IIMs launch UG courses: Revolutionary new vision or deficit-filling in terms of money?

India's top IIMs, which had been synonymous for years with postgraduate management education alone, are joining the battle with undergraduate degrees. This blending of academic vision and financial sense has brought about questions about whether it is a visionary move or a deficit-covering exercise

The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), which have long been associated with high-end postgraduate management education, have set aside conventional practice to launch standalone undergraduate degrees.

This shift is being driven by double impulses: a bold desire for multidisciplinary education on the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and fiscal compulsions of dwindling governmental aid.

IIMs Bangalore, Sirmaur, Kozhikode, and Sambalpur justify their fresh four-year UG programmes as an institutional pledge towards raising critical thinking and socially conscious leaders from an early age.

IIM Sirmaur launched its Bachelor in Management Studies (BMS) in 2024, IIM Bangalore will launch a BSc (Hons) in Data Science and Economics from 2026, IIM Kozhikode will launch its BMS (Honours with Research) from 2025, and IIM Sambalpur has launched two Bachelors of Science in 2025, one in Management & Public Policy and another in Data Science & Artificial Intelligence.

The design reflects NEP's emphasis on multidisciplinary, practice-directed learning.

It also fits well in the fast-changing work market with the integration of AI usage and AI agents replacing the activities of human personnel. There is a need for more monitoring by humans who are management trained and can observe not just humans but also AI agents.

As Infosys Co-founder Narayana Murthy noted earlier this year, the traditional difference between management and technology is a myth. Professionals need to combine strategic and technical skills.

Waiting until the postgraduate stage of studies to learn these skills is no longer possible; the students need it as soon as possible.

This philosophy is reflected in the IIM UG programmes, which integrate liberal arts, social sciences, data science, and experiential labs to produce hybrid thinkers who are capable of bridging strategy and action.

Institutes claim that these costs are balanced by their commitment to scholarship, merit-cum-means aid, and economically weaker section quotas.

Admissions are on competitive national-level exams and interview, with explicit eligibility standards fixed against government guidelines.

HOW DO UG COURSES IMPACT THE IIM BRAND?

Partisans view the move towards including UG courses in IIMs as an opportunity to introduce the mythical IIM rigour and contacts to young students, promising them the same quality and placement depth which define their experienced PG programs.

But like critics caution, rapid diversification into UG segments has the risk of weakening the specialized, business-school oriented brand building which has created IIM cachet over several decades.

"IIM Kozhikode undergraduate education is not a matter of filling fiscal gaps but of filling intellectual ones. Our Bachelor of Management Studies takes off on the vision of the NEP 2020, combining research orientation, inter-disciplinary learning, and global exposure to future-ready the young minds as leaders," informs Professor Debashis Chatterjee, Director, IIM Kozhikode.

"Rather than watering down the IIM brand, this growth strengthens it by increasing reach, offering accessibility through scholarships, and shaping leaders able to manage complexity with competence and conscience," he further adds.

 This shift has automatically given a monetary support to their aggressive roll-out of academic programs.

In IIM Sambalpur, Director Professor Mahadeo Jaiswal claims that introducing undergraduate programs is "not a question of money but of vision and opportunity."

The institute launched two four-year Bachelor of Science programs in 2025 one in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, and one in Public Policy and Management.

"Student response to IIM Sambalpur's undergraduate programs has been extremely encouraging," said Professor Jaiswal. "We have got tremendous interest from candidates all over India, with students from multiple academic backgrounds applying to build a strong foundation in management, policy, and data-driven problem-solving right after school."

He said that the first cycle of admissions to 2025 has been extremely promising, with the volume of applications well above projections.

The IIM Sambalpur programmes place emphasis on developing talent with critical thinking, problem-solving, and entrepreneurial skills right from the outset, in synchronism with NEP's focus on flexible and multidisciplinary learning.

He also said that the programs aim to instill problem-solving, critical thinking, and entrepreneurial competencies in students right from the start since NEP has been looking for flexibility as well as multi-disciplinary learning.

Professor Debashis Chatterjee presented the following details about the BMS program at IIM Kozhikode:

Motivation: The launch is educationally driven, to create leaders from a lower stage, and skill-based and not revenue-driven.

The graduates would thus enjoy new opportunities through industry internships, international exchanges, and direct access to alumni networks, providing them with the edge in employment as well as studies.

CENTRALITY OR SUPPLEMENT?

With fluctuating budgets and rising undergraduate demand, such new programs will become lifelines to scale up from add-on revenue drivers to strategic pillars of institutional growth.

Directors in some of the IIMs confirm that UG programs will rise with specialized professors and facilities, and admissions are also likely to improve year by year.

The IIM undergraduate jump is at the juncture of vision and necessity. While reduced government funding has pushed these premier institutes to diversify revenues, the change indicates a genuine intent to design a new generation of socially conscious, multidisciplinary managers.

While Murthy's vision and the directors' statements suggest, the future belongs to hybrid minds that can walk the what of management and the how of technology.

Whether IIMs' undergraduate courses are a revolutionary pillar of Indian higher education or a strategic experiment will hinge on finding a balance between access, affordability, and the unflinching quality that has been the hallmark of their brand.