The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) are Centrally Funded Business Schools for management offering undergraduate, postgraduate, doctoral and executive programmes along with some additional courses in the field of business administration.
[7] The full time Master of Business Administration (MBA) programmes, are the flagship programs across all IIMs.
Some IIMs also offer a two-year part time (executive) MBA for graduates with more work experience.
[16] After India became independent in 1947, the Planning Commission was entrusted to oversee and direct the development of the nation.
India grew rapidly in the 1950s, and in the late 1950s the Commission started facing difficulties in finding suitable managers for the large number of public sector enterprises that were being established in India as a part of its industrial policy.
To solve this problem, the Planning Commission in 1959 invited Professor George Robbins of UCLA to help in setting up an All India Institute of Management Studies.
It was set up in collaboration with the MIT Sloan School of Management, the government of West Bengal, the Ford Foundation, and Indian industry.
The committee noted that the three IIMs were producing around 400 PGP graduates every year and that they had reached their optimum capacity.
All IIMs offer a two-year full-time Post Graduate Program in Management (PGP), equivalent to a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree.
The flagship 1-year MBA programs offered by IIMs at Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Calcutta are often termed as Global MBAs internationally and have been ranked within the top 50 Global MBA programs across the world since their inception.
IIM Indore awards program graduates both BA (Foundations of Management) and MBA.
IIM Rohtak awards the BBA/MBA to five-year graduates and BBA to students who opt-out after three years.
A student who completes this programme at any IIM, where (s)he is registered as a doctoral scholar, is awarded the title of Fellow Member (e.g.
Students receiving such a fellowship every year, across all IIMs, work in close association with one another in specific research areas of their choice.
IIM Indore offers a 5-year Integrated Programme in Management (IPM) that leads to a combined undergraduate-cum-graduate diploma.
[55] IIM Bangalore offers a two-year Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship to "promote skill development in district economies".
[61] GMAT scores are a prerequisite short-listing criteria used for admission to the one-year full-time programme for experienced executives.
Some IIMs require candidates to make a presentation of a broad research idea or take a Research Aptitude Test (RAT) followed by a round of interviews while all are compelled to accept scores on standardised tests such as the CAT, GATE, GMAT, and GRE.
The overall profiles of candidates, including past academic and professional accomplishments, are considered for all programmes, along with valid standard test scores.
[66] Originally conducted as a paper-and-pencil test given on a particular date all over India, in 2009 CAT began being given as a computer-based assessment operated by Prometric.
In August 2011, the six newer IIMs (Raipur, Rohtak, Ranchi, Udaipur, Trichy and Kashipur) announced that in the coming year they will replace the group-discussion round with a common written analysis test to evaluate communication and comprehension skill.
[68] The admissions for the two-year full-time programme is done by shortlisting based on CAT scores in conjunction with candidate profile suitability.
The quality of prior work experience and future leadership potential is a critical factor in the selections.
[72][73] IIMs provide financial support to needy and deserving students in the form of scholarships.
[99] In 2023, the fee charged by the older six IIMs (ABCLIK) were in the range of approximately 21 - 26 lakhs for the two year full-time PG programme/ MBA.
The fee charged by these IIMs were 22-26 times India's annual per capita income (Rs.
[100][101] Globally, this places IIMs amongst any of the institutions that charge the highest fee from its citizens, with reference to the annual per capita income of the nation.