Three more IIMs may be set up

AHMEDABAD: IIMs at Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai? The M Veerappa Moily Committee in its final report to the government is likely to recommend the setting up of three new IIMs with more flexibility in governance as a long-term solution.

Sources said, the committee is likely to accept recommendations from a core-group of management institutions, which comprises the six IIMs and National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Mumbai. The core group has already communicated its views to the committee, the sources told ET.

More IIMs across the country would ensure a balanced access of management education and, the three new institutes can come up in the course of 5-7 years and should be given more flexibility in governance, says the report submitted by the core group.

Though the report has not specified any particular location, it is believed that the group is pitching for metros (or surroundings) such as Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai.

“The recent issues have cropped up because there are not enough seats in top-class management institutes in the country. We have recommended setting up three new IIMs. The idea is to increase the supply,” former IIM-A director Samuel Paul, who heads the core-group of management institutions, told ET.

Mr Paul added that while the existing institutes were planning to expand, setting up new ones would better solve the problem in the long run. “There has to be a long term solution to the supply problem,” he said.

Rough estimates suggest put together, all IIMs and NITIE expansion to increase students intake would cost over Rs 500 crore.

IIM-A alone would have to shell out Rs 110 crore for the expansion, which mainly includes creating accommodation facilities for students as well as faculties, constructing classrooms and furniture to name a few.

The group has recommended that the three new IIMs should be spread out across the country, where good faculty can be attracted and retained. The locations should be such that faculty and students can have productive interactions with industry and business houses, he says.

Besides, new institutes should be in areas where new markets for management graduates are developing. According the core group’s report, the existing institutes shall not be able to cater to requirements of education research and consultancy of all regions.