Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA)

Led by space scientist Dr. Vikram Sarabhai and an eminent industrialist and philanthropist Shri Kasturbhai Lalbhai, and proactively supported by the then Chief Minister of Gujarat, Dr. Jivraj Mehta, a group of enlightened individuals set up IIMA in 1961. This group ably wove together a coalition of five actors - the governments at the centre and the state, local industrialists, the Ford Foundation and the Harvard Business School, to establish the foundations of the Institute.

IIMA has been consistently ranked as the premier management school in the country by several national agencies. IIMA programmes are also ranked highly in several international rankings. In 2008, IIMA became the first management school in the country to be awarded EQUIS (European Quality Improvement System) accreditation by the EFMD (European Foundation for Management Development).

‘Vidya viniyogadvikasa'— ‘development through the distribution or application of knowledge': this is the motto which has guided the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) since its establishment in 1961 in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, enabling it to develop a reputation for excellence and leadership in management education. Created and nurtured as an institute of management and not just as a business school, IIMA has produced numerous leader-managers for the business and public sectors who, with their dreams, aspirations and vision, have shaped their organizational, economic and social contexts. 

Academic Programs of IIM Ahmedabad

Fellow Programme in Management
The Fellow Programme of Management (FPM) is the doctoral programme of IIMA. Introduced in 1971, it is one of the earliest doctoral programmes of Management Science in India.

Candidates can apply to the following Areas of high levels of specialization: 
  • Business Policy
  • Economics
  • Finance & Accounting
  • Food & Agribusiness
  • Human Resource Management
  • Information Systems
  • Innovation and Management in Education
  • Marketing
  • Organizational Behaviour
  • Production and Quantitative Methods
  • Public Systems

Selection Process
  • Candidates applying to the Fellow Programme in Management are required to take the Common Admission Test
  • (CAT) or a standard test in lieu of CAT. For NRIs and Foreign students this standard test is the Graduate
  • Management Aptitude Test (GMAT).

Post Graduate Programme in Management
The two-year full-time Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGP), rated as the toughest MBA programme in the world to get admission, is the flagship programme of IIMA. Its main objective is to develop young men and women into competent professional managers, capable of working in any sector of organized activity.

Selection Process
The admission process consists of the nationally administered Common Admission Test (CAT), and subsequent rounds of personal interviews. The students are selected on the basis of their CAT scores, past academic performance and performance in the interviews. Selected students have scholastic achievements in disciplines such as arts, commerce, science and professional streams such as engineering, technology and medicine. Many of them also have achievements in extra-curricular and organisational activities. 

Post Graduate Programme in Food and Agri-business Management
The program which started in 1974 has evolved into the two year Post Graduate Program in Food and Agri-Business Management (PGP-FABM).It has established to transform dynamic and determined men and women into tomorrow's leaders and decision makers in the food, rural, developmental, and allied sectors. The PGP-FABM program is a sector-specific program firmly rooted in IIM-A's management culture and philosophy.

Selection Process
The candidate must hold a Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree in agricultural sciences or agriculture-related disciplines, with at least 50% marks or equivalent CGPA.

The selection of candidates to PGP-FABM at IIM Ahmedabad is a two-step process.

  • In the first step, candidates will be short-listed for Group Discussion (GD) and Personal Interviews (PI) from among candidates who have applied for the programme and have a valid CAT score and satisfy the eligibility criteria for the programme.
  • An overseas category candidate with food and agriculture background can apply for the programme with a GMAT score instead of a CAT score. The candidates may contact our Admissions Office at  admission@iima.ac.in for further information 
Armed Forces Programme
The Business Management Course at IIM Ahmedabad is a Six months, full time course conducted from October to March every year, specifically designed with an aim to impart the officers of the armed forces with the contemporary global management practices through case-study method of instructions, class room studies, business presentations and Industry visits. 

Admission is through CAT, which happens in December every year. For more details on CAT, click here 

Faculty Development Program
Participants should have post-graduate level teaching experience in management or research experience of
at least two years. Preference will be given to participants less than 45 years of age. Past experience indicates
that participants in the early stages of their teaching or research careers benefit most. 

Selection Process
Considerations for selecting participants include teaching and/or research experience, level of preparedness for the programme as indicated by educational qualifications and statements of purpose, and anticipated benefits to sponsors. There is limited number of seats in the programme.

Research Centres

IIMA set up academic areas like Business Policy, Economics and Marketing for research functions. However, as it took on the challenge of professionalizing not just business management but also management in several other priority sectors, it set up a number of sector or mission oriented thrust groups termed ‘Centres' to apply management science to other sectors of the economy.

Awards and Rewards by IIM

The Institute awards several industry scholarships to students based on academic performance.  The Aditya Birla Scholarships and the Sir Ratan Tata Scholarships instituted by Sir Ratan Tata Trust, Mumbai, are examples of such scholarships. Nestle India Ltd. has instituted a scholarship for the PGP-FABM programme. The centres are:
  • Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship
  • India Gold Policy Centre
  • Centre for Management of Health Services
Contact IIMA

Indian Institute of Management
Vastrapur, Ahmedabad-380015
Gujarat, India
Website: www.iima.ac.in

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