Jamshedpur: XLRI Jamshedpur, the country’s oldest B-school, held its 67th annual convocation here on Tuesday.

At the event, the institute conferred the prestigious Sir Jehangir Ghandy Medal for Industrial and Social Peace to Marico chairman Harsh Mariwala.

"In deep appreciation of his enduring dedication to the high standards of business leadership and his tenacious efforts to make society a better place, XLRI is honoured to present the Sir Jehangir Ghandy Medal to Harsh Mariwala,” a statement issued by XLRI said.

The annual convocation witnessed 484 students graduating —14 students from Fellow Programme in Management (FPM), 176 from Human Resource Management (HRM), 180 from Business Management (BM) and 114 from General Management (15-month programme).

In all, 14 students received medals for academic excellence from XLRI dean (academics) Sanjay K. Patro while 18 employees of XLRI Jamshedpur received long-service medals for 15 years of dedication and commitment towards the institute.

Accepting the medal from T.V. Narendran, XLRI chairman and CEO-cum-managing director of Tata Steel, Mariwala congratulated all the graduating students and shared that his HR head was an XLRI alumnus. He expressed his heartfelt gratitude to XLRI for having him on stage.

"HRs play an important role in businesses and create a culture of innovation and it will help you achieve success when you have fewer resources and high aspirations. Be a strong believer in strength-based approach and identify your skills and use them efficiently and effectively. Fear is the biggest failure and you should not be afraid of failures. Failures lead to introspection, learning and improvements. You will have a mix bag of success and failures,” Mariwala said in his address.

He also asked the students to thank their parents for making them who they were today.

Narendran shared four key pointers with the graduating students.

"Change is the only constant and you learn while experiencing things. In this highly interconnected world, be aware geopolitically. Be aware of what’s happening around you. Climate change or transition is going to play a huge role in the next 30 years. Know about the growing inequality in this world and make sure you always stand for the greater good and stick to the values that XLRI has instilled in you.”

XLRI director Father S. George said the institute would be celebrating its platinum jubilee this year.