Deepika Gupta is an Assistant Professor Corporate Strategy & Policy Area and Director Finance of Sec 8 Company of the Institute IIMV Foundation for Incubation Entrepreneurial Learning and Development (IIMV FIELD). She joined Indian Institute of Management Visakhapatnam in June 2018 as Assistant Professor in Strategy Area and it has been an enriching and exciting journey for her since then.
Deepika graduated in Commerce from Mulund College of Commerce, Mumbai University and then completed Masters in Financial Services and Management from Alkesh Dinesh Mody Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai University with First Rank.
She cleared Chartered Accountancy exams in first attempt in May 1997 and secured All India 9th Rank in Chartered Secretary Dec 1998 exams. She received the Saraswati Dhanuka Memorial Award for 1st rank amongst female candidates and Ghanshyam Das Saraf Memorial Gold Medal for highest marks in ‘Corporate Tax Management – Indirect Tax’ paper in Chartered Secretary Finals.
Deepika had been a regular recipient of various prizes, awards, certificates for debates, elocution competitions and others during her school and college days. In April 2022, Deepika was awarded the C K Prahalad Prashasti for Corporate and Social Strategy 2022 for research focus on Cultural Entrepreneurship & Intellectual Property. This award was conferred by ReTHINK INDIA that honored eminent figures in Corporate & Social Strategy to celebrate their strategic contributions toward Aatamnirbhar Bharat.
Compelling Career
Deepika began her professional career with M/s Shah and Dhokia, Chartered Accountant firm in Mumbai and worked for about 3 years before joining Bombay Stock Exchange as Management Trainee. All the organizations she worked for provided equal opportunity and enough space for growth and learning.
After about 12 years with BSE, she joined IIM Bangalore for the Doctoral Programme in the Strategy Area. It was in IIMB where she got a chance to relearn and upskill herself. Then she joined IIMV as Assistant Professor in Strategy Area.
Deepika handled various roles during the past 2-3 years in the Institute like Chairing the Students Affairs Council, Placements, Internal Complaints Committee, RTI First Appellate Authority and had been on various Committees of the Institute since then.
From Feb 2021, she holds the position of the Chief Vigilance Officer of the Institute, nominated by CBI, Government of India and ensure that the processes and policies are transparent, corrupt free and adhered to the laid down government regulations to prevent malpractices of any kind in recruitment, procurement and other administrative matters.
As the current Vice Chair and Secretary on the Executive Board of Academy of International Business (AIB) South Asia Chapter, she was able to Chair 2 conferences in the Institute on International Business theme to help doctoral students and faculty in their research agendas.
As a faculty, her primary work is to teach and she continues doing that even today. She teaches courses like Competition & Strategy, Business Government & Society, Innovation and New Product Development, Corporate Governance, Legal Aspects of Business, Strategic Tax Management for various programs like PGP, PGPEx, PGPDGM and others at the Institute. Deepika also conducts and takes sessions in various MDPs/EEPs conducted by the Institute.
About being selected as Cover Story for TimeIconic, Deepika expressed,
“I am really thrilled and excited to be chosen as Cover Story for ‘The 10 Most Disruptive Business Leaders to Follow in 2023 in this esteemed TIME ICONIC magazine. “I think this marks the beginning of the bright journey ahead….”
IIMV: Delivering a quality environment for Entrepreneurs
IIMV is one of the new generation IIMs, set up by Government of India in September 2015 in line with the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2014. Under the IIM Act 2017, effective from 31/01/2018, the Institute has become a body corporate and declared as an Institution of National Importance. The Institute has started its academic operations in the ongoing construction of its word-class campus of approx. 241 acres of land about 25 kilometers from the present (temporary) state-of-the-art campus in the salubrious Andhra University campus in the ‘City of Destiny’, Visakhapatnam. Even though a new entrant in the Indian Education Sector, set up through statute, IIMV has marked its significance in a span of just 7 years. The factsheet of the Institute confirms the same.
IIMV FIELD a Section 8 Company under the Institute has the following objectives:
- To promote, develop and nurture the culture of entrepreneurship and innovation by way of facilitating, enabling, creating, fostering, supporting, funding/investing, mentoring, managing the entrepreneurial efforts, initiatives, endeavors, and ventures.
- To promote and develop platforms which can provide networking opportunities for prospective and potential entrepreneurs, students, teachers/faculty, researchers, alumni groups, angel investor groups and such other like and to enhance possibilities of mutual learning, sharing of knowledge and experiences; cross-fertilization of ideas; exchange of constructive thoughts and dissemination of best practices among such groups.
- To promote education, research and other programs and activities in creativity, upskilling, re-skilling, re-tooling, incubation, acceleration, innovation, entrepreneurial learning and entrepreneurship development and allied areas of knowledge as well as interdisciplinary studies and domains.
They also have a Startup Policy that is inclusive in nature and encourages faculty and students to be part of the entrepreneurial activities. This helps the students to understand the challenges, problems, issues for startups either in fundraising, marketing, logistics and others. Therefore they do several Capacity Building Programs to build the entrepreneurship ecosystem across the Nation and Specifically Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Regions. IIMV also receives government funds through various startup programs like TIDE, DST and others.
IIMV: A trend-setter and path-breaker
The Institute has as of now the following Degree Granting Programmes:
This is a research intensive programme aimed at imparting high-quality training in research. The programme aims primarily at training prospective scholars to excel in their chosen areas of research through high-quality publications. This programme would also prepare scholars to be highly skilled teachers.
The normal duration of the programme is five years, comprising two years of course work, a comprehensive examination and thesis work consisting of a thesis proposal defense; and a final thesis evaluation and defense.
Collaboration between faculty members and students is the hallmark of this Programme. The faculty members at IIMV are adept in research and publishing, providing a conducive environment for prospective scholars to find areas of interest from a rich and diverse bouquet of management themes.
The prospective scholars with a passion for research are encouraged to apply to this programme. The Institute is confident that its doctoral degree holders will make a positive and profound impact in their chosen field of career, be it in government, business, or academia.
This is a flagship two-year, full-time, residential Post Graduate Programme (MBA), designed to equip students to take on leadership roles in a rapidly changing global scenario.
With three terms in a year and summer internship on completion of first year, the Programme lays foundation for conceptual and analytical reasoning, and gives students an insight into the dynamics of the business environment. Guest lectures, by various academicians, industrialists, and eminent personalities, also enrich student experience. Courses are delivered and evaluated through a combination of lectures, classroom discussions, case studies, individual and group projects, term papers, role plays, business games etc.
Students have to complete the required credits for core and elective courses during the programme. The courses aim to develop problem-solving skills and lay the foundation for all the functional areas of management and also help them to get in-depth knowledge. There is greater emphasis on the application of knowledge gained through projects, group exercises and case discussions.
- Post Graduate Program for Experienced Professional (PGPEx)
The PGPEx is an excellent opportunity for experienced professionals located in and around the City of Visakhapatnam to excel in their career. The overarching goal of the Program is to help the participants enhance their managerial competencies and leadership skills for professional growth and development; and through that advanced learning, contribute more effectively to their organizations. The specific objectives of the Program are to help the participants:
- Understand the demands and challenges of modern business organizations
- Enhance knowledge in functional management domains;
- Sharpen skills in diagnostic, analytical and decision-making tools and techniques;
- Contribute to organizational development with greater competence and confidence
- Post Graduate Program in Digital Governance and Management (PGPDGM)
This program was launched under the aegis of the National e-Governance Division (NeGD), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Govt. of India (GOI). Government and private organizations, alike, are placing immense faith in the value of digital technologies towards efficient and effective delivery of products and services. Government, in particular, is focused on transforming India digitally.
This is amply clear by the manifold increase in fund allocation for projects such as GeM, GSTN, UMANG, DigiLocker. Most of these projects require public-private partnerships leading to the need for managers equipped in technology and governance at the same time. Our DG&M Programme, in its third year, focuses on building the capacity of experienced professionals towards being an expert in this high-demand field of expertise.
The customized program is designed to enhance the digital-management capacities of participants. It is envisaged that the graduating candidates would catalyze the footprint and impact of Digital India growing more pervasive and profound, thereby contributing to quantitative and qualitative transformation in delivering services to end-users.
Continuing its journey towards steady progress and growth since its inception just seven years ago, IIMV has already carved out for itself a niche place in the comity of IIMs, crossing several milestones and maintaining a distinct lead in:
- Ongoing construction of its world-class infrastructure of IIMV Permanent Campus at Gambheeram, Anandpuram Mandal.
- Having rich knowledge resources; and modern infrastructure, even in its temporary campus, conducive to learning outcomes of high impact;
- Having a vibrant student cohort with national character – representing most of the states in India,- they excel in academics, co- and extracurricular activities and regularly win competitions pan-India;
- Recording top placements among 10 IIMs;
- Enjoying excellent linkage with apex industry bodies like CII;
- Having all faculty with PhDs from top-notch institutions of India and abroad such as IIMs, IITs and reputed foreign universities.
- Hosting the largest cohort of women-entrepreneurs, after IIM Bangalore , under a special initiative called the Women Start-up Program;
- Launching the PhD program from the Academic Year 2019-20;
- Conducting a customized MBA Program on weekends for experienced professionals;
- Offering (first-ever in the country) specialized MBA Program in Digital Governance & Management in blended learning mode, under the aegis of and sponsored by the Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY), Govt. of India;
- Starting a TIDE (Technology Incubation and Development of Entrepreneurship) Center under the aegis of and supported by MeitY, GOI (only the fifth IIM to enjoy this recognition and privilege);
- Building the capacities of teaching staff from the engineering colleges across the country, under the Technical Education Quality Improvement Program, sponsored by the National Project Implementation Unit, Ministry of HRD, Govt. of India;
- Conducting Management Development Programs for top-notch Central Public Sector Enterprises and corporates.
- Designing, developing and delivering the first-ever Certificate Program in R&D Management for the scientists of Naval Science & Technological Lab; DRDO, GOI;
- Receiving, on the strength of our credibility assiduously built on strong credentials, an endowment of Rs.22.0 Million from an eminent scientist and philanthropist (Dr B R L Row), towards construction of an Incubation Facility as well as institution of Gold Medal to be awarded, year after year, to the best-performing girl student in the MBA program;
- Reaching the threshold of constructing an iconic permanent campus with the largest area and the highest capital allocation among the new IIMs.
Exploring the new opportunities
The Institute continues to explore new opportunities and areas of growth. In this avenue, the Institute strives to introduce new programs and also continue to improve the current ones.
The new program that is being launched is as under:
- Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) for Working Professionals.
This is a master’s degree program designed with the objective of imparting management education to working executives seeking skills and strategies to make their organizations perform well. The program will be offered on an Interactive Learning (IL) platform in a blended mode and the first batch (2023-25) is scheduled to commence from May 2023. The specific objectives of the Program are to help participants:
- Understand the demands and challenges of modern business organizations.
- Enhance knowledge in functional management domains.
- Sharpen skills in diagnostic, analytical and decision-making tools, and techniques.
- Contribute to organizational development with greater competence and confidence.
In addition to the above degree granting programmes, the Institute also has various certificate granting short term programmes across various domains, subjects and areas.
The Institute continues to periodically review all its degree granting programs and credits various inputs and feedback received from various stakeholders.
Future Plans for IIMV
As IIMV is a new Institute, there is always a learning curve and a continuous effort to help employees feel connected to the vision, mission and values of the organization. The employees include both teaching and non-teaching staff who are committed and continuously motivated and incentivized to help the Institute reach its long term strategic vision. The feedback from various stakeholders is continuously looped in strategy formulation processes to ensure smooth implementation of various decisions taken by the Board.
IIMV’s goals for the next three to five years is to keep the revenue generation wheel moving faster as they gear up to meet the fixed and operational costs of the new campus getting ready by then. The Institute is continuously exploring more opportunities by betting big on management development programmes for various corporates and government organizations. The Institute is also looking to launch new degree granting programs in the next few years. They will continue to explore further with their new permanent campus to be operative fully in a few months. The institute aims to look for more programmes, industry connections and other activities to increase their revenues and bottom lines to become self-sustainable.
Deepika says that, “The Institute continues to look for more options of monetizing its world class infrastructure in the new campus. Collaboration, positivity and team spirit can help us achieve our targets and I hope that WE can do it !!”
IIMV’s vision is to champion and excel in educating and nurturing entrepreneurial leaders in creating innovative solutions for business, government, and society.
Mission:
- To be a pre-eminent business school focusing on contextually-relevant solutions for techno-managerial problems, leveraging global best practices and knowledge resources.
- To foster an environment that encourages creative learning for innovative outcomes.
- To promote relevance and excellence in all academic, research and allied knowledge pursuits.
- To demonstrate commitment to ethical and sustainable management practices.
- To contribute to professionalization of management education with equity and inclusivity as key drivers.
Values:
- Academic Freedom
- Equity
- Excellence
- Professionalism
- Sustainability
Foreshadowing on the upcoming challenges
The biggest challenge that the education industry is facing right now is aggressive competition with various educational institutes. As the number of management education providing institutes rise, each one has to carve out a niche to extract students for sustainability. The other challenge is to meet the financials of the Institute as the government funding dries up and survival is the challenge. Managing world class education in sprawling campuses can be a challenge to manage and sustain.
“Online education options is another threat that the industry faces. This has shown how technology has been a major force transforming any sector. However, as an Institute, I believe, we understood its maximum potential only during COVID-19 pandemic. Though we already had state of the art facilities in our temporary campus, we never thought that we needed to transform some of our learning techniques online for the benefit of various stakeholders, students in particular. We spent almost about Rupees One Crore to bring the best of the available online technological resources so that we continue to impart quality education seamlessly and without any friction. We also got robust and foolproof examination platforms on board and trained all the stakeholders about how to use them. We thereby managed all our programmes for almost more than two years without any reported glitch.”
“Though COVID-19 is a story of the past now, we continue to use some of these advancements even today. Some of our certificate programmes, executive education short term programmes continue on online mode. The Institute is also planning to start the EMBA programme through hybrid mode and I think many management schools have realized the potential of technology.”
“Various problems faced during pandemic have helped us gain experiences and these have been really useful as inputs to get the world class infrastructure set up in our permanent campus. Technology is the key instrument of imparting education and this is to stay for the future as well,” says Deepika.
A Great Leader
Deepika believes that, “As a leader it is inherent to take risk and no success can be achieved without risk taking appetite. Every action has different levels of risk and as a leader we should be ready to accept and celebrate failures as we do for successes.”
Traits of empathy and vulnerability enter in leadership roles. As a leader, Deepika always tries to be empathetic and understand the reasons for low employee morale at times!!. However, being empathetic does not signify being vulnerable for others.
“As a leader, I need to be firm and assertive along with being empathetic. With such confluence, vulnerability traits may be downplayed in various situations,”says Deepika.
She further explains, “Getting admitted as a student or getting selected for teaching or otherwise with an IIM has always been a dream for many. I am not sure if I faced challenges entering IIM but surely there have been initial challenges after venturing into the education industry. The education industry is like any other industry. Merit and performances are definitely recognized and awarded. There is tough competition to outperform each other at every level. Initially when I took over as Coordinator Administration, there were certain heartburns that created gaps within some of the colleagues. However, one cannot make everyone happy. The work speaks and performance bar was made so high that it should become difficult for the successor to reach or cross it. This is known on the basis of feedback received from various stakeholders. It is a self-satisficing feeling to be a part of the founding family members of the Institute.
The challenges are the same even now. Now that I handle other portfolios, I still find the same challenges that I experienced earlier. Sometimes, this is irritating and disgusting but as a leader we need to forget and forgive people around us. I too had my lows where certain colleagues behave differently and suddenly their personality traits are out. Sometimes, it gives a feeling that I am in ‘Big Boss (Brother)’ House !!”
Professional and Skilled Team
The biggest strength of the IIMV right now is the employees of the organization. Their faculty are recruited through a rigorous process of screening and assessment. They come from IIMs, IITs and other premier institutions of India and abroad, they have impressive academic and research credentials as well as industry exposure. This cohort is complemented by professionals and practitioners (visiting faculty) from the industry. The non-teaching employees provide incredible support and solidarity to the organization. The beautiful blending of their employees is the biggest positive that has a huge positive influence on the conduct of various events, activities, programmes and others. This is also one of the reasons that they were ranked 33 in the NIRF 2022 Rankings in the Management domain and were the first amongst the new generation IIMs in this NIRF 2022 Rankings.
In the education sector there are no closures and every day is a new learning. There is no end to the limits of knowledge and the Institute provides exactly new avenues to continue these steps forward. The institute has policies like work norms, incentivization schemes, annual performance rewards etc to guarantee motivation and productivity.
They have various forums, committees and counseling workshops to deal with disagreements and criticisms. In addition, one to one interactions are conducted to understand the matter and the reasons for such gaps. Many times, through negotiations and discussions, these issues get resolved. The organizational policies require employees insights, inputs and suggestions in various matters and policy formulation and implementation. So these instances are limited as many of the rules and regulations are governed by the Ministry of Education.
Supporting the Students
For IIM, Students and Alumni are major and most important stakeholders. The Institute continuously engages itself with them. For example, the course curriculum is revised at regular intervals to maintain quality and rigor for all the programmes. Inputs are received from students and alumni and inculcated in the changes made.
For the institute, students are brand ambassadors when they graduate. These are their alumni who provide them feedback about what the industry is looking for and how the dynamic environment requires the Institute to revamp its offerings in terms of courses, electives, structures, outlines and delivery. The students should be able to appreciate the learnings and imbibe in themselves these facets that shall help them in their professional careers.
As an Institute, it is ensured that their feedback is aligned with institutes strategies and changes are made accordingly to ensure a smooth and efficient strategy process for the organization.
Advice for Aspiring Leaders
Teaching is a noble profession. Therefore, I think that as an academician it is time to give back to society. My advice to the aspirants who are looking to venture into the Management sector as an academician is to be true to yourself and the rest follows. Be ethical and transparent. Accept mistakes if committed and do not try to find an escape route to avoid accountability.
The tree that is fully laden with fruits always is rooted to the ground. Be rooted to the ground, be empathetic and sympathetic, and respect your parents and colleagues and success will surely follow. Philosophically, be God-fearing.
Have the courage to speak the truth and follow what the heart says. Do not be part of the herd mentality for the sake of it. As the former President of India Shri APJ Abdul Kalam had said ‘Love your job to be happy’ I think we should do that.
As a leader, one should accept risks, do accept them and be courageous to face failures as well. There is no reward without risks.
