Physicist, head of two IIMs: Meet Ashoka University’s new V-C Rishikesha Krishnan

3 min readDelhiUpdated: Jun 15, 2026 01:20 PM IST

Professor Rishikesha T Krishnan, former Director of IIM Bangalore and IIM Indore, has been appointed as the next Vice-Chancellor of Ashoka University.

More than three months after Vice-Chancellor (V-C) Professor Somak Raychaudhury announced his decision to step down, Ashoka University on Monday named Professor Rishikesha T Krishnan, former Director of IIM Bangalore and IIM Indore, as its next V-C.

Krishnan will assume office on August 1 for an initial three-year term, succeeding Raychaudhury, who had informed the university earlier this year that he would not seek a second term.

In an email dated March 5, Chairperson of the Board of Trustees Pramath Raj Sinha and Chancellor Rudrangshu Mukherjee wrote that following Professor Raychaudhary’s decision, the Governing Body of Ashoka University had formally constituted a Search Committee to look for a successor. The email wrote that while Raychuadhary chose not to continue as V-C for a second term, he would remain “associated with Ashoka as a scientist and professor”.

The committee was tasked with identifying candidates and recommending two names to the Chancellor.

IIT-Kanpur, Stanford grad

Krishnan has led two of India’s premier management institutes. He served as Director of IIM Indore between 2014 and 2018 and subsequently as Director of IIM Bangalore from 2020 to 2025, completing full terms at both institutions.

A physicist by training, Krishnan earned an Integrated MSc in Physics from IIT Kanpur before pursuing Engineering-Economic Systems at Stanford University. He later completed a doctoral programme in Management and Public Policy at IIM Ahmedabad.

Over the years, he has emerged as one of India’s leading scholars of innovation and public policy. His research has focused on innovation at organisational, industrial and national levels, and has been published in international journals spanning management, economics, development and science policy.

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Beyond academia, Krishnan has played an active role in public policy. He has served on committees of the Department of Science and Technology and was a member of the Justice B N Srikrishna Committee that proposed a data protection framework for India. He has also served on the boards of several educational and public institutions.

At IIM Bangalore, Krishnan oversaw the establishment of the School of Multidisciplinary Studies and led preparations for the institute’s undergraduate programmes in Economics and Data Science. In 2025, IIT Kanpur conferred on him its Distinguished Alumnus Award, its highest alumni honour.

Announcing the appointment, Chancellor Mukherjee said Krishnan’s “distinguished record as a scholar and institution builder” made him “ideally suited to lead Ashoka at this important moment in its journey”.

Responding to the appointment, Krishnan said he looked forward to working with the university’s faculty, students, staff and alumni. “Since its inception, Ashoka University has set high standards as a new generation, research-driven institution. It is a great privilege to lead the University as its Vice-Chancellor at this critical yet exciting juncture in its evolution,” he said.

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Raychaudhury, an astrophysicist, was appointed V-C in November 2022. During his tenure, Ashoka expanded significantly, launching new academic schools including the Trivedi School of Biosciences, introducing hundreds of merit- and need-based scholarships, and forging collaborations with institutions such as the University of Pennsylvania and the India Meteorological Department.

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Vidheesha Kuntamalla is a Senior Correspondent at The Indian Express, based in New Delhi. She is known for her investigative reporting on higher education policy, international student immigration, and academic freedom on university campuses. Her work consistently connects policy decisions with lived realities, foregrounding how administrative actions, political pressure, and global shifts affect students, faculty, and institutions.

Professional Profile

Core Beat: Vidheesha covers education in Delhi and nationally, reporting on major public institutions including the University of Delhi (DU), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Jamia Millia Islamia, the IITs, and the IIMs. She also reports extensively on private and government schools in the National Capital Region.

Prior to joining The Indian Express, she worked as a freelance journalist in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for over a year, covering politics, rural issues, women-centric issues, and social justice.

Specialisation: She has developed a strong niche in reporting on the Indian student diaspora, particularly the challenges faced by Indian students and H-1B holders in the United States. Her work examines how geopolitical shifts, immigration policy changes, and campus politics impact global education mobility.

She has also reported widely on:

* Mental health crises and student suicides at IITs

* Policy responses to campus mental health

* Academic freedom and institutional clampdowns at JNU, South Asian University (SAU), and Delhi University

* Curriculum and syllabus changes under the National Education Policy

Her recent reporting has included deeply reported human stories on policy changes during the Trump administration and their consequences for Indian students and researchers in the US.

Reporting Style

Vidheesha is recognised for a human-centric approach to policy reporting, combining investigative depth with intimate storytelling. Her work often highlights the anxieties of students and faculty navigating bureaucratic uncertainty, legal precarity, and institutional pressure. She regularly works with court records, internal documents, official data, and disciplinary frameworks to expose structural challenges to academic freedom.

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1. Express Investigation Series

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An Indian Express investigation found that since 2011, JNU has appeared in over 600 cases before the Delhi High Court, filed by the administration, faculty, staff, students, and contractual workers across the tenures of three Vice-Chancellors.

JNU’s legal wars with students and faculty pile up under 3 V-Cs | Rs 30-lakh fines chill campus dissent (November 2025)

The report traced how steep monetary penalties — now codified in the Chief Proctor’s Office Manual — are reshaping dissent and disciplinary action on campus.

2. International Education & Immigration

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