Chandrika Krishnamurthy Tandon with Pankaj Patel (chairperson, board of governors), Professor Bharat Bhasker (director, IIMA), and Ramesh Mangaleswaran (founding member, IIMA Endowment Fund) / Courtesy: IIMA/Saumya Mishra

The Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) officially inaugurated the Krishnamurthy Tandon School of Artificial Intelligence on March 26.

The ceremony featured a ribbon-cutting led by distinguished alumna Chandrika Krishnamurthy Tandon (PGP ‘75). Joining her were Pankaj Patel (chairperson, board of governors), Professor Bharat Bhasker (director, IIMA), and Ramesh Mangaleswaran (founding member, IIMA Endowment Fund), alongside a gathering of faculty and industry experts.

The Krishnamurthy Tandon School of Artificial Intelligence has been established through a landmark INR 100 crore (US $10.55 million) endowment from Chandrika Tandon and her husband, Ranjan Tandon. For Tandon—a business leader, Grammy-award-winning musician, and prominent figure in US philanthropy—this contribution to her alma mater represents a meaningful homecoming.

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While she is often recognized in India as the sister of former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi, the Tandons have long been titans of educational giving. Their 2015 gift of $100 million to New York University, resulting in the naming of the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, remains one of the largest educational donations ever made by the Indian-American community.

Sharing the vision behind establishing the school at IIMA, Tandon, the first Indian American woman to become a partner at McKinsey and Company, said, “It is an honor to be engaged with my beloved alma mater, IIMA, to set up the new AI school. As we all know, the changes about to be unleashed by the power of algorithms and machines are cataclysmic yet exciting.

The focus on applied research in vertical industry sectors and functions, identifying tangible challenges that can be transformed by AI, will allow IIMA to educate better future leaders and serve society with groundbreaking insights in partnership with industry. It is a very exciting development—indeed an imperative for today.”

The new school at IIMA aims to translate advances in AI into practical tools and solutions that support better decision-making, improve productivity, and address complex challenges across industry, government, and society.

The school is envisioned as a world-class platform deploying the growing power of AI in conjunction with IIMA’s management expertise to benefit business and society. By bridging frontier AI research with managerial, institutional, and societal challenges, it seeks to generate knowledge that is globally relevant and grounded in Indian contexts and institutions.

The translational research, education, and engagement undertaken by the school will also prepare leaders who combine technical understanding with managerial judgement and societal responsibility to navigate the complexity of the dynamic business landscape.

Addressing the attendees, Patel, chairperson of the board of governors, IIMA, said that the Krishnamurthy Tandon School of Artificial Intelligence marks a bold new chapter for IIMA and industry-academia collaboration. “AI is redefining the future of organizations, economies, and communities worldwide. At this defining moment, it is our responsibility to channel its power with purpose and vision to create lasting value for business and society,” he said.

Chandrika Tandon addressing the people / Courtesy: IIMA/Saumya Mishra

Describing the inauguration as a milestone for IIMA, Professor Bhasker, director, IIMA, lauded the new AI school as a forward-looking initiative that will bridge the gap between rapidly advancing AI technology and its effective integration into organizations to enhance leadership, decision-making, and productivity through education, innovation, research, and industry partnerships.

The school will operate at the intersection of technology, management, and public impact, with a focus on how AI is understood, adopted, governed, and embedded within organizations and public systems.

Deep Kalra, chairperson of the IIMA Endowment Fund Board, said, “The school represents an important step in applying artificial intelligence to address real challenges in business and society. By combining technology with management insight and institutional leadership, it will help empower decision-makers to apply AI thoughtfully in real organizational contexts.”

Alongside the inauguration, the school also released its first research report titled “Navigating the Future Trap with AI Value Compass” in collaboration with Persistent Systems. The report is based on an analysis of approximately 100 enterprises and reveals that despite rising investments in AI, most businesses remain focused on local efficiency gains rather than strategic transformation.

It identifies critical gaps, including the absence of clear AI leadership, lack of strategic vision, poorly defined success metrics, and weak ownership and governance, all of which limit long-term value creation using AI. To address this, the report introduces the AI Value Compass, a structured decision-making framework that helps leaders evaluate AI initiatives beyond technical feasibility and short-term returns.

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