Date:04/04/2004 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2004/04/04/stories/2004040401710100.htm

Back IIMA not to implement fee cut for new batch

Our Bureau

Ahmedabad , March 3

THE Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA), will not be implementing the fee cut for the new batch of Post-Graduate Programme students, which would begin the first semester on June 26.

This was stated by Mr N.R. Narayana Murthy, Chairman of the IIMA Board of Governors, here on Saturday.

Mr Murthy, speaking to the media after a board meeting of the IIMA, said, "It is best that we went in for status quo as far as the fee is concerned. What this means is the incoming batch of students will also pay what the last year's students paid - Rs 1,58,350." There was tremendous enthusiasm at today's board meeting for the proposed dialogue, which was expected to be held after the Lok Sabha, elections, he said.

Mr Murthy strongly denied that at `any time any proposal for further hiking the course fee was discussed' either in today's board meeting or yesterday's society meeting.

"There is no question of further hiking the fees when we are talking of dialogue to arrive at a mutually acceptable solution. When we go for dialogue, we have to go in with an open mind," he said.

Meanwhile Dr Bimal Jalan, while delivering the 39th annual convocation address of the IIMA, said if the entry was competitive and a particular level of cost was found to be justified then an institution would have to recover this cost through pricing, endowment, subsidy or a combination the three. Otherwise, it would either go out of business or the quality of output would deteriorate, he said.