IMS Nagpur 2.61

Born in 1935 in Karwar, Mr. Rane came to Mumbai in the 1960’s and was appointed as a Lecturer of English in HR College of Commerce & Economics where he taught for about 7 years. He also initiated a course in Effective Business Communication at the time.

In 1970, IIM Ahmedabad appointed him as a part-time lecturer in the Written Analysis and Communication department for their Business Writing course. For 2 years, he traveled between Ahmedabad and Mumbai. It is during one of these trips that the idea of IMS germinated.

All through his teaching career, he had seen young students confused and clueless about career avenues that a small town education offered. All over India, there were those who had the resources for an international education but were not aware about courses available, entrance exams and other requirements and whom to approach for help with all of this. He realized that in India, a huge talent pool was getting wasted. In the late 70s he released the first set of material of its kind to enable attempting the CAT and later went on to add GRE, GMAT and TOEFL, which he painstakingly prepared himself. These were the humble beginnings of IMS.

In the late 70s, working out of a table space in a CA colleague’s office, he started The Institute of Management Studies (IMS) to help students through the most difficult phase – the transition from student life to corporate life.

From a batch of 7 students, the business grew thanks to his dedication not only towards the business but also towards his students' welfare and success. Professor Rane was a man ahead of his time - he not only identified MBA as an educational opportunity well before the current craze, but also identified key success factors in a business, which dealt with young, highly intelligent minds.

One unique feature of his business model was that he had very few, but professionally qualified full-time teachers - almost all the instructors, test-makers, counselors were successful ex-IMS students. These young people out of their love for Mr. Rane and dedication towards him, wished to be associated with him in their entrepreneurial dreams in order to realize their distant entrepreneurial aspirations. They took time out of their busy schedules to help the future generation of young minds in their quest for higher education.

From a small table space in Tardeo catering to 7 students, IMS outgrew city limits as an all-India correspondence course and later to 140 centres across the length and breadth of the country. The students who took up an international education on his advice crossed national borders as well. The fold has spread to the top B-schools across the country. Professor Rane passed away on December 5 1994 of a heart attack but his charismatic personality and generosity of spirit remain an evergreen nostalgia etched in the hearts and minds of those who can by no means forget his impact on their lives.

"The remarkable thing about Prof. Rane was that he did not just talk inspirationally, he actually helped so many people, including me, to work towards realizing our dreams. Every conversation we had with him proved his phenomenal sincerity of intention and purpose, which he never failed to fulfill." - Sandeep Varma ICOMO.

"My association with IMS started in 1991 when I joined the correspondence course of IMS. Right from the early days, I was attracted to Mr Rane’s philosophy of teaching as a vocation and was motivated to come back and do my bit as an instructor after completing my MBA course. Sir soon became a focal point in my life and there are a number of reasons why I believe that this association is one of the fondest in my life and why more than 10 years after his death I hold him in the highest regard and esteem. To Sir, we were all special, like his children and he shared our dreams and fears, had a word of encouragement when we faced problems and motivated us to give our best whether in our personal or professional lives. Sir was someone who was old enough in years and wisdom to be a father, but young at heart to be a friend. During my association with Sir I spent some of the best times in my life and made friendships with people whom I have a lot of regard for - personally and professionally. For me personally, I can never forget December 5, 1994 when I was woken up at about 6 am with the terrible news of Sir's untimely demise - December 5 also happens to be my birthday - and till date on this day when I get up in the morning, the first thought is that one of the people I was closest to is no longer there to share this day with me. I will always cherish memories of Sir and consider myself privileged to have spent the time I did with him."

Somak Ghosh, Group President, Corporate Finance and Development Banking, YES Bank.