Bhubaneswar: The Chief Minister of Orissa, Shri. Naveen Patnaik inaugurated the new academic block of the Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB) this morning. XIMB which has been consistently ranked as one of the finest business schools in India has achieved yet another milestone with this new infrastructural development keeping in mind the future demands of management education. Shri.Naveen Patnaik was the Chief Guest of this inaugural ceremony and inaugurated the new academic block of XIMB flanked by Fr.P.T.Joseph, S.J., Director, XIMB and Fr.Tony Uvary, S.J. Dean (Administration), XIMB. Prior to the cutting of the inaugural ribbon by the Chief Minister, there was an august inaugural ceremony held at the XIMB auditorium. Delivering the inaugural address, Shri.Naveen Patnaik encouraged the faculty and students to aspire for leadership roles in life and related to his experiences as a leader. Speaking to a gathering of more than 800 people, Shri.Patnaik felt that XIMB as an Institute has a lot to offer and congratulated the leadership at XIMB for ensuring continued success and development for the society through the social developmental activities carried out by XIMB. This new academic block is a seven storied beautiful building and is adjacent to the Fortune Towers which houses major companies operating in Orissa. Standing tall along side the Fortune Towers, the XIMB's new academic block also provides a glimpse of the changing industrial scenario of Orissa and points to the development that the state is making with regard to business education, commerce and industry. The new academic block has a built up area of 45,875 square feet and has been constructed at an estimated cost of 6.5 crores. It has 23 Faculty rooms, 6 lecture halls with a seating capacity for 60 students each, 4 lecture halls with a seating capacity for 70 students each and two lecture halls with a seating capacity for 120 students each. Besides these facilities, the new academic block also has a board room, a conference room and an examination hall with a seating capacity for 250 students. Speaking to the Press, Fr.P.T.Joseph, S.J., Director, XIMB said, "It is a matter of great pride and joy for XIMB to have this new seven storied academic complex. It provides greater opportunities for teaching-learning processes and would also become a platform for leveraging quality education through brilliant young students leading to dissemination of high quality management education and research." Further adding to his statement, Fr. Tony Uvary, S.J. Dean (Administration), XIMB said, "We envision XIMB to become one of the top business schools not only in Asia but across the world. To be an internationally acclaimed business school we need such world class infrastructure and facilities. This new academic block is an initiative in this direction and we are sure that it would pay rich dividends in ensuring excellent value based management education for the students at XIMB."