XLRI to set up India’s first dedicated automobile design institute

XLRI, one of the country's top B schools will set up India’s first dedicated design and management institute for automobiles, at its Delhi NCR campus in collaboration with automobile industry veteran Avik Chattopadhyay, in a step towards 'Design in India.' 

India is a booming automobile market and is expected to witness significant growth in the coming years. The idea for a dedicated design institute looks to leverage the scale of the growing market as well as the government’s bid to make the country a global automobile hub.

The institute, named INDEA, will not be for profit and is expected to be operational by the end of 2025. INDEA will offer various programmes, ranging from master’s in automobile design and management to refreshers for practicing designers and inductions for CXOs.

“India’s automobile industry is poised for its next phase of growth with factors like clean energy, evolving consumer behaviour and greater focus on circular sustainability. All this will need a fresh look at design as a fundamental ingredient in business strategy. That throws up the critical need for a new-age design school that can nurture and develop world-class automobile designers and design managers,” Chattopadhyay said.

Currently, there are no dedicated automobile designing institute in the country. Some colleges such a National Institute of Design, Indian Institute of Technology, and Indian Institute of Management offer some programs with a specialisation in automotive design.

Chattopadhyay noted that the automobile industry feels there are lots of gaps between theoretical knowledge and application in the current designing scenario. “The gap lies in the fact that schools are not specialised. Automotive designing ends up being one of the 17 or 21 courses that they offer. So, the industry ends up spending a lot of time making them unlearn and learn once again,” he said.

XLRI Delhi NCR signed a memorandum of understanding with Chattopadhyay to establish the institute with a long term objective of creating “Indian style” of designing automobile. The Masters in Automobile Design & Management will be a one-year post-graduate program with in take of 20-25 students every year. “We will not be just teaching design, but also management,” Chattopadhyay added.