The Centre for Sustainability

GTF

The Centre of Sustainability at IMI Kolkata has got into a collaboration with Green Terre Foundation (GTF) towards making IMI Kolkata a Net Zero institute. Dr. Rajendra Shende, Chairman of GTF and other experts from GTF will guide the centre for implementing Net Zero initiatives. The centre is a pioneer in this critical journey in the eastern India. The activities with GTF includes: – Catalyzing sustainability through IMI Kolkata’s collaboration with GTF. – Taking Net Zero initiatives with IMI Kolkata to a national platform. – Pioneering ESG initiatives for Net Zero achievement – Awareness about Carbon Credit and Carbon Footprints.

Profile of the Coordinators and the Members:

Prof. Tirthankar Nag has a doctorate from IIM Ahmedabad and currently holds the position of Professor and Dean (Research) at IMI Kolkata. He is the editor of the Journal of Operations and Strategic Planning published by SAGE Publications. He has received several awards and recognitions for his academic work and holds a certificate from the World Bank Institute. He is also a TEDx Licensee, a certified innovation ambassador and a mentor of change for Atal Tinkering Labs. Tirthankar has advised the top management of various organizations on behalf of some of the big four firms and an investment banking organization. He has delivered research and consulting engagements for several ministries of the Government of India and multilateral organizations in the field of sustainability, energy and environment. Prof. Samyadip Chakraborty is currently Associate Professor in the department of Management Information systems and Analytics (MISA). He completed his PhD from IBS Hyderabad (IFHE University, AACSB accredited & NAAC A++), MBA from University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK (triple accredited) and B.Tech from VIT University, Vellore. Prior to joining IMI Kolkata he was Area-Head Dept of Operations and IT at IBS Hyderabad. He has corporate experience with Tata Consultancy services and teaching experience at JD Birla Institute Kolkata, Adamas University Kolkata and also international teaching exposure as Visiting distinguished professor at UPH Jakarta (Universitas Pelita Harappan, Indonesia) spanning 16 years. He is an editorial board member and permanent reviewer of various  international and national peer reviewed journals. His area of research interest is Sustainability, Healthcare supply chain and management, analytics and health information systems including electronic health records management. He is a proponent of the carbon neutral U75 movement in the east and is a Net-Zero leader.

Prof. Soni Agrawal is an accomplished ESG and HRM expert with a Ph.D. in Management from IIT Kharagpur and over 20 years of cross-functional experience in academia, HR, governance, ESG, and sustainability. Dr. Agrawal is a Certified Independent Director by the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) and holds internationally recognized credentials in SA8000 Social Accountability, Mindfulness (Rice University), and is an accredited expert with the Asian Productivity Organization. Dr. Agrawal has been actively engaged with a wide array of organizations, including Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDSL), Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), Novo Nordisk, Tata AutoComp Systems (TACO), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE), CESC, and Phillips Carbon Black Limited (PCBL), among others. These engagements span consulting, corporate training, and strategic advising on topics like HR restructuring, employee engagement, sustainability, and leadership development. She is frequently invited as a keynote speaker on topics such as Green HRM, ESG, and carbon footprint reduction strategies. Notable platforms include the Indian Society for Training & Development (ISTD), Kolkata Chapter, and the Directorate of Hydrocarbons.

Dr. Arindam Bhattacharjee completed his FPM in Human Resource Management (HRM) from XLRI Jamshedpur and is an Assistant Professor in OB and HRM Area at IMI-Kolkata. Within the broader umbrella of sustainability, he looks at the impact of perceptions of air pollution on employee work behaviors. He has presented his works on perceived air pollution in conferences like ICSBP-2025 and INDAM-2025.

Dr. Mohit Pathak is an Assistant Professor of Finance at the International Management Institute Kolkata. He holds a PhD degree from Symbiosis International (Deemed University), Pune. His research focuses on critical areas in finance and accounting, including corporate governance, ownership structures, audit oversight, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure practices among corporations. His work contributes to the understanding of how companies can improve transparency, accountability, and ethical standards in their business practices.

Dr. Rituparna Basu is Professor and area chair of Marketing at the International Management Institute Kolkata. Basu is an alumna of the prestigious IIT Kharagpur and St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata. In her pre-doctoral industry stint, Basu held senior sales and marketing positions in multinational media companies. Thereafter, in her stellar academic career spanning 15 years she has won numerous awards for her research and case studies. While several of her case studies are available on Harvard Business Publishing, she has authored impactful research articles for Journal of Business Research, Journal of Consumer Affairs, Psychology and Marketing to name a few. She is also a highly regarded corporate trainer.

Dr. Sachin Modgil is Associate Professor in the area of Operations and Quantitative Techniques. He works in technology, operations and sustainable supply chains. Dr.Modgil holds FPM from IIM Mumbai (Formerly NITIE, Mumbai). Dr. Modgil has more than 14 years of experience in both industry and academia. He has authored impactful research articles in Technovation, International Journal of Production Economics, Annals of Operations Research to name a few. He is Associate Editor of Electronic Commerce Research and Editorial Board Member of Cureus Journal of Business and Economics.

– Potential Areas of Action/ Pointers (eg: Netzero, Carbon credit/trading, etc)

MOUs
MoU with Green Terre Foundation: 2024
MoU with Grabage Free India: 2023

Sessions and Guest Lectures

Coming Soon

Conference papers presented

• Chakraborty, S., Patra, G., & Nag, T. (2025), “Linking Brand Image, brand alignment towards sustainable brand behaviour: Focusing on Brand resilience in the context of Indian Educational Institutions”, International Conference on Sustainable Business Practices (ICSBP’ 25), Organized by International Management Institute, Kolkata, January 3rd to 5th, 2025
• Bhattacharjee, A. (2025, January 4). Why and when perceived air pollution fuels cyberloafing? [Paper presentation]. International Conference on Sustainable Business Practices, IMI Kolkata, India.
• Bhattacharjee, A. (2025, January 17). Perceived air pollution and employees’ innovation: A conceptual framework [Paper presentation]. Indian Academy of Management (INDAM) Conference, IIFT Kolkata, India.
• Chakraborty, S., Mukherjee, R., Bhatt. V, & Puniya, A. (2024), “Adoption of Healthcare Technologies for Sustainable Healthcare: Cross- Sectional Study on Users Perspective”, Society of Operations Management Conference (SOM 2024) at IMT Ghaziabad, Dec 19-21
• Chakraborty, S., Chakravorty, T. & Sarkar, D. S. (2024), “Impact of AI-enabled platform adoption on digital marketing initiatives and service differentiation: Empirical examination of linkages in sustainable patient-care context”, International conference on innovation and sustainability: Research and Practice, March 22-23, Xavier’s Business School, St. Xavier’s University, Kolkata, India.
• Chakravorty, T., Brahma, D. & Chakraborty, S. (2024), “Factors affecting sustainable job continuation intention of female employees: An empirical comparison in Indian IT/ITES and education sector from workplace safety perspective”, International conference on innovation and sustainability: Research and Practice, March 22-23, Xavier’s Business School, St. Xavier’s University, Kolkata, India.
• Agrawal, S, Sustainable HR Practices Fostering Employees’ Experience and well-being” presented at the ISDSI-Global 2023, 27th-29th December 2023, IIM Ranchi
• Agrawal, S On the Nexus among Corporate Social Responsibility, Environmental, Social and Governance and Human Resources to Performance: A Systematic Literature Review’, presented at ISDSI-Global International Conference, 27-30 December 2022, JAGSoM Bengaluru
• Agrawal, S, Analyzing Effectiveness of Sustainability Communication’, presented at ISDSI-Global International Conference, 27-30 December 2022, JAGSoM Bengaluru
• Agrawal, S, A Study on the adoption of the Triple Bottom-line Approach by Select Indian Manufacturing Organizations in becoming sustainable’, presented at ISDSI-Global International Conference, 27-30 December 2021, IIM Nagpur
• Agrawal, S, Antecedents of Environment-oriented Green HRM Practices on Organizational Performance’, presented at ISDSI-Global International Conference, 27-30 December 2021, IIM Nagpur
• Chakraborty S., Ganji K. Harnessing power of IoT Resilience and Sustainable Agriculture. SICBM-2021. Organized by Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIBM), Hyderabad. February 12-14, 2021.
• Sreeram, A., Sashikala, P. & Chakraborty, S. (2017) “Sustainable Supply Chain Practices as Enablers of Resilient Business Practices: An Empirical Investigation in Service Sector Disaster Management”, 11th ISDSI International Conference. IIM Trichy, December 27-30, organized by ISDSI.

Journal Publications

• Singh, R. K., & Modgil, S. (2025). Mapping the risks in technology integration for sustainable outcomes. Business Process Management Journal, 31(1), 146-169.
• Laguir, I., Modgil, S., Gupta, S., Kumar, S., & Stekelorum, R. (2024). Supply chain dynamism and ambidexterity for sustainable performance. Production Planning & Control, 1-18.
• Effectiveness of sustainability communication on stakeholder engagement: A multi-method qualitative assessment of sustainable development, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, Published on 2nd October 2024, https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.2992 (Agrawal, S., Ray, A., Rana, N. (2024)
• Exploring the potential of blockchain-enabled smart contracts for achieving net-zero emissions: An empirical study (2024), Business Strategy and the Environment, Published 22nd January, 2024, ABDC: A, ABS: 3, IF 13.4, https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.3691 (Surajit Bag, Muhammad Sabbir Rahman, Susmi Routray, Santosh Kumar Shrivastav, Soni Agrawal (2024)
• Kar, A. K, Basu, R. & Jana, R. K. (2023). Nurture Farm: Sustainable Agriculture Management through Smart Information Technologies. Ivey Publishing
• Kumar, A., & Basu, R. (2023). Do eco-labels trigger green product purchase intention among emerging market consumers?. Journal of Indian Business Research, 15(3), 466-492.
• Bhatt V., Chakraborty, S. (2022) Rejuvenating Dart and Value Co-creation In Technology era for Sustainable Healthcare. Academy of Marketing Studies Journal. 26 (1). (1-9).
• Chakraborty, S., Chakravorty, T., Bhatt, V. (2021). IoT and AI driven sustainable practices in airlines as enabler of passenger confidence, satisfaction and positive WoM. Proceedings – International Conference on artificial Intelligence and Smart Systems. Pp. 1421 – 1425. . 10.1109/ICAIS50930.2021.9395850
• Sondhi, N., & Basu, R. (2021). Scaling up Sirohi: can women empowerment and sustainability drive a luxury brand?. Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies, 11(4), 1-42.
• Chakraborty, S., & Kalepu, R. (2019). IT and green practices as enablers of service-oriented capabilities and patient-focused care in the healthcare industry. International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development, 13(2), 220-244. 10.1504/IJISD.2019.098997
• Ganguly, B., Nag, T., & Guha, D. (2024). P2P Prosumer Networks: a model for electricity trading. Evergreen, 11(3), 1493–1497.
• Nag, T., & Ganguly, B. (2023). Exploring the Renewable Energy Linkages for SSE Based Organizations in India: Benefits of Scaling Up ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ at Microsocieties. Studies in Microeconomics.
• Patyal, V. S., Sarma, P., Modgil, S., Nag, T., & Dennehy, D. (2022). Mapping the links between Industry 4.0, circular economy and sustainability: a systematic literature review. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 35(1), 1–35.
• Nag, T. (2021). Barriers to Cross-border Energy Cooperation and Implications on Energy Security: An Indian Perspective with Reference to Energy Trade in South Asia. Global Business Review.
• Vishwanathan, S. S., Garg, A., Tiwari, V., Kapshe, M., Nag, T. (2021). SDG Implications of Water-Energy Systems Transitions in India Under NDC, 2 °C and Well Below 2 °C, Environmental Research Letters, Vol. 16(8)

Book Reviews

Agrawal, S. Green HRM: Climate Conscious Route to Triple Bottom Line, Today February 2021

Newspaper Article

Agrawal, S. Sustainable Workplace: Encouraging Green HR Practices, The Pioneer, February, 21 2021

Book Chapters

Green HR Practices and Employee Pro-environmental Behaviour: A Study on India and China, Chapter 24, In Comparative Development of India & China Economic, Technological, Sectoral & Socio-cultural Insights, Eds. Sondhi, N., Panigrahi, R., Pang, M., & Chatterjee, R. SAGE (Agrawal, S. & Puri, R. (2021)
Role of Green Human Resource Practices on Employee Pro-environmental Behaviour and Organizational Performance: A Study with Special Reference to India and China (Agrawal, S. & Puri, R. (2020)

Books

Green HRM: Climate Conscious route to Triple Bottom Line under Sage Publications by Dr. Soni Agrawal and Dr. Roma Puri (16th January, 2024)

Case study

Basu, R. (2024). To Be or Not to Be: Communicating a Sustainable Brand for Competitive Advantage. RPSG360.
2023: Koti Vinod Babu, Samyadip Chakraborty and Namratha Prasad, IBS Hyderabad. “Anandi Resorts’ Happy Land Construction Project –Risk Management and Earned Value Analysis”, IBS Center for Management Research (ICMR), OPER/159, pg 1-18 (Including Teaching Notes)

Consultancy

Synchronizing Energy Transitions Towards Possible Net Zero for India: Affordable and Clean Energy for All, Module on Load Forecasting, Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor, GoI and Nuclear Power Corporation of India
Strengthening Policies on Climate Change in Asia and the Pacific through Economic Research, (Subproject 1), Asian Development Bank
Exploring Strategic Interdependencies of Value Chains of Infrastructure Industries: A Study of Climate Induced Vulnerabilities and Impact Assessment of Domestic Coal Supply Chains on Power Generation in India, Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Govt. of India

Invited Talks/Track Chairs & Panelist in Conferences/Industry

Dr. Soni Agrawal as Invited Speaker & Guest of Honour, MSME & Startup Conclave on ESG organised by IDEAS-ISI jointly with Zuxtra Network, January 16, 2025

Dr. Soni Agrawal was an Invited Speaker on ‘Responsible Profit and Sustainable Development Goals’ by IIT Kharagpur, 4th March 2022
Dr. Soni Agrawal was Invited to speak on IGNITE Innovation & STartup Conclave at ISI Kolkata on 11 October 2023

Dr. Soni Agrawal Invited for a talk on ‘Sustaining Change Organizations’, in NEP 2020: Sustaining Change in Organizations’ by Govt. College of Pharmacy, Karad, AICTE ATAL FDP, 20th September 2021

Past Activities on Sustainability

• Designed a new activity course for students in 2020: Teaching ‘Sustainability and Green HRM’
• Conducted awareness sessions for corporates: Celebrated World Environment Day on 5th June 2023 and industry and academic was invited along with IMI Kolkata’s faculty, staff and students. It was attended by Mr. Sunil Bhandari, ED RPSG Group, S.P. Jain, Vital Waste, Debarati Kundu, Ms. Garima Chandak from Garbage Free India, Ms. Naina from SVP
• MoU signed with Garbage Free India in 2023 for ‘My Para, My Pride Program’ for two buildings (college campus and hostel)
• Waste audit at IMI Kolkata from June 2023
• Plastic Reduction Drive: July Month 2023 was observed for the same by the students
• Student Field Visit on 14th August to CESC ‘Sustainability Initiatives on Ground’
• Student Club on Sustainability: Student club Conser2Preserve came into existence from August 16th 2023
• Panel discussions aligning to the vision and mission of the center. Panel discussion on ‘Reducing carbon footprints towards Greener Future’ conducted on 19th August 2023
• Faculty and staff awareness session on 21st August 2023 on reduction of electricity consumption and promoting reduce, reuse, recycle
• eWaste awareness drive for PGDM 1st year students of IMI Kolkata and external panelists included representation from SVP, GFP, and Mr. Nanadan Mall, founder and MD, Hulladek Recycling, Mr. Ajay Mittal, Director Earth Day, Mr. Tathagata Ghosh, Rep. Olympus
• Promotion of usage of products at IMI made of recycled materials: Connected companies like Hulladek, etc., to IMI Kolkata stakeholders promoting buying gifts, etc., made of recycled material
• Encouragement of reduce, reuse and recycle practices: Part of steering committee member of Green Audit, SOPs for reducing energy consumption at IMI Kolkata
• Promotion of segregation of waste at source: As part of the green initiative at IMI Kolkata segregation of waste at source is initiated and dustbins for collecting dry and wet waste are kept at Academic as well as Hostel area, including canteen, cafeteria for collecting waste in the segregated manner. In addition, hazardous waste is also collected separated and directly the waste is collected by municipal bodies. In addition, awareness sessions for staff of all the facility are given awareness as well as training on importance of segregation of waste as well as how it can be implemented at the day to day level.
• Webinars: Conducting awareness sessions for students: Conducted webinar on 8th September 2023 at IMI Kolkata Auditorium
• Internship to three students of IMI Kolkata, Divyanshi, Yuka and Nikita on ESG and Sustainability by the ESG company Ambirisk started from October first week 2023 for 6 month
• Business solutions to industry partners. Consulting was provided to a company FractalZ on how ESG and carbon footprints can be reduced and conducting research on that.
• Research projects from govt. or non govt. organizations: A research project on ‘Social Impact Study on Segregation of Waste at Source’ funded by WBPCB is taken and the work is in progress
• Social Outreach: Students had visited Maidan campus on 10th September 2023 and created awareness drive on reducing plastics
  Industry Visit for Students at CESC