Prof V G Dhanakumar, Director of the Indian Institute of Plantation Management Bengaluru (IIPMB), which is part of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, will retire on April 7 after serving more than 25 years at the apex management school for plantation and agribusiness.
According to an IIPMB statement, Dhanakumar will hand over the reins of the IIPMB to Rakesh Mohan Joshi, Professor, and Dean, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), New Delhi, on Thursday.
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During the challenges posed by the pandemic, Dhanakumar, a Cornell, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Northern Illinois University, and TNAU alumnus, launched the first-of-its-kind PGDM programmes on Food Processing & Business Management (FP&BM) and Agricultural Export & Business Management (AE&BM) at IIPMB.
Key accomplishments
IIPMB experienced several significant changes under Dhanakumar’s leadership, the most notable of which was the organization’s overall financial stability and sustainability. He also helped to establish the Centre for Tea Tasting and Marketing, the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Coffee, the National Centre for Export Management Research and Studies, Spices Exporters Entrepreneurship Facilities, Livelihood Business Incubators, and Agri-food related technical labs for product innovations, among others.
Through multidisciplinary faculty convergence, these centres were successfully implemented based on the guidelines of sponsoring agencies. Also Read | ₹4,112.29cr budget allocation for plantations sector to achieve $400 billion exports.
Dhanakumar’s vast contribution to the development, growth, and self-sufficiency of the institute through his leadership role over the last one and a half decades was acknowledged by the Board of Governors and members of the IIPMB Society.
He was also given a lead role in assisting with the establishment of IIPMB centres in Assam and Andhra Pradesh, as well as initiatives to convert IIPMB status to the National Institute of Importance.
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