Six New IIMs Get Centre's Green Light

NEW DELHI:The Centre on Wednesday approved the proposal for setting up six new IIMs across the country. And the premier institutions would come up at Vishakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), Bodh Gaya (Bihar), Sirmaur (Himachal Pradesh), Nagpur (Maharashtra), Sambalpur (Odisha) and Amritsar (Punjab).

It was a meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi,which okayed the proposal for the new IIMs that will begin their intake from 2015-16.

Briefing reporters on the Cabinet decisions, Union Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “These IIMs will begin functioning from assigned temporary campuses and shift to their permanent sites after the construction of their campuses.”

Each Institute will start with an intake of 140 students in the post-graduate programme (PGP) courses. It is expected that the annual intake will increase to 560 students each year by the end of seven years.

The PGP in Management would be the flagship programme of these institutions. Admission to the PGP will be through open and competitive Common Admission Test (CAT) conducted by the IIMs. These IIMs would train young graduates to undertake management responsibilities and carry out research and consultancy in the field of management and allied areas. The programmes will provide the country, potential leaders in diverse fields of endeavour and enterprise. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had in his 2014-15 Budget speech vowed to establish five new IIMs. The bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh had necessitated the setting up of an IIM in the residuary state.