Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, (IIM-B) has increased it s annual fee to Rs. 2.5 lakh for the Post-graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) programme. Currently the fee stands at Rs. 1.75 Lakhs. The decision was taken on Monday at the governing body met headed by Mr. Mukesh Ambani, the Chairman of Reliance Industries.

Announcing the fee hike after a board meeting on Monday, IIM-B director Prakash G Apte said, "At an earlier board meeting, we were deliberating over the Rs 2-lakh figure, but at the IIM, we spend Rs 4 lakh per student. Since most of our students come from a fairly comfortable background, we fixed this amount." and to justify the fee hike he later added "Average starting salaries today are in the range of Rs 10-12 lakh. I am sure students can afford Rs 2.5 lakh." And he is not wrong - "this year, approximately 75 students from IIM-B accepted foreign placements which is an increase of 50 per cent over last year's 50 students who accepted such offers". The students are not worried about going to countries to which they have had little or no exposure, for they have been trained in the skills required to handle different cultures. A small hike in fee shouldn't make anything to worry about.

Regarding the IIMs stand on needy students, Apte said, "Our commitment towards deserving candidates will continue. No student will be turned away from IIM for want of money,"

In another major decision, IIM-B will increase the number of seats in the coming academic year from 240-270 to accommodate the OBC quota. The intake for the public policy programme is likely to be increased to 40 from 30. "The IIM-B would increase the intake from 240 to 270 in the coming academic year to accommodate OBC candidates in a phased manner as per the Veerappa Moily-headed Oversight Committee's recommendation that 27 per cent of the seats in higher educational institutions should be reserved for OBCs,"Apte added. "The infrastructure we have today is enough to accommodate the present increase in intake. However, any further increase would need new infrastructure. Likewise, we can manage with the present faculty now. But, if the student strength went beyond 270, then we need extra faculty," he said.

Till Now Only few handful institutes had announced in the number of seat increment to accommodate OBCs according to the new govt. of India policy. Many top b schools are expected to give their exact figures in next couple of weeks.