Leadership continuity at IIM Nagpur as Director Bhimaraya Metri gets second five-year term

Prof. Bhimaraya Metri has been granted a second five-year term as Director of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Nagpur after receiving the approval of the President of India.

The Ministry of Education, in a communication issued on July 1, said the appointment was approved under Section 16(2) of the Indian Institutes of Management Act, 2017.

The approval was conveyed to the Chairperson of the Board of Governors of IIM Nagpur following the institute's proposal submitted in September 2025.

“During Metri's tenure, the institute expanded its academic offerings, strengthened industry collaborations, enhanced research initiatives, and developed its permanent campus, contributing to IIM Nagpur's emergence as one of the country's fast-growing newer IIMs," said an official.

Prof. Metri has been associated with several leading management institutions over the course of his academic career and is widely recognized for his work in management education, institution building, research, and academic administration.

Before assuming charge at IIM Nagpur, he served as Director of IIM Tiruchirappalli, where he oversaw significant institutional growth and helped strengthen the institute's national standing.

Earlier, he held leadership positions at the L&T Institute of Project Management in Vadodara, International Management Institute (IMI) New Delhi, Management Development Institute (MDI) Gurgaon, and BITS Pilani, where he contributed to academic leadership and research initiatives.

An expert in project management, infrastructure management, quality management, supply chain management, and service management, Prof. Metri has authored more than 100 research papers published in national and international journals and conference proceedings.

He has also written books in his areas of specialization and serves on the editorial advisory boards of several academic journals.

He currently holds several prominent positions in higher education and public policy. Prof. Metri is a member of the Indian National Commission for Cooperation with UNESCO (INCCU) and has served on the Ministry of Education's expert panel for mentoring Institutes of Eminence.

He also chairs the All India Board of Management Studies under AICTE, the Management and Systems Division Council, the Human Resources Management and Innovation Sectional Committee of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), and the AIMA Board of Studies.

In addition, he serves as Visitor Nominee to IIT Delhi and IIT Jodhpur and represents the Ministry of Education on the Boards of Governors of institutions including NITIE Mumbai and the National Institute of Bank Management (NIBM), Pune.

He is also associated with the governing bodies of several universities and management institutes across the country.

Prof. Metri has been a member of AICTE's Council and Executive Committee, the Appeals Committee of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), and the National Board of Accreditation (NBA).

He also serves as Honorary Advisor to the Tamil Nadu e-Governance Agency (TNeGA), is a member of the International Advisory Council of Chanakya University, and has contributed to the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 through expert committees constituted by the Ministry of Education.

Over the years, he has participated in numerous government-appointed committees related to higher education, accreditation, curriculum development, and institutional reforms.

His contributions include work with AICTE, UGC, NBA, UKIERI, AIU, IGNOU, IIM Kozhikode Society, SACON under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and several other national organizations.

Internationally, Prof. Metri has represented India in standards development as leader of delegations to Bali, Indonesia for ISO/TC 260 and Amersfoort, Netherlands for ISO/TC 251.

He has also served as Chair of the International Academic Review Committee for Sultan Qaboos University in Oman, Foreign Expert for Nepal's Higher Education Quality Assurance and Accreditation Council (HEQAAC), and a member of the ABMC Accreditation Panel in Osaka, Japan, among other international assignments.

He was the first Indian to be elected Vice President of the Asia Pacific Division of the Decision Sciences Institute (DSI).

His academic engagements have included keynote addresses at international conferences, including the Pan-African Project Management Conference in Cameroon, and teaching executive programs for Mauritian business leaders through ESSEC Business School, Paris.

Prof. Metri has played a significant role in leadership development within Indian higher education. He has trained more than 200 vice chancellors from central, state, and private universities, as well as more than 1,000 directors, deans, principals, and heads of engineering institutions, including National Institutes of Technology, under the World Bank-supported Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP).

His executive education portfolio spans board-level, senior management, and international training programs delivered for government agencies, Maharatna and Navratna public sector enterprises, multinational corporations, and foreign government organizations.

He has worked with organizations including NTPC, ONGC, HPCL, NHPC, BHEL, RBI, IOCL, PGCIL, BEL, WAPCOS, Nestlé, ABB, L&T, Eli Lilly, Hindustan Zinc, Punjab National Bank, the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, the Department of Atomic Energy, and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, among many others.

As a consultant, Prof. Metri has advised organizations such as L&T, Bosch, Titan, NTPC, the Army Ordnance Corps, Delhi Transport Corporation, and the Railway Land Development Authority.

His academic and institutional work has taken him to universities and business schools across four continents and 29 countries.

He has led accreditation and reaccreditation exercises, curriculum reforms, and infrastructure expansion initiatives, contributing to the development of institutions including MDI Gurgaon, IMI New Delhi, IIM Tiruchirappalli, and now IIM Nagpur.

Prof. Metri has received several national and international honors during his career. He is the only serving IIM director to have received the AIMA-Kewal Nohria Award for Academic Leadership in Management Education.

His other recognitions include the Distinguished Services Award from the Asia Pacific Decision Sciences Institute, the Top Director Award by CSR, the Prerana Purshkar Distinguished Alumnus Award, and the “Top Rankers Excellence Award for Outstanding Academic Leadership.”

He earned his Ph.D. from IIT Bombay and currently serves as President of ISDSI-Global while also being a member of the Institute for Supply Management (ISM), USA.

His career has combined academic research, institutional leadership, policy advisory roles, and executive education, making him one of the prominent figures in India's management education landscape.