Honorary Fellowship: Prof Nirmalya Kumar, 2012 Graduation, SOAS, University of London
Channel: SOAS University of London
Date: 01/05/2014

Professor Nirmalya Kumar received an honorary fellowship at the 2012 SOAS Graduation Ceremony.

Nirmalya Kumar is Professor of Marketing and Co-Director of the Aditya Birla India Centre at London Business School. He has a special interest in South Asian arts.

Born in India in 1960, Professor Kumar gained a scholarship for an MBA from the University of Illinois, Chicago in 1983 and subsequently obtained a PhD in marketing from Northwestern University.

His academic career has taken him from Northwestern University to Harvard Business School to IMD-International Institute for Management Development in Switzerland, before finally bringing him to London Business School in 2003 where he supports and raises awareness of Indian business practice and strategic developments.

Professor Kumar's most recent publication India Inside centres on how India is slowly becoming an innovation hub for the world and in 2011, he was included in 'Thinkers50', a biannual listing of the top 50 management thinkers in the world.

A passionate supporter of South Asian arts, Professor Kumar has a particular interest in modern Indian art. He is the custodian of one of the largest known private collections of paintings by Jamini Roy (1887-1972; the influential proponent of Indian modern art) and Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941; the Nobel Prize winning writer poet and artist).

Professor Kumar supports and promotes South Asian art through various lectures and exhibitions. He is also a patron of the British Museum, Asia House and the Nehru Centre.

Find out more about Professor Kumar at http://www.soas.ac.uk/about/fellows/professor-nirmalya-kumar/

Find out more about studying at SOAS at http://www.soas.ac.uk/

Find out more about South Asian Studies at http://www.soas.ac.uk/southasia/