Kolkata, September 26, 2026: The Institute of Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Development (iLEAD), Kolkata, marked sixteen remarkable years of academic excellence, innovation and community impact with its Annual Day & Awards, themed "Innovision 2026 — Imagine. Innovate. Integrate," on Thursday, 24 September 2026 at the prestigious Dhono Dhannyo Auditorium of Kolkata.
The celebration unfolded across a full day of felicitations, performances and recognitions that brought together the iLEAD community — students, alumni, faculty, employees and distinguished guests — to honour a journey defined by creativity, achievement and shared milestones.
A Day of Recognition and Reflection
The programme opened at 11:00 AM with the lighting of the lamp and Saraswati Vandana, followed by the felicitation of distinguished guests and a specially curated film tracing iLEAD's sixteen-year journey. iLEAD Chairman Pradip Chopra addressed the gathering, reflecting on the institution's evolution and vision for the future.
The morning session featured the presentation of over 50 awards across three sets, recognising outstanding contributions from students, faculty and partners. Highlights included a special screening of the film "Crompton", a TED Talk on innovation by Jimmy Tangree, and a tribute film on James Prinsep.
Distinguished guests felicitated through the morning included Priti Patel, Maj. Gen. Chaturvedi, Shyam Sundar Agarwal, Sunil Agarwal, Kasturi Kejriwal, Chaitali Ganguly, Sujata Sen alongside iLEAD's Chairman Pradip Chopra, Executive Director Pragya Chopra, Principal Dr. Niloy Sarkar and Director Apala Datta.
Evening Gala: Innovision 2026
The celebrations continued into the evening with the Annual Day & Awards gala at the Dhono Dhanyo Auditorium, Alipore, from 4:30 PM to 8:35 PM. The evening began with the Ganesh Vandana and the lighting of the lamp, followed by welcome remarks from Chairman Pradip Chopra, an address by the Chief Guest, the Vice Chancellor of MAKAUT (Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology), Prof. Tapas Chakraborty.
The lamp-lighting and guest felicitation brought together the Vice Chancellor of MAKAUT, Prof. Tapas Chakraborty, Lt. Col. Anant Sinha (Director, The Asiatic Society), Dr. Dipankar Dasgupta (Professor of University of Memphis), Rita Bhimani, Devieka Paul (Omartha), Aman Shukla (Omartha), Jasmeet Singh Arora, Maj Gen. Vikram Gupta and Jai Bothra, alongside Chairman Pradip Chopra, Executive director Pragya Chopra, Director Apala Dutta and Principal Dr. Niloy Sarkar.
The Student Awards (27 students) were presented by the Vice Chancellor of MAKAUT, Prof. Tapas Chakraborty, Lt. Col. Anant Sinha and Rita Bhimani, while the Alumni Awards (40 awards) were presented by Devieka Paul, Aman Shukla, Rohit Sarkar, Arjun Kulkarni and Manav Soni. Employee Awards (30 awards) were presented by Dr. Dipankar Dasgupta and Sanjeev Nandwani. The Chairman Awards were awarded to long term associates of the founding management team and was awarded by Pradip Chopra and Pratiti Chopra.
Both the morning and evening was alive with vibrant cultural programmes, including Ganesh Vandana, Saraswati Vandana, Dance drama as an ode to Mahabharata and students presentation of Bollywood as a way of life. There were two fashion shows, one by students titled the 4 Kingdoms of Light and one was by employees titled Tribute to Timeless Fashion capped with a closing musical performance, rounding off a day that celebrated iLEAD's sixteen-year legacy of excellence, innovation and impact.
