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The waitlist movement of IIM continues to be one of the most eagerly awaited stages for MBA hopefuls following the Common Admission Process (CAP) and final results of admissions. Thousands of applicants every year eagerly wait as the Indian Institutes of Management publish waitlist movement reports, typically extending between May to July.

Waitlist movement takes place when the initially shortlisted candidates reject admission invitations, and this drives IIMs to invite the next available candidates from the waitlist. This movement is quite different across different IIMs, categories, and years of admissions.

Upper IIMs (A, B, C, L, K, I) tend to observe minimum movement due to greater acceptance by higher-ranked candidates. For the year 2025 admissions, candidates should look forward to several rounds of waitlist movements in May-July 2025.

Younger IIMs and baby IIMs, however, tend to have substantial waitlist movement as plenty of aspirants upgrade to older IIMs or more prestigious non-IIM institutes.

Category-wise variations are observed — SC, ST, and OBC categories, being more heterogeneous in nature, witness greater waitlist movements owing to different patterns of acceptances and seats available.

Factors that Impact Waitlist Movement

There are various factors that determine the extent of movement at the waitlist at every IIM:

Acceptance Rate – When a majority of high-calibre candidates accept offers at top IIMs, movement is reduced.

Seat Intake – B-schools with bigger batch sizes (such as IIM Rohtak or IIM Indore) exhibit wider movement.

Alternative Offers – Offers to ISB, XLRI, FMS, SPJIMR, or abroad international B-schools tend to create openings at IIMs.

Reservation Policies – Category-wise allotments may lead to disproportionate movement across General, EWS, OBC, SC, and ST lists.

As competition becomes fiercer year on year, knowing the IIM waitlist movement 2025 trend can assist applicants in estimating their prospects better and making effective backup plans.

The government has stepped into actions in response to inquiries about fee hikes in top institutions like Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), and central universities as part of a Parliament inquiry. Even as they assured that some of the colleges have revised their fee structure, the government asserted there are different schemes of waivers and grants of financial aid provided to students from marginalized communities. According to official figures, fees for undergraduate courses in IITs were doubled in 2016 from ₹90,000 to ₹2 lakh a year, while fees for MBA courses at top IIMs have crossed more than ₹20 lakh.

For IIMs, the schemes of financial assistance vary in institutions. Most of the IIMs offer need-based tuition fee scholarship to students of the lower-income group and extra scholarships to meritorious students by the Ministry of Education and external funding agencies. Central universities offer meric-cum-means scholarships, SC/ST scholarships, and fee waivers to meritorious students. 

IIT Fee Hike Details

The Parliament response did admit that a few IITs have raised their fees in the last few years. The course fee of the undergraduate course was raised in 2016 from ₹90,000 to ₹2 lakh per year for general category students. SC, ST, and PwD students remain exempt from full fee concessions, while partial concessions are given to EWS students. Even M.Tech and PhD courses have witnessed time-to-time fee hikes amongst IITs.

In the same vein, IIMs have innovatively restructured their fees from time to time, and fees for flagship MBA programs in leading IIMs are now touching ₹20 lakh. Yet economically weaker sections of society get considerable financial assistance so that deserving students are not deprived of opportunities because of fiscal limitations.

Govt's Stand on Accessibility

The Ministry of Education reaffirmed that affordability and accessibility are issues of prime importance. It claimed that the top institutions are still providing different types of scholarships, interest-free loan facilities, and need-based finance to ensure that students from all socio-economic backgrounds can access quality higher education with no economic burden. The response of government is to balance fiscal sustainability of institutions with inclusivity to ensure that meritorious students can still get access to education in India's best institutions irrespective of occasional fee adjustments.

IIM Waitlist Movement 2025 is the most anticipated news for CAT-shortlisted candidates eagerly waiting to hear their final offers of admission to an MBA course. Waitlist movement breaks or makes the dreams of thousands of applicants annually who just missed the first cutoff by a hair. Since majority of the waitlisted students reject their alternative offer from other b-schools, the IIMs do waiting lists to fill empty seats — a process that is rather varied from campus to campus and category to category.

When Does the IIM Waitlist Movement Happen?

Waitlist movement would begin in May and continue on up to July 2025, in several rounds. Direct notification of candidates is carried out by their own IIMs, and how often movement occurs typically also has something to do with whether accepted candidates choose to hold or give up seats at the last minute.

Trends Observed Over Recent Years

The past few years have witnessed trends based on analysis identifying an unmistakable trend:

Top IIMs (A, B, C, L, K, I): Barely any waitlist movement owing to increased acceptance rates. The largest majority of the top-ranked candidates get their admission here.

New and Baby IIMs: Increased waitlist movement owing to a high number of candidates preferring to join higher-ranked colleges or choose top private B-schools in the latter half of the admission season.

Category Movement: SC/ST and OBC categories see greater movement because reserved seats are not filled in the first round necessarily.

Most Important Factors Influencing Waitlist Movement

Acceptance Rate: As more top performers join premier IIMs, waitlist movement in such colleges is still limited.

High-ranked IIMs will have their lists fill very shortly, while new IIMs (like IIM Nagpur, IIM Ranchi, and IIM Amritsar) may experience revolutionary changes with candidates taking spots elsewhere. Candidates need to keep searching for updates more frequently and move quickly on offers since most IIMs operate on a tight timeline.

Conclusion

IIM waitlist movement 2025 offers a second chance to quite a huge number of meritorious applicants. Trends knowledge and alertness across admission rounds is the secret. Though flagship IIMs have lesser fluctuations, newer ones prefer to allow good things to happen to the aspiring hearts — hence patience and perseverance are the mantras for all MBA aspirants

While the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) have long been increasing the tuition fees of the two-year post graduate programmes (PGPs), they have in the process attempted to reduce the burden for meritorious students by increasing the disbursal of need-based scholarships.

Consider this. About 70 of 700 students availed themselves of the need-based scholarship programme of IIM Calcutta (IIM-C) for the 2009-10 batch, says Prashant Mishra, chairman, PGP, IIM-C. "We plan to increase the number of scholarships paid out if needed," adds Mishra.

As compared to income-based fee-waivers in terms of tuition, where family income is taken into account, need-based scholarships are granted to students if the IIMs are of the opinion that a deserving student has not been successful in securing a proper quantum of loan to finance his studies.

Between 2004-05 and 2007-08, financial aid to IIM-C students was around Rs 20 lakh annually, but this grew to Rs 1.8 crore in 2009-10. "Financial aid helps such students to take up higher studies or start a business where the compensation may not be high. So they need not worry about arranging a loan," says Mishra.

IIMs also provide income-related fee waivers. For receiving the scheme at IIM-C, students should have a below Rs 4 lakh family income annually. Once again, if family income of a student is less than Rs 1 lakh annually, then a 100 per cent fee waiver can be given to a student subject to the disbursal limit of the institute and the number of students who have applied for the waiver.

IIMs provide scholarships to poor students and the value is equivalent to full waiver of the tuition fee. Even though IIMs would continue to provide fee waiver to students based on family income, the fee waiver this year would be decided based on class income distribution. For instance, in the financial year 2009-10, 41 students were provided education at IIM Ahmedabad (IIM-A) free of cost.

At IIM Lucknow, nearly Rs 70 lakh was given to students under the need-based scholarship scheme for the year 2009. "This is nearly three times larger the disbursal that we had last year," says Devi Singh, director, IIM Lucknow. "We will increase the scholarship disbursal budget if there are more students who apply for it and then cross the cut," he adds further.

Our intention is to increase disbursals so that management education becomes affordable for as many people as possible."

Students look forward to better infrastructure

The new fee structure of Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) might have priced the much sought after post graduate programme in management (PGP-M) out of reach, but Indian MBAs-to-be don't appear to be complaining. The hike in the fees would mean added facilities for students, they rationalize. They also believe that placements would make up for the hike in fees.

"The IIMs need the money to upgrade the infrastructure that would be used by the students and also to retain faculty members. Other than that, an increase would not be a problem for me as I would take a loan in any case. And if the job works out then there is no problem whatsoever," says Reema Ghosh Roy, who aspires to join an IIM.

Ankit Srivastava, also one of the CAT toppers, also concurs that the IIMs' decision is rationale. He would be receiving interview calls from IIM Ahmedabad, Calcutta, Kozhikode and Indore. "The first reason being that the IIMs offer a great platform to any person for economic as well as financial stability in the society. They have the best class of facilities as well as for building the infrastructure now.". There is also a provision for the lower income segment as a full scholarship and fee waiver of the tuition fee," says Srivastava.

"The IIMs are increasing the seat size this year which necessitates an upgrade in the infrastructure facility. I think it is fair if the IIMs raise their fee waiver scheme, which will pay the fees for the lower income group," says Kiran Kanchana, a candidate who has been shortlisted by several IIMs.

All the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) have always been the epitome of management studies. With their alumni leading global multinationals and bringing revolutionary change to corporate India, IIMs are only getting bigger. But with their phenomenal reputation comes a price tag to match that students need to pay. The applicant to an MBA program often asks, "Why are IIMs so costly?". To have a knowledge of the fee structure and what these expenses include may at times be very difficult to comprehend. But that someone is aware of these nuances helps students view things beyond the numbers and acknowledge the actual value of an IIM MBA. Let us  dissect all this and discover Why IIMs cost so much and is an IIM MBA worthwhile.

So let us discover where all the money is going.

A Snapshot of IIM Fees: What Are We Talking About?

Let us initially see the fee structure of some of India's top IIMs. Knowing the tier of IIMs in India and hence the difference in fee charged on the basis of that is vital. Here below is a table indicating the fee of different IIMs for the course of MBA:

The Old IIMs charge the maximum fees due to their inception, well-established infrastructure, and widespread alumni base.

The New IIMs do charge competitive fees because they are attempting to match the level of their older counterparts. But in the days to come, the New IIMs, at least the better of this breed will match the older IIMs.

The baby IIMs are also known as the third generation IIMs and are newest in the club. These institutes are still finding their path to become a legend. It will take another couple of years for that. However, when it comes to faculties and infrastructure, they have not left any stone unturned and are growing at a rampant pace.

Breaking Down the IIM Fees Structure

The IIMs are not paying merely for the classroom instructions, and thus has a lot of reasons attached to them. They encompass a broad range of services and facilities, and thus the total amount is more. Here is a bit-by-bit explanation of where your money is being utilized:

1. Academic Costs: The Center of Learning

Most of the fees are utilized for various academic costs, which include the following:

Faculty Salaries: IIMs can afford to recruit the best brains from the academic fraternity. Almost all of them have done their PhDs from top world-class institutions. Thus, providing competitive salaries ensures best-in-class teaching and research leading to further growth of the institute.

Curriculum Development: Periodic upgradation to keep pace with global trends & requirements is likely to require various inputs and liaison with experts across the globe.

Learning Materials: IIMs provide access to some high-end case studies from schools like Harvard Business School. They provide decent quality textbooks and subscription to many business journals whose cost goes up to lacs. 

They make sure that students are offered top-class education and never fall behind and are up-to-date with the applicability in the real world.

2. Infrastructure and Facilities

The newly established campuses of IIMs are nicely equipped with top-class infrastructure without any doubt, which are not cheap. This is definitely one of the causes why IIMs are too costly. Now let's get deeper into it:

Smart Classrooms: With smart & sophisticated classrooms, simulations and other software tools are platform for interactive learning. So these are essential in these institutions.

Libraries: Significant repositories of books, journals and online databases like JSTOR and EBSCO are provided 24/7. The days when only traditional libraries were available are behind us. You can now utilize these databases across the country at your convenience.

Technology Infrastructure: Internet and learning management system access also involve tremendous costs. Campus-based technology integration is required to ensure seamless learning.

These hi-tech facilities compel students to have everything they require to excel academically and professionally. Since these facilities are also needed for placements, these become a must.

3. Hostel and Living Costs

Almost all IIMs degrees are residential programmes. In other words, students live on campus during their programme. Thus, they are also paying for these hi-tech facilities. The charges cover:

Accommodation Charges: Modern hostels with single or shared rooms, maintenance, and utility charges like water and electricity. All of the IIMs have ACs also which becomes a part of the cost.

Mess and Dining: Three to four meals a day, snacks, and prevalence of healthy foods. Even though these are highly subsidized and kept very reasonably priced for the students yet they become part of the over expenses.

Campus Infrastructure: As already discussed, as IIMs provide residence courses, there are certain recreational amenities that students and faculty must have. These include but are not limited to Gyms, sports facilities, common rooms and cultural rooms to create a campus life.

Living in the campus with all these facilities contributes to peer learning as well as networking. And, we all know how important peer-to-peer learning in an MBA, especially from an IIM.

4. Global Exposure and Industry Connect

IIMs take great pride in their industry-oriented curriculum and global connections:

Industry Collaborations: A number of events like live projects, internships and industry conclaves are conducted all year round. Hence, these allow the students to link theory with practicalities.

Global Immersions: Many IIMs also have exchange programs or global immersion on board for students. Although these are merit-based and students pay for it but there are some admin fees which are retained by the IIMs for these arrangements.

These are totally priceless. But they have travel expenses, stay and other program management fees. So, all these contribute to your answer of how IIMs are so costly.

5. Alumni Network and Branding

why IIMs are so costly – one among the reasons can be the ever-lasting branding. An IIM MBA doesn't end with graduation. Rather it starts for a lifetime membership to a crème de la crème community which the students gain during these 2 years. The charges also account for the following:

Alumni Interaction: Multiple events, mentorship programs and activities to make contacts for professional growth with alumni. These typically result in spending lacs for these but are invaluable for placements and career opportunities.

Brand Management: Maintaining the IIM brand worth while keeping global brand recognition through accreditations (AACSB, EQUIS) and rankings.These also incur a cost which is typically neglected or are not seen at the top.

The value of belonging to IIM alumni network is invaluable. So, it is absolutely crucial because it tends to bring opportunities to one's doorsteps which are worth investing in.

6. Subsidies and Financial Independence

It is also important to note here that even though IIMs are highly expensive, they are not granted any direct government subsidy of funds like other IITs or NITs. Both institutes operate individually as an independent organization. They fund their operations by collecting tuition, grants and donations from alumni. Therefore, the fee maintains IIMs' autonomy with quality education.

why IIMs are so costly? Is the ROI Worth It?

To all students, the high charges of these IIMs raise questions about return on investment (ROI). But the statistics are self-explanatory which require no testimony. Graduates of IIMs always receive some of the best pay packages in the country. The mean packages here are anywhere from ₹20–35 LPA and foreign offers easily breach ₹1 crore. Below is a quick look at the mean placement packages of top IIMs:

Therefore, in a span of two years after graduation, most students repay their costs early, making the most of it. Hence, the IIM MBA is not just an expense but an investment in their future.

Scholarships and Financial Aid

To make the course accessible to students from various backgrounds, IIMs offer various scholarships and schemes of financial aid:

Need-Based Scholarships: Economically disadvantaged sections of students may avail these after submitting enough proofs.

Merit-Based Scholarships: For scholars of high academic achievement or CAT scores/composite scores are given these scholarships.

Corporate Sponsorships: Many companies have the tendency to give sponsorship to their employees pursuing MBAs. Thus, try to find out if your company is capable of sponsoring your MBA.

Educational Loans: With tie-ups with all the leading banks, IIMs ensure that students can avail loans at preferential rates and tenure. Thus, these efforts demonstrate the commitment of the institute towards inclusivity, ensuring that financial limitations do not deter worthy candidates.

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.