Seven new IIMs in India by 2011

B K Upmanyu

Fri, Aug 28, 2009 17:21:14 IST

THE COUNTRY’S three youngest states - Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand, along with four others, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir and Rajasthan, will get their branches of the prestigious Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) during the period 2009-2011.

The Cabinet has approved a proposal for setting up 7 new IIMs, taking the total number of the premier management school to 14. India already has seven functional IIMs in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Lucknow, Indore, Kozhikode and Shillong.

In yet another development that would benefit five lakh students belonging to economically weaker sections with an annual income limit of Rs 4.5 lakh, the Cabinet on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved a scheme to provide full interest subsidy during the period of moratorium on loans taken by them for pursuing approved technical and professional courses.

While the scheme will be applicable from the current academic year 2009-2010 itself, the Government will bear the interest payable by the student during his/her entire course period, plus one year or six months after he/she gets a job (moratorium period), whichever is earlier. Once the moratorium period is over, the student will have to pay the interest on the outstanding loan amount. The number of loans, as on March 31, 2009, was 16 lakhs and the total outstanding amount Rs 24,000 crore.

HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said both the establishment of seven IIMs and the interest subsidy scheme were part of his 100-day agenda and that he kept the promises he made.

In the first phase, four IIMs at Tiruchirappalli, Ranchi, Raipur and Rohtak will be set up in 2009-10, to become functional from the 2010-11 academic session. The remaining three in J&K, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan, where the locations are yet to be decided, will be set up in the second phase in 2010-11. Though postgraduate programme in management will be the flagship programme, several executive programmes focusing on civic and municipal services will be started in the first year.

In all, an amount of Rs 1,057 crore would be required for the establishment of the seven new IIMs during the XI Plan and wherein admissions will be through the Common Admission Test (CAT). Phase-I will have an intake of 140 students in the PGP course and which will reach 560 students by the end of phase-II.