IIMs to be Granted Complete Autonomy: Modi

The IIM bill granting 'complete autonomy' to the institutes was cleared by the Union Cabinet on Tuesday. According to this bill, the IIMs will be declared as institutions of National Importance enabling them to give degrees to their students.

As per the notification released by the HRD Ministry, the bill was cleared by the Prime Minister and it will now go to the Parliament in the next Budget session.

Currently, the IIMs are operating as autonomous bodies registered under the Societies Act. Their current status does not allow them to award degrees. They have been awarding PG diplomas and fellow programmes in management. Although these are treated as equivalent to MBAs and PhDs, respectively in India, the equivalence is not universally acceptable, especially for the fellow programme.

Once the bill gets the final clearance and comes into effect, the IIMs will be managed by a board which will choose its director and chairperson, which indicated that the government will no longer have a say in this. The bill will help more management experts and IIM alumni to participate in the board meetings and discussions.

In the new Bill, there will be regular performance reviews of the institutions by independent agencies, taking into consideration the five-year plans of IIMs and their long-term strategy. The annual reports will be placed in Parliament and the Comptroller and Auditor General will audit their accounts.

The IIM Council has been replaced by a Coordination Forum, which will act more as an advisory body. It will facilitate the sharing of experiences and ideas to improve the performance of all the institutes.