The 8th edition of the Business Excellence Summit (BES) 2026 at Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB) concluded after two days of discussions on business resilience, risk, technology and sustainable growth.

Held under the theme “Building Resilient Businesses - Navigating Risk to Shape A Sustainable Future,” the summit brought together industry leaders, faculty members, students and alumni. The event featured 14 distinguished speakers, all of them XIMB alumni. 

The summit opened with a lamp-lighting ceremony and an inaugural address by Dr Biswa Swarup Misra. This was followed by the theme address by Dr Fr K.S. Casimir, S.J., who stressed the importance of openness, collaboration and the human element in building resilient organisations.

The inaugural session also saw the launch of ‘Echoes’, the BES magazine, and ‘Unnayan’, the alumni magazine.

Focus on organisational resilience and AI

The keynote session featured Sandeep Bagla, CEO of TRUST Mutual Fund, who outlined six pillars of organisational resilience and introduced the 4A Framework — Anticipate, Absorb, Adapt and Accelerate.

Bagla also discussed the transformative potential of artificial intelligence while highlighting the need for accountability, strong digital infrastructure and responsible leadership.

The summit's panel discussions further examined the challenges businesses face as technology and AI reshape workplaces and decision-making.

Leadership and technology in focus

The panel on “Leadership - Leading for the Long Run” brought together Srinivas Baratam, Jaydeep Chakraborty and Sushant Dwivedy. Another panel, “Technology - Build to Bend, Not to Break,” featured Bivas Mishra, Gaurav Chawla and Jayati Dwivedy.

The discussions examined how organisations can strengthen resilience, respond to technological transformation and use AI while retaining human oversight. The speakers also discussed leadership, governance, adaptability and the need to create sustainable long-term value.

Students actively participated in the sessions, questioning the panellists on AI adoption, job displacement, innovation, entrepreneurship, ethics, research and development, and the challenges of leading organisations amid increasing uncertainty.

The interactive question-and-answer sessions gave students an opportunity to engage directly with industry leaders and connect their academic learning with industry perspectives.

XIMB acknowledges contributors

Concluding the summit, General Secretary Anurag Tripathy expressed gratitude to the stakeholders whose efforts contributed to the event's success and said their work reflected the “Spirit of XIM.”

He also thanked the media partners for their coverage and IlluminatiX – The Media and PR Cell for documenting the summit.

The institute acknowledged the support of the XIM Alumni Committee and Career Advisory Services, along with faculty members Prof Francis Castelino, Prof D.V. Ramana, Prof Soumya Sarkar, Prof S. Senthil Ganesh, Prof Shridhar Kumar Dash, Prof Krishna Das Gupta and Prof Ritesh Kumar Dubey.

Vice Chancellor Dr Fr K.S. Casimir S.J., Chief Financial Officer Fr V. Arokiyadass and Dean of Academics Biswa Swarup Misra were also recognised for their support in organising BES 2026.

The summit concluded with appreciation for the BES Core Team, BES Shadows and Junior SEC Team for their dedication and efforts in conducting the two-day event.