Mumbai, Oct 06: BITS School of Management, under the aegis of BITS Pilani, celebrated its fifth anniversary, ‘Pancham’ today in Mumbai. The milestone event brought together more than 600 participants, including industry leaders, academicians, alumni, faculty, students, and the Deans and Directors of BITS campuses, to reflect on BITSoM's five-year journey and discuss the next phase of management education.
As artificial intelligence reshapes industries across the globe, BITSoM outlined a comprehensive AI ecosystem spanning curriculum, research, venture creation and industry collaboration, reflecting its belief that the future of management education lies in creating builders.
On the fifth anniversary, Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chancellor, BITS Pilani and Chairman of the Governing Council, BITSoM, said,
‘Today, we find ourselves at a remarkable moment. India is changing at an extraordinary speed, and technology is changing the way we live and work. The boundaries between disciplines are becoming increasingly porous and problems that once belonged to one domain now spill into many others.
The next few years may be particularly interesting for education. As AI transforms how knowledge is created, accessed and applied, the value of management education can no longer lie solely in teaching what is already known. Instead, business schools must prepare graduates to solve complex problems and create builders who can navigate the unknown.’
Mr Birla added,
‘The golden age of Indian education lies ahead of us. India will need many more global institutions as it grows.’
Prof. Saravanan Kesavan, Dean, BITSoM, said,
‘BITSoM today has one of the strongest AI curricula among business schools in the country. Rather than treating AI as a standalone subject, it is woven across the curriculum, helping students understand how technology is reshaping every business function, from decision-making and operations to marketing and customer engagement.’
Extending AI learning beyond the classroom, BITSoM’s Vertex, an AI venture incubator, developed in strategic partnership with LENZ, a Silicon Valley AI Innovation Studio, will nurture the next generation of B2B AI ventures. More than 2,300 start-ups from across India applied to the programme, with 35 selected through a Builders' Pitch Fest. Each start-up will work alongside teams of BITSoM students, giving them first-hand exposure to the entrepreneurial journey, from developing a Minimum Viable Product to building solutions that can scale.
At the centre of BITSoM’s AI ecosystem is BRAIN Lab, which brings together faculty, students, and industry partners to identify and develop AI solutions for real business challenges, turning academic research into enterprise-ready applications. Promising use cases are developed into scalable solutions, creating a bridge between research and practical enterprise impact.
The school’s course in Forward Deployed Engineering Management, focuses on understanding organisational workflows, identifying opportunities for AI-led transformation, and deploying technology to solve real-world business problems. The programme is among the first attempts by a business school globally to bring this emerging discipline into management education.
In just five years, BITSoM has graduated 579 students from 21 states and 123 cities across India. Its alumni have gone on to build careers across leading global organisations, including Google, Microsoft, McKinsey, BCG, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Nestlé and Pidilite.
As it enters its next phase, the institution is positioning itself at the intersection of management, technology and entrepreneurship, with the ambition of building leaders for a world where AI is increasingly becoming central to how businesses compete and grow.
