The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) are considering major changes to admissions and student mobility, including a common entrance test for undergraduate (UG) management programmes, a centralised counselling platform for MBA admissions, a uniform fee-refund policy, and inter-IIM transfers, according to official documents accessed by HT.
The education ministry circulated the minutes to IIMs on June 17, and HT obtained them through a Right to Information (RTI) application on September 15.
Directors and representatives across the IIM system, including IIM Ahmedabad director Bharat Bhaskar, who is also mentor director of the newly established IIM Guwahati, the 22nd IIM , discussed “critical issues”, including aligning UG entrance examinations with the “futuristic requirement of the country”, developing standard operating procedures (SOPs) for MBA admissions, and policies on inter-IIM student migration and fee refunds, according to minutes of the Coordination Forum of IIMs meeting chaired by then Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan in Ahmedabad on May 14, 2026.
The IIMs, however, were divided. It proposed that IIMs planning to offer IPM join the existing IPMAT framework, backed by IIM Rohtak. “Our UG program requires students with a strong mathematical background. “We had sent the prototype of a common digital platform to the education ministry by the end of July. The ministry might be reviewing the platform and will update us accordingly. The final decision is yet to be taken.
Because it aligns with the academic requirements of the programme,” IIM Lucknow director MP Gupta said, adding that programmes with different academic objectives may need different admission pathways, we admit students through JEE Advanced.
During a discussion on the “advantages and disadvantages” of having more than 10 entrance examinations for UG and Integrated Programme in Management (IPM) courses and whether these could be merged to “reduce students’ stress”, Pradhan said multiple UG entrance tests should be “avoided”. “He clarified that this should not be perceived as government interference, but rather as a reflection of the government’s role as a stakeholder in the process,” the minutes said. IIM Indore, which launched the first IPM in 2011, said multiple tests provide “multiple opportunities” and accommodate different programme requirements, while acknowledging the financial burden of multiple application and admission processes. IIM Indore director Himanshu Rai said the “broader consensus idea was to avoid creating new entrance tests and instead leverage credible examinations that already exist. Then higher education secretary Vineet Joshi, in the meeting, said such a “significant decision” could not be finalized in a single meeting and required analysis of students’ test-taking patterns and socio-economic backgrounds. The platform will ensure smooth and timely counselling in IIMs,” said a senior IIM Mumbai official, requesting anonymity.
