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Komal’s PGDM Success Story: From KIM to FORVIS MAZARS

Q: Can PGDM at KIM help students grow beyond academics?

KIM supports students through faculty mentorship, residential learning, practical competitions, peer engagement, and access to resources that encourage holistic growth.

Q: What does Komal’s journey reveal about success during PGDM?

Komal’s journey shows that success during PGDM comes from staying curious, working consistently, using available support, and making the most of every learning opportunity.

Q: How does living on campus at KIM shape students?

Living on campus helps students become more independent, disciplined, and focused while also giving them constant opportunities to learn from peers and campus life.

Q: How do activities beyond the classroom help KIM students?

Competitions, team projects, and practical challenges help students build confidence, improve teamwork, and discover strengths that regular academics alone may not always reveal.

Komal Moolchandani came to Kirloskar Institute of Management (KIM) Pune with a strong desire to learn and a clear sense of responsibility towards her family. She arrived with a hunger to learn and a quiet determination to make her parents’ sacrifices worthwhile.

By the time she completed her Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM), Komal had topped her programme and walked away with the gold medal, a recognition of not just academic performance, but of the mindset she carried through every lecture, competition, and challenge along the way.

A mindset built on curiosity

Komal explains what drives her in life- “My mindset is that I am always craving learning,”. “Wherever I see that something is being taught and somebody is spreading knowledge, I try to be the first one to be there and grasp all that I can.”

She did not accidentally discover this attitude in her belief system. Her parents made considerable sacrifices for her, and Komal carried that weight not as a burden, but as fuel. She recalls -“I had this fire in my belly that I had to do something for them, become something for them.”

Why KIM’s faculty made all the difference

When Komal reflects on what pushed her towards academic excellence, she points firmly to the faculty. “What actually drew me to become a topper and be this confident is the faculty here; they have been quite an inspiration for me.”

Her experience of reaching out to professors was never transactional. “Whenever I face any difficulty, the first person I would reach out to is my trusted faculty,” she explains. Faculty should be your first point of support.

Beyond individual mentorship, the broader environment supported learning at every turn, from open-door access to resources through to a library that remains accessible around the clock. “Everyone is very helpful,” Komal notes plainly.

The residential programme: Living what you learn

One of the features that sets KIM apart is its residential format. Students live on campus, away from their families, fully immersed in the academic community. For Komal, this was both a challenge and a clarifying force.

The residential structure created an immersive learning environment. Being away from home, knowing her parents had worked hard to get her there, sharpened her sense of purpose. In that environment, independence stopped being optional; it became part of her education.

A defining moment at KIM

If there is a single moment Komal identifies as transformative, it is the Shark Time competition held at KIM. Working alongside her team, she helped build a prototype, and they won the competition.

“That day is when I realised that I am capable of much more than I think,” she says. “I realised that I am good at collaborating. I realised that I am good at creative thinking and leadership.”

It is the kind of self-discovery that a classroom alone cannot manufacture, the sort that only comes from being thrown into a real challenge with real stakes and teammates.

Life after KIM: A career with Forvis Mazars

Today, Komal has stepped into the world of model audit at FORVIS MAZARS. After KIM, she was placed at the auditing firm working within the energy, infrastructure, and environment sector. Her role centres on model audit reviewing financial models to assess whether they are logically sound. Her plan for the next two years is straightforward: put in everything she has, grow, and grab those opportunities as they come.

The student who started her PGDM programme with an intense drive and a midnight library card that she used for studying, now finds her next academic phase in this new chapter. Her path from arriving at KIM with her strong determination to building her specialized career demonstrates how consistent effort combined with focused goals leads to success.