Faculty development workshop on ‘Indian Knowledge Systems for Business Education’
April 10-11, 2025
The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 places strong emphasis on the integration of Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) into higher education. This initiative seeks to foster a holistic, multidisciplinary approach to learning while celebrating and preserving India’s rich intellectual and cultural traditions. The relevance of IKS is only expected to grow as India reclaims its distinct voice in shaping the future of education — across domains from science and technology to leadership and management.
At SPJIMR, this focus on IKS is not new. Our institute has long stood out among top B-schools for emphasising Eastern thought in management and embedding proto-IKS themes within our curriculum. This legacy positions us well to further engage with this national priority in a meaningful and thought-leading way.
In that spirit, we organised a Faculty development workshop on ‘Indian Knowledge Systems for Business Education’ on April 10–11, 2025, at SPJIMR, under the aegis of SPJIMR’s Centre for Wisdom in Leadership (CWIL). This programme was specifically curated for B-school faculty and received encouraging participation from 25 external faculty members from several management institutes in Mumbai and 16 SPJIMR faculty members. Addressing the participants, SPJIMR Dean Varun Nagaraj said, “As we look to infuse IKS principles in management education curriculum, it is important that we are specific about what is new and additive to existing approaches that have been built on the liberal arts, ethics, and systems thinking. I thank our conference attendees for engaging in an intellectually rigorous discussion around this question.”
Prof. Mahadevan’s inaugural session provided a comprehensive overview of the Indian Knowledge System, clarifying what constitutes IKS and what does not. His discussion highlighted various pathways through which IKS can effectively be integrated into general education and, specifically, into business education curricula.
The second session, led by Prof. Mohnot, went deep into the nuances of Marwari and Indigenous businesses in India. It offered valuable perspectives on the practical implementation of IKS in real-world business contexts, presenting insights on how we might translate these into meaningful classroom experiences. The day 2 sessions featured:
- Prof. Ashish Pandey discussing leadership through the lens of Indian Psychology, focusing on valuable concepts from the Bhagavad Gita, yoga philosophies, and their practical applications in modern management.
- Prof. Varadraj Bapat exploring Indian financial and economic systems, discussing ancient financial instruments and the relevance of indigenous economic principles in today’s business education.
- Prof. Surya Tahora synthesising the workshop and sharing insights into designing and developing an IKS-integrated curriculum, blending ancient knowledge with contemporary pedagogical techniques.
- A panel discussion on Integrating IKS in Business Education
Prof. Surya Tahora, Executive Director, SPJIMR CWIL, summarised that this workshop reflected a growing recognition that our academic institutions can be spaces of intellectual decolonisation but also creative renewal, not by rejecting modernity but by deepening it with the wisdom and subtlety of our indigenous traditions.