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Tree-plantation drive, lecture mark festivities of 38th Foundation Day of IIM-L
The Foundation Day lecture was delivered by senior alumnus, Munish Sharda, group executive and head (Bharat Banking) at Axis Bank
The Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, celebrated its 38th Foundation Day on Wednesday. Festivities began on Tuesday with a tree-plantation drive in the morning. The drive was launched by the director, Archana Shukla.
Speaking about the drive, Shukla said that saving the environment is the most important agenda today globally. She said, “IIM Lucknow has always believed in focusing on saving the environment, be it creating and maintaining the green cover, or recycling of water, or harvesting rainwater.”
The Foundation Day lecture was delivered by senior alumnus, Munish Sharda, group executive and head (Bharat Banking) at Axis Bank. He is 1997 alumnus of IIM Lucknow.
Sharda spoke about how small beginnings and big aspirations can lead to great outcomes. He shared leadership lessons from his 30-year illustrious career in the financial services space and outlined how qualities such as ethics, humility, patience, hard work, customer obsession and lifelong learning has helped him tremendously in his career.
He said that the semi-urban and rural (SURU) markets of India are experiencing strong tailwinds backed by various government schemes, the rise of Agri tech companies, demographic dividend, formalisation of the economy, the rise of manufacturing, coming up of aggregation models such as FPOs, and a huge uplift in the physical and digital infrastructure of the country.
He also spoke about how Axis Bank is approaching SURU markets and building a distinctive model by having a customer-led strategy, building an ecosystem via deep partnerships, integrating local nuances into the delivery model, operating with a digital mindset, forming specific capabilities in data, underwriting, and talent for the SURU customers.
The festivities ended with a cultural night where employees who had completed 25 years of service in the institution were honoured along with performances from community members.
