Meet the big players produced by the CEO Factory - JBIMS

Widely known as the CEO Factory in the management circle, JBIMS (Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies) is ranked among the top B-schools of India.

Founded under the stewardship of the Late Dr. K.S. Basu, Ex-Vice Chairman of HUL, this institute is a constituent department of the University of Mumbai and has consequently been listed in the category of the best business schools across the countries of the Asia-Pacific region.

Owing to its splendid placement records, comprehensive curriculum, experienced faculty, and an extensive list of its alumni who have reached top positions in various MNCs, Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies is no less than the top IIMs. Here is a carefully curated list of JBIMS Alumni who have made it big in the market and made their alma mater proud.

1. Uday Kotak

One of the most renowned alumni of JBIMS, Uday Kotak, refused a much lucrative job offer from a multinational that he was being offered after passing out from the campus. Instead, Kotak decided to start out on his own venture from a seed capital of less than US$80,000 borrowed from family and friends, he converted a bill-discounting start-up into a financial service. 

Today he is a billionaire banker, and the executive vice-chairman and managing director of Kotak Mahindra Bank. 

Over the next few years of starting Kotak Capital Management Finance Ltd, he diversified his business into various sectors of financial services, anchoring a significant presence in stockbroking, bill discounting, car finance, life insurance, investment banking and mutual funds. 

Kotak Mahindra Finance Ltd. became the first company in India’s corporate history to receive a banking license from Reserve Bank of India in March 2003. In August 2019 Kotak was reported to be one of the most highly paid CEOs of any Indian banks.

2. Nitin Paranjpe

Alumni of JBIMS, Nitin Paranjpe has the prestigious tag of being the youngest CEO in the history of Hindustan Unilever and during his tenure was credited as a man who turned around the fortunes of the business and produced amazing results in a tough macro-economic environment.

He is currently the Chief Operating Officer of Unilever and prior to this position, he was the President of Unilever's Food and Refreshment business. 

Paranjpe has also been the Executive Vice President for the South Asia region encompassing Unilever's businesses in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal from 2008-2013.

3. Ajay Piramal

Indian billionaire industrialist and a pass out of JBIMS, Ajay Piramal is the chairman of the Piramal Group which is a diversified global business conglomerate, that has a presence across various sectors such as Pharma, Financial Services and Healthcare Insights & Analytics. 

Not only this, Piramal has been at multiple important positions, like Non-Executive Director, Tata Sons Ltd, Member, Board of Dean's Advisors, Harvard Business School, President and Chairman of the Governing Body, Anant National University, Co-Chair, UK-India CEO Forum, Member of the Honourable Prime Minister's Council for Trade & Industry and the Board of Trade constituted by the Ministry of Commerce, Member of the Honourable Prime Minister's Task Force on Pharmaceuticals and Knowledge-Based Industries, Member, Central Board of State Bank of India and an Invitee to the World Economic Forum for the last 20 years.

His awe-inspiring list of credentials is proof of the strong foundation he built during his days in JBIMS. 

4. Lalita D. Gupte

Recruited directly from the Mumbai-based CEO factory, Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Lalita Gupte had catapulted her career with ICICI Ltd as a trainee in the Project Appraisal department. 

She played a significant role in the listing of ICICI shares in the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) with which ICICI became the first Indian enterprise to be listed in NYSE, and the second Asian Bank to have done so.

Lalita Gupte was also listed "as one of the fifty most powerful women in international business,” by Fortune. Mrs. Lalita Dileep Gupte, is currently an Independent Director of ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Limited. 

5. Harish Manwani

Joining Unilever as a management trainee in 1976, Harish Manwani retired as the global Chief operating officer of Unilever. Manwani spent almost four decades with Unilever, holding various senior general management positions globally, including overseeing Unilever’s businesses in Latin America, North America, Asia, and Africa.

An alumnus of JBIMS, he also attended the advanced management program at the Harvard Business School. 

Manwani currently serves on the Board of Directors of Nielsen Holdings plc, Qualcomm Incorporated, Pearson plc, Whirlpool Corporation and The Economic Development Board (EDB) of Singapore and is serving as the Senior Operating Partner at Blackstone. He is a non-Executive Chairman of Hindustan Unilever Limited in India and also a member of the executive board of the Indian School of Business. 

6. Chanda Kochhar

Chanda Kochhar is the former managing director and chief executive officer of ICICI Bank. She is undoubtedly the most famous JBIMS alumni from where she did a master of management studies and even received the Wockhardt Gold Medal for Excellence in Management Studies as well as the J. N. Bose Gold Medal in Cost Accountancy. 

She joined ICICI as a Management Trainee and is widely recognized for her role in shaping retail banking in the country. Under Kochhar's leadership, ICICI Bank won the "Best Retail Bank in India" award in 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2005 and "Excellence in Retail Banking Award" in 2002. 

In 2017 she also made it to the rankings of most powerful women in business outside the United States drawn up by the Fortune magazine where she was placed at the 5th spot.

7. Bala Deshpande

Bala Deshpande a pass out from the sought-after B School, JBIMS is another living proof that the premier institute does stand up to its name, The CEO Factory. 

Deshpande is the Senior Managing Director of the venture capital firm, New Enterprise Associates (India) since 2008. NEA is a venture capital firm with over US$13 billion in committed capital. NEA started direct investments in India during the downturn in 2008 and has since built a portfolio of 14 companies. 

Prior to joining the board of NEA, Bala was the Director of Investments at ICICI Ventures where she used her operational experience and expertise to identify opportunities for investment and to play a strategic role in shaping the future of investee companies.

She has also been listed as the 49th most powerful woman in India by Fortune India in 2016.

8. Vinita Bali 

Formerly the Managing Director of Britannia Industries Limited, Vinita Bali is an Indian business woman and a proud alumnus of JBIMS, Mumbai. 

With a panache for excellence, Bali did her bachelor's in Economics from Lady Shri Ram College for Women at the University of Delhi. Then she earned an MBA from the prestigious B School Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies. She even received a scholarship to Michigan State University in the United States and served as an intern at United Nations Headquarters. 

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