Ashish Nanda, the director of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, stepped down from his post on Thursday citing personal reasons, PTI reported. Nanda’s resignation letter was accepted by IIM-A Board of Governors’ chairman by Kumar Mangalam Birla, who requested him to continue till September 1 for a smooth transition.
Nanda has resigned more than a year before his tenure was scheduled to end. His resignation comes at a time when the IIM Bill, 2017, which grants IIMs power to issue degrees and increases autonomy, has been tabled in Parliament.
In his letter addressed to the IIM-A, Nanda said that it had been tough for him to live away from his wife and son. “On September 1, it will be four years, since I took charge,” Nanda said. “It is a good time to step aside and to hand over the responsibility and honour of leading the institute to the next, fortunate person.”
Birla, the chairman of Aditya Birla Group, thanked Nanda for his “unwavering commitment” to IIM-A. “I fully understand your need to be with family and the inconvenience that the separation is causing you,” Birla said in his reply.
Nanda has an electrical engineering degree from IIT-Delhi. He has a post graduate diploma in management from IIM-A. He later went on to pursue his masters and PhD in economics from Harvard University. Nanda was a faculty member at Harvard Business School before he took charge as the IIM-A director on September 2, 2013.
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