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Ravi Matthai Memorial Lecture

The Academy of HRD was set up with an initial assistance from the Ravi Matthai Center for Innovation, IIM Ahmedabad. The Academy, through a bi-annual lecture hosted in his memory, salutes late Shri Ravi Matthai who brought professional management education to India as we know it today. The academy till date has organized five lectures to commemorate the spirit of Ravi Matthai. On these occasions stalwarts from the world of academics and corporate India have shared their views from the podium. We have had the pleasure of having eminent personalities like Dr. C. Rangarajan - Governor RBI, Dr. P L Tandon and Dr. Udai Pareek - Distinguish Faculty IIHMR , Mr. Narayan Murthy - Chairman of Infosys Technologies Ltd. and Ms. Anu Aga, Ex-Chairperson and Director on the Board, Thermax India as our distinguished speakers.

Ravi Matthai, The Personality

Educated at Oxford University, Ravi Matthai started his career in the industry in a Calcutta based firm. His step into academics was as a senior Professor of Marketing in IIM, Calcutta. He was also a Visiting Professor at MIT and then joined Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad as its first Director. He built IIM, Ahmedabad as an institution around the core value of academic autonomy. His indefatigable spirit and enthusiastic quest for innovation led him to experiment progressively in Institution Building at IIM Ahmedabad, which has emerged as an institution of excellence in management education. He also provided leadership to the experiment in rural education, which is epitomized by the Jawaja Experiment.

Shri Ravi Matthai left his earthly abode on February 13, 1984 at the age of 57.

The Memorial Lecture Series

The very first lecture was held on March 8, 1996 at IIM Ahmedabad. Dr. C Rangarajan, the Governor of RBI was the distinguished speaker on this auspicious occasion and shared his views on ‘Rural India: Role of Credit '. On June 6, 1997 the second lecture was held at the Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad. On this occasion we were honored by the esteemed presence of Dr. Udai Pareek who shared his thoughts and views on ‘What and How of Institution Building: Ravi Matthai Revisited’. Dr. P L Tandon graced the third lecture on August 8, 1998 and spoke on "Institution Building". Mr. Narayan Murthy, Chairman, Infosys Technologies Ltd. honored the fourth occasion with his esteemed presence and shared his views on ‘Reforms in Higher Education’. This lecture was organized on December 15, 2001 in Bangalore and saw the collaboration between industry and management education in India.

The fifth Ravi Matthai Memorial Lecture was held on November 27, 2004 at KLMDC, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Ms. Anu Aga, Ex-Chairperson and Director on the Board, Thermax India graced the occasion and delivered a lecture on “Culture Change in Turnaround: The Thermax Experience”. It was attended by distinguished management professionals namely, Prof. Ashoke Chatterjee, Dr. T.V Rao, Prof. Indira Parikh, Dr. Udai Pareek, Prof. Prafull Anubhai and many others who joined in remembering the great institution builder, Ravi Matthai. Ms. Aga’s open and interesting account of the Thermax story was highly appreciated by the audience.