Jamshedpur, May 21: XLRI always believed that today’s managers had a lot to learn from the larger-than-life characters of Indian epics and hence launched a specific paper in tune with the idea last year. Now, B-schools from across the country want to introduce “Indian Philosophy for Leadership Excellence” in their curriculum too.

Offered to senior students of business management (BM) and personnel management and industrial relations (PM&IR), the overwhelming response to the optional paper of three months duration led professor Satya Chaitanya to begin talks with other institutes.

“The response to the course has surpassed our expectations,” said Chaitanya, a guest faculty member at XLRI.

“Hence, we need to take it to other management institutes as well.”

At least 57 students took this course last year and queries are already pouring in from the batch that is scheduled to return to campus after summer in September.

The course explains how and why a study of the Indian ethos is beneficial to the modern day business manager. Rooted in Indian culture, it has many references to mythological characters with inherent leadership qualities.

“The strongest influence is exerted when one transforms others by taking them closer to their roots and by leading them to where they truly belong. That’s the time when lives are touched and leave a lasting impression,” Chaitanya told The Telegraph.

IIM Calcutta has been running a similar course for the past 20 years.

Titled, “Managerial Effectiveness Through Human Values,” it is offered as a term paper through the Management Centre for Human Values based at the IIM campus.

Focussed on the essential relationship between Indian scriptures and human insights, the paper has become extremely popular among students in recent times.

“It has proved to be highly effective, with a strong Indian content. Even international students opt for this paper,” confirmed Ranjan Mitter, visiting faculty at the centre established by S.K. Chakraborty.

Will XLRI’s course be a part of the IIM curriculum? Chaitanya wouldn’t like to comment, preferring to wait and hear from some of the established management schools he has initiated talks with.

Not willing to give away names as yet, all he would say is that a private B-school in Calcutta has already approached him to incorporate the short-term course in its curriculum. Chaitanya, meanwhile, has only now revised the course including fresh aspects of Indian philosophy, yoga and the psychology of performance excellence and the dynamics of guna, varna and sanskara. “It is the Indian context which teaches us that one’s rise does not always have to be at the cost of others. Co-existence and simultaneous growth are possible,” said Chaitanya, who has authored a large number of books and online articles on Indian culture and leadership.