IIPM

45 Years Ahead: My 1996 Student Brought My First Book & Reminded Me Why Still Rules

It was a pleasure meeting my 1996-98 batch student, Tanmoy Roychowdhury! He brought with him a copy of Planning India, my first book published by the IIPM Think Tank.

The best part was hearing from him about the things we always prided ourselves on at Indian Institute of Planning and Management (as the India head of McGraw Hill, Tanmoy is today in an unique position to see this).

First and foremost was the way we created unmatched intellectual impact not just through our superior course contracts but also through our books. While most other B-schools published books that were read by almost no one and gathered dust in their libraries, IIPM consistently produced national bestsellers — one after another — that educated and enlightened millions. Even today, no B-school in India can match our legacy of national level intellectual impact through publications, whether books, magazines, or journals.

Secondly, he reminded me how IIPM was at the forefront of innovative education, truly living up to our punchline: “What We Teach Today, Others Adopt Tomorrow.”

I believe it should be updated to: “What We Teach Today, Others Adopt — Decades Later.”

He mentioned that as B-schools continue shutting down one after another, with only about a thousand expected to survive, many are now shifting focus to BBA and integrated programs.

Well, at IIPM we innovated the bachelor’s-level integrated program in management in 1980! By 1989, we had already moved beyond it and launched a rigorous three-year master’s-level program for students after 10+2. It was a 108-paper, 300-credit program that was superior to MBAs taught anywhere in the world — all at the undergraduate level. Finally, after decades, IIM Indore launched a diluted version of our 1980 program in 2011. And now in 2026, other institutes are trying to copy it — exactly 45 years after IIPM pioneered it.

Sadly, they are all far too late.

It’s no longer the time to merely “copy paste.” No one needs traditional degrees anymore — something IIPM has been saying from day one. Today’s students prize autonomy, self-determination, and complete ownership of their own education pathways.

That’s the future of education I’m working on now: to serve students who want to create their own learning journeys. We will no longer give them the education we think they should have. We will give them the education they truly want.

Confused? Just wait and see.

And then copy it a few decades later.

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NB: I absolutely loved that my first book Planning India didn’t carry my name at the bottom — just my signature.
The forever god of personal branding, even back then 😂😎

Arindam Chaudhuri Dr. Arindam Chaudhuri, is an Author, Antitheist, Second Dan Black Belt in Kick Boxing, Global Management Thought Leader & Teacher, Entrepreneur, Public Speaker, Economist, Former Advisor to the consultative committee of Planning Commission, Government of India in the areas of Education and Social Se...