The Indian Institute of Management Sambalpur marked a milestone on Saturday as it awarded degrees to 416 students across five programmes at its 10th annual convocation, with women making up a dominant 76% of the graduating cohort.

The graduating class comprised 314 students from the MBA batch (2024–26), 39 from the Executive MBA batch (2023–25), 36 from the Executive MBA batch (2024–26), 17 from the Executive MBA for Working Professionals batch (2024–26), along with 5 PhD for Working Professionals candidates and 5 PhD scholars.

Hari Babu Kambhampati attended the ceremony as chief guest, while Prativa Mohapatra, Vice President and Managing Director of Adobe India, was the guest of honour. The event was also attended by Prof. Chandan Chowdhury, Chairperson-In-Charge, Board of Governors, and Prof. Mahadeo Prasad Jaiswal, Director of the institute.

Top academic honours were conferred across programmes. The Chairman’s Gold Medal was awarded to Srijan Chakraborty (MBA 2024–26), Varsha Sameer Meher (Executive MBA 2023–25), Priyanka Rath (Executive MBA 2024–26), and Allwyn Francis (MBA for Working Professionals 2024–26). The Director’s Gold Medal went to Chirag Kundra, Sk Aftabuddin Mohammed, Rajkishore Kar, and Alok Shukla across corresponding programmes. Manya Singh (MBA 2024–26) received the IIM Sambalpur Gold Medal for Best All-Round Performance.

Addressing the graduating cohort, Director Prof. Mahadeo Prasad Jaiswal highlighted the institute’s recent strides, noting that the 2025–26 academic year marked a phase of “strategic growth, inclusivity, and academic distinction.” He pointed to the institute’s rise of 16 positions in the NIRF 2025 rankings and its growing global recognition for AI-enabled learning, with comparisons drawn to Harvard Business School.

In her keynote, Prativa Mohapatra reflected on the shifting global landscape, describing a transition from a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) world to a BANI (brittle, anxious, nonlinear, incomprehensible) reality. She also commended the institute’s campus and its focus on academic innovation, urging graduates to adapt to an increasingly unpredictable environment.