IIM-Bangalore hikes P.G. Program fee to Rs 11 lakh

The Indian Institute Of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B)has announced its decision to hike the fees for its flagship Post Graduate Program. This decision comes into effect for the batch enrolling in the current year i.e., 2009. It was also announced that t he student intake has been increased to 350 students to accommodate the 27% OBC quota rule implementation.

The fees for IIM-B's PG Program was Rs.4.5 lakh for the First year and Rs. 5 lakh for the second year.Once the fee hike comes into effect, The fees is likely to be Rs. 5.25 lakh for the first year and Rs. 5.75 lakh for the second year.

The decision was taken at the board of governors meeting on April 2nd, 2009. Institute officials justified the hike by admitting that the Institute has not received any government grant. The total expenditure of IIM-B for the year 2009-2010 is estimated to be Rs. 45 crore.Infrastructure demands due to the implementation of the OBC quota and also Teachers' pension as per the Sixth Pay Commission resulted in the fee hike decision.

The IIMB has around 200 faculty members with faculty hiring trends expected to be similar to that of the last year at elite institution. The institute also claimed to exceed the OBC quota rule by 15-20%. It was also announced that IIM-B has set aside the same amount as last year - Rs.2 crore as Financial aid to deserving students while mentioning that more funds could be released if thought necessary.Student intake will also be increased for other programmes offered by IIM-B such as Executive programmes and the Public Policy Management Program.

IIM-B's fee hike follows the similar announcement by IIM-A. IIM-B's expenditure is said to be mainly towards construction of over 300 hostel rooms, 25 faculty houses and 10 classrooms accommodating around 100 students each.