The Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore held its 50th convocation today, March 28. Vikram Sarabhai Professor and former Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), S. Somanath was the chief guest of the event.
During the convocation, IIM Bangalore awarded degrees to students of various programmes, including Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) and MBA. The programmes included Post Graduate Programme in Enterprise Management (PGPEM), Executive Post Graduate Programme in Management (EPGP), Post Graduate Programme in Business Analytics (PGPBA) and Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGP). Students of the Post Graduate Programme in Public Policy and Management (PGPPM) received the degree of Master of Management Studies (Public Policy), while others were awarded the Post Graduate Diploma in Public Policy and Management.
One PhD scholar received a gold medal for excellence in research, and gold medals were also awarded for best overall performance, first rank and second rank.
IIM Bangalore Convocation 2025: Gold Medalists
PhD
Ashish Singh Bhandari from Uttarakhand, a student of the Production and Operations Management field, received the Institute Research Award 2025 and the Professor Prakash G. Apte Award 2025. Ashish, 34, works as an assistant professor at the Master’s Union School of Business (MUSB) in Gurugram, India. His research focuses on energy storage, supply disruptions, inventory management and optimization.
ePGP
Parth Tiwari from Chhattisgarh secured first position in the Executive Post Graduate Program in Management (EPGP). At the age of 29, Parth consistently ranked in the top five out of 82 students and was included in the Director’s Merit List. He was also an elected member of the Student Academic Committee. Parth’s team reached the final round of the Cornell EMI Corning Case Competition 2024, where they were among the top eight teams globally out of 154 teams.
Siddharth Pujari from Odisha was recognised as the best all-round performer in the programme. A sports enthusiast, Siddharth represented IIM Bangalore in events like Sangharsh (IML) and Sangram as part of the badminton team. He won gold in Spardha and Executive Cup, silver in Shaurya (men’s singles) and bronze in Ektva (mixed doubles) at IIM Ahmedabad. Siddharth also authored the BrandCom Handbook, the first standardised guide for the programme.
PGP and PGPBA
Manthan Dhabria from Rajasthan secured first position in the Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGP). He represented IIM Bangalore in several case competitions and achieved notable successes, including becoming the national winner of PwC Challenge 5.0 and national first runner-up in WinZO BOSS Season 4, Kotak Life Growth Manager Season 3 and Accuracy Business Cup 2025. He also won Campus Winner/National Finalist titles in Venture Capital Investment Competition 2024 and Renew ReLead 6.0, and was a national finalist in Mahindra Rise Challenge and Airtel Create 2024. His stellar performance earned him four pre-placement interviews (PPIs) and one pre-placement offer (PPO).
Ritwik Sandeep Saraf of Mumbai secured second place. Ritwik achieved perfect grades of 4.0 in 11 out of 31 courses and A grades in all 31 courses, resulting in a cumulative GPA of 3.87. He also excelled in business and finance case competitions, winning or podiuming in four national case competitions and reaching the national finalist stage in several others. Ritwik served as a Junior Placement Representative and was the section topper in all three terms in his first year, earning him a place in the Director’s Merit List. He was awarded the Mold-Tech Scholarship and the IIMB Merit Scholarship.
Paritosh Ashutosh Sharma from Uttar Pradesh emerged as the best all-round performer in both PGP and PGPBA. He got a Director’s merit list and scholarship after his first year. Paritosh attended an exchange semester at HEC Paris, where he scored a perfect grade of 4.00 in seven out of eight subjects, and achieved a CGPA of 3.94/4.00. His graduation CGPA at IIMB was 3.79/4.00.
Paritosh Ashutosh Sharma also served as the senior coordinator of the alumni committee and IIM Bangalore’s cultural festival Mania. He captained the institute’s tennis and squash teams, helping them win medals in various competitions over the last two years.
Faiz Alam from Bihar secured first position in the Post Graduate Programme in Business Analytics (PGPBA). During the programme, Faiz secured a place in the Director’s Merit List for being among the top 5% of his batch and was the section topper in two out of three sessions in his first year. His exceptional academic performance earned him several scholarships. Faiz was also selected for P&G’s Emerging Leaders Programme and reached the national finals of the Infosys Ingenious Case Competition.
PGPEM
Naveen Rathani from Rajasthan, who topped the PGPEM programme and had the best all-round performance, won seven case competitions at top institutes such as IIM Bangalore, IIM Indore, IIM Amritsar, IIM Bodh Gaya and Symbiosis Bangalore. He also made it to the national finals in case competitions at IIM Lucknow and IIM Calcutta. Naveen helped organise workshops during Drishti 2023 and Drishti Silver Jubilee, working closely with the PGPEM office, faculty and alumni. He was named one of the ‘40-Under-40 Data Scientists’ by Analytics India Magazine and one of the ‘40-Under-40 AI Innovators’ by Analytics Insights Group.
PGPPM
Awais Patvegar from Maharashtra received the gold medal for best academic performance in the Post Graduate Programme in Public Policy and Management (PGPPM). Awais, 38, is an Indian Corporate Law Service (ICLS) officer of the 2014 batch of the UPSC Civil Services.
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