IIMB fees goes up by Rs 75,000 per annum

The Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIMB) has increased the annual fee for its post-graduate diploma course in management from the existing Rs 175,000 to Rs 250,000 per annum.

The IIMB’s decision to increase the annual fee by Rs 75,000 was taken at a meeting of the Board of Governors held an hour before the 32nd Annual Convocation on Monday that conferred management diplomas on 379 students.

Speaking to reporters, IIMB Director Prakash G Apte justified the fee hike on the grounds of the huge growth in starting salaries commanded by the outgoing students. “We spend Rs 400,000 on every student. Since most of the students come from a fairly comfortable background, we fixed this amount. Besides, average starting salaries today are in the range of Rs 1 to Rs 1.2 million. I am sure students can afford Rs 250,000 per year”, he said.

Apte was also quick to point out that the IIMB will take care of poor students through various scholarships. “We will ensure that nobody goes back from the institute for want of funds”, he said.

Meanwhile, the IIMB’s Board of Governors also formally increased the programme intake by 30 students for the coming year with a view to accommodating the OBC quota. “IIMB will increase the seats in the coming academic year from the existing 240 to 270 seats”, he said. However, IIMB does not need any infrastructure changes to accommodate the additional students. “But, we need to upgrade the infrastructure once the number increases further”, he said.

IIMB Board of Governor’s meeting was chaired by Mukesh Ambani, who is also the Chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd.
Later, the IIMB’s 32nd Convocation address was delivered by Managing Director of Infosys Technologies Nandan M Nilekani. In his address, Nilekani said globalisation was creating an increasingly flat business world, where successful companies would produce where it was most cost-effective and sell where it was most profitable.