lineage of Tata-founded institutions, among them the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore and the Tata Memorial Centre for cancer care, that have shaped the country’s intellectual and scientific capacity for over a century, noting that this legacy now extends to preparing India for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. He shared that 25 percent of the founding batch of 80 students are studying on full or partial scholarships.

Explaining the vision behind the school, Dr. Shetty said the goal was to train bilingual minds, not yet set in their views of the world, capable of moving as comfortably between business and public policy as between economics and science. He pointed to IIM Bangalore's standing among the world's top business schools and the strength of its faculty as reasons for choosing the institute to lead the initiative, and drew a parallel between Bengaluru's startup ecosystem and Silicon Valley's roots in Stanford and Berkeley to explain why the school is based in the city.

Dr. Shetty closed his address drawing inspiration from the words of Jamsetji Tata, founder of the Tata Group: "In a free country with its vast natural resources, an intellectual revolution is the only thing that can elevate the condition of the people." He congratulated the students for being selected from among roughly 12,000 applicants for the first cohort.

“Institutions are about the Culture of Excellence” - Mr. Siddharth Sharma, CEO, Tata Trusts

Mr. Siddharth Sharma, CEO, Tata Trusts, reflected on how dramatically the world has changed since he began his own career nearly four decades ago, when career choices for Indian students were far more limited. He offered a piece of advice, asking them to take it easy and learn to relax amid what he acknowledged can be an overwhelming range of choices for 18-year-olds today.

Drawing on his career across government, the corporate sector and the development space, Mr. Sharma urged the students to hold on to four cardinal principles: honesty, integrity, hard work, and continuous learning and re-learning, noting that there are no shortcuts to reaching the top of any profession. He told them that how they shape their own evolution as human beings matters more than how they shape their careers, adding that a good human being will make a good professional, but not the reverse.

Mr. Sharma spoke of the unique position of being part of a first batch, telling students they now could shape the culture of the institution from its very first day. Reflecting on Tata Trusts' broader approach to education, he noted that India's shortage of top-quality higher education institutions relative to its population has turned admissions into what he described as an elimination process rather than a selection process and said the partnership with IIM Bangalore was conceived as a long-term investment in the country's youth.

"Institutions are not about bricks and mortar. Institutions are not about amenities and facilities, but institutions are about faculty. Institutions are about teaching. Institutions are about learning. And institutions are about the culture of excellence."  

Mr. Sharma outlined the institution's long-term ambitions, sharing that the founding cohort of 80 is expected to grow to about 2,400 students, supported by 150 faculty, by 2034, though he was clear that scale was not the point. Reflecting on the philosophy behind the Tata Group’s institution-building over the past century, he said, “We’ve always thought the idea is to look at the future, do the right thing, do what is right for India.”   He closed by wishing the students a fulfilling four years, cautioning them to prepare for a world being reshaped by artificial intelligence and rapid technological change unlike anything his own generation encountered.

Address by Director-in-charge

Prof. U. Dinesh Kumar, Director-in-charge, IIM Bangalore, opened his address by thanking the many people and institutions behind the school's creation, including the Government of Karnataka for granting more than 100 acres of land for the upcoming campus, Dr. Shetty and the Board of Governors, former IIM Bangalore directors Prof. Raghuram Rajan and Prof. Rishikesha T Krishnan, along with Prof. Nayana Tara, former faculty, IIMB, with the Tata Trusts, and partners including Axis Bank, State Street and Wipro. He noted that 25 per cent of the founding batch already has full or partial scholarships, with more expected as additional partners come on board, and situated the new school within a larger national challenge, citing data showing that of India's roughly 43.3 million undergraduate students, only about 46 per cent go on to find employment.

He shared that his own ambition for the school draws on the legacy of India's ancient Nalanda University, a name he said translates to "giver of the lotus of knowledge." Linking this to IIM Bangalore's own motto, to study, to enlighten and to co-create knowledge, he described the Indian tradition of learning as inherently dialogic, telling students that their four years at the school would not be "one-way traffic," but a process of creating knowledge together with the faculty.

The address was followed by the screening of a tribute video, honouring the many people whose work went into building the school and bringing the campus to life. Among the moments captured was the Campus Integration Run, a simple idea with a larger purpose: to bring members of the IIMB community together across the institute's two campuses. Led by Prof. Sourav Mukherji, Dean, Faculty, the run traced the route from the Bannerghatta Road campus to the IIMB – Dorabji Tata School of Undergraduate Studies campus in Jigani, featuring members of the IIMB community coming together in a shared show of support for the new school.

Mr. Abhejit Agrawal, Head of Sustainability and CSR, Axis Bank and an alumnus of IIM Calcutta, also addressed the students briefly, encouraging them not to let the weight of the institution's name sit heavily on their shoulders, and urging them to make full use of their professors and the campus around them. He closed with a line from Shakespeare, "I wasted time, and now doth time waste me", as a reminder to the students to make the most of their four years.

Batch profile

The inaugural cohort of IIMB’s BSc (Hons) Programmes in Data Sciences and Economics attracted nearly 12,000 applications from across India. Following a highly competitive selection process, 453 candidates were shortlisted for interviews, from which the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore – Dorabji Tata School of Undergraduate Studies admitted a cohort of 80 students with outstanding profiles for the 2026-30 academic year.

The inaugural cohort comprises 40 students each in Data Sciences and Economics, with 56 male and 24 female students. Together, they bring a healthy mix of analytical and quantitative foundations to the incoming cohort, true to the multidisciplinary nature of the programmes, with 39 having studied Commerce, 39 Science, and 2 Arts and Humanities.

The incoming batch also brings an exceptional academic track record, with more than half the batch having scored above 90% overall in their Class 12 examinations, 24 scoring above 80%, and 44 students scoring above 90 marks in Mathematics.

The batch also reflects a diverse educational and geographic footprint. On the schooling board front, the majority of students, 51, come from a CBSE background, followed by 23 from State boards, 4 from the IB curriculum, and one each from NIOS and ICSE. Geographically, the batch draws students from across the country, with the largest contingents coming from Maharashtra (18), Karnataka (13), and Uttar Pradesh (10), and representation spanning 20 states in total, reflecting the pan-India appeal of the programmes.