The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) are much sought-after by MBA aspirants who consider admission to the 2-year or 1-year management programs as the best pathway towards a successful career. However, it is far more tough to get into the IIMs rather than several of the top B-Schools abroad mainly on account of the large applicants’ pool and a limited number of seats.
The situation is likely to change in the near future as IIM Bangalore and Ahmedabad propose to add some 800 seats between them from the coming academic year. The proposal has been sent to the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) that looks after higher education.
If approved, the total intake capacity of the 20 IIMs in India will go up to 13,216 from 12,411 at present. While IIMB is understood to have sought an additional 425 seats, IIMA wants to add 380 seats.
Raghuram said that of the additional 425 seats, 300 will be for two of its 2-year PGP programs, 75 for the one year EPGP and 50 to Fellow Management Program (FPM). At present, EPGP 2018 batch has a total of 73 students, including 15 female participants. PGP 2018-20 batch has 430 students, including 121 female.
Both the institutes have also sought loans from the Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) to create the necessary infrastructure to accommodate the additional students.
HEFA is a joint venture company of the Canara Bank and the HRD Ministry. It provides financial assistance for the creation of educational infrastructure and R&D in India’s premier educational Institutions.
Once the proposal receives the go-ahead, the student strength at IIMB will go up to 1,646 as against the present 1,221. It will also make IIMB the second biggest in terms of student intake right behind IIM Indore which has 1,907 students. At present, IIM Lucknow is in the second spot with 1,332 seats.
IIMB Director G Raghuram told the Times of India that the institute has applied for a loan of about Rs 200 crore to partly cover the expenses for additional infrastructure. The newspaper said the exact amount of loan sought by IIMA could not be immediately ascertained.
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Raghuram said that of the additional 425 seats, 300 will be for two of its 2-year PGP programs, 75 for the one year EPGP and 50 to Fellow Management Program (FPM). At present, EPGP 2018 batch has a total of 73 students, including 15 female participants. PGP 2018-20 batch has 430 students, including 121 female.
