The physicist Vikram Sarabhai and businessman Kasturbhai Lalbhai, both natives of Ahmedabad, played pivotal roles in setting up the institute.

[17] In collaboration with UAE-based BRS Ventures, IIM Ahmedabad has signed an agreement to establish its first overseas extension centre in Dubai.

[19] The development is in line with the National Education Policy, which encourages high-performing Indian universities to set up campuses in other countries.

Kahn's architecture is characterized by the use of exposed red bricks, the extensive use of geometric shapes in hostels and academic blocks and vast corridors outside the classrooms.

The library provides access to 100+ digital databases relating to scholarly, company and industry information to the IIMA community.

In year 2016, Tata Consultancy Services partnered with the university with a grant of ₹20 crore (US$2.3 million) to restore the library for digital learning and collaboration.

The logo is inspired by a carved stone latticework jaali in the 16th century mosque of Siddi Saiyyad in old part of Ahmedabad.

Pathak in the 1960s in response to a competition organized by Prof. Ravi J. Matthai, which translates to "it is the application of knowledge that leads to one's overall development.

"[25] The university has the following sector or mission oriented centres which are staffed by faculty members:[27] The Vikram Sarabhai Library is located on the campus of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India.

It is named after Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, who was a renowned physicist and industrialist, and is considered to be the father of the Indian space program.

[38] Some of the students going on exchange receive scholarships from the institute, DAAD Germany, the French Government and participating schools.

The flagship one-year MBA program i.e. PGPX, designed for experienced professionals, exclusively accepts GMAT or GRE scores.

[41] IIM also conducts its analytics writing test and personal interview (AWT & PI) in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, & New Delhi cities of selected candidates.

The speakers include Nirmala Sitharaman (Union Cabinet Minister, Defence), Maneka Gandhi (Union Cabinet Minister, Women and Child Development), Hasmukh Adia (Revenue Secretary, Government of India), and Deep Kalra (Founder-CEO of MakeMyTrip).

[53] In the past, Chaos has witnessed musical performances by Jagjit Singh, Amit Trivedi, Raghu Dixit, Mohit Chauhan, Armaan Malik and Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy to name a few.

The first is the laterals process in January where firms interview students with prior work experience and offer them mid-level managerial positions.

Companies from multiple sectors across different geographies hire candidates for a wide range of functions[56] Placements for the One Year MBA (PGPX) course happen in two phases for the graduating batch.

A key study by IIMA on salaries in the private and public sector helped shape the 7th Central Pay Commission's recommendations.

[65] Professors from IIMA have been appointed to eminent panels and committees, responsible for shaping key policies, by the government.

[74] Launched in 2004, Prayaas impacts the lives underprivileged students by directly providing them a higher quality of education through specially appointed teachers, with classes running out of the New Campus, as also through funding drives that enable students to move to better schools, in a hope for better education and better lives.

Other notable alumni are Acharya Prashant,[78] Raghuram Rajan, Arvind Subramanian, Harsha Bhogle, Ajay Banga, Rashmi Bansal, Chetan Bhagat,[79] Ivan Menezes, Deep Kalra, Shikha Sharma, and Gopi Rathod.

[80] Past and present faculty at IIM Ahmedabad include three former Governors of the Reserve Bank of India – C. Rangarajan (1968–1982),[59] former Director I. G. Patel (1996–2001),[60][61] and Y. Venugopal Reddy (current Professor of Practice).

N. R. Narayana Murthy, an Indian tech industrialist and the co-founder of Infosys, got his first job as chief systems programmer at IIM Ahmedabad.

The fund was established at IIM Ahmedabad in June 2020 from an initial corpus of ₹100 Crore provided by 10 founding alumni.

This includes Deep Kalra, Founder and Group CEO, MakeMyTrip, Sandeep Singhal and SK Jain, co-founders, WestBridge Capital, Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Founder & Executive Vice Chairman, Info Edge, Kavita Iyer, Trustee, SIFF, VT Bharadwaj, co-founder, A91 Partners, Ramesh Mangaleswaran, Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company, Meenakshi Ramesh, co-founder, Citizen Matters, Kuldeep Jain, founder, Cleanmax Enviro Energy Solutions, GV Ravishankar, MD, Sequoia Capital India, Arun Duggal, chairman, ICRA.

According to Ravishankar, MD, Sequoia Capital India, the plan for the fund is to invest in government securities.

The purpose of the endowment is to "make a larger impact in the field of education, entrepreneurial leadership, management practice and public policy".