IIM Calcutta hikes fees by 16 percent

Kolkata: Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM-C), on Saturday increased the fees for its flagship two-year course by about 16 per cent to Rs 19 lakh for the upcoming academic session.

"Today, the board cleared the new fees of PGP (post-graduate programme) to Rs 19 lakh for academic session beginning from 2016. This has been done to maintain quality and infrastructure for the students," IIMC director Prof Saibal Chatterjee said.

The fees was hiked from Rs 16.3 lakh after two years, he said.

Other prominent IIMs have also hiked their fees recently for PGP citing inflationary pressures.

In IIM Ahmedabad, the fee is Rs 19.5 lakh, while, for IIM Bengaluru it is Rs 18.7 lakh. Meanwhile, addressing the IIM-C convocation, Principal Scientific Advisor to Government of India, Rajagopala Chidambaram, said the institute can explore the possibility of taking up a research project in collaboration with an IIT on how to strengthen the government's initiative to promote hi-tech manufacturing start-ups.

Chidambaram said, "Would IIM-C be interested, perhaps in collaboration with an IIT, in taking up a research project to determine what is the best route for India for success in managing hi-tech manufacturing start-ups"

He was referring to India's capabilities in hi-precision engineering and to the problems for manufacturing start-ups, like problems of finding factories to manufacture their products.

He also emphasised on rural entrepreneurship and asked whether the management school can take up such studies.

"India's technology needs range from nuclear to rural. We want an India where quality of life is comparable to the quality of life of non-urban areas of developed countries," he said.