Union Budget 2023-24: IIM Funding Reduced by Half

IIM Funding Reduced by Half in Union Budget 2023-24

The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) experienced a significant budget reduction this year as a result of the Centre's decision to cut their grant in half during the Union Budget 2023-2024, which was decided on February 1, 2023. The renowned institutions, however, believe that only new IIMs will be impacted by the change rather than first- or second-generation IIMs.

According to a statement made by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday, the funding for IIMs has been cut from the Revised Estimate (RE) of Rs. 608.23 crores for the current fiscal year to Rs. 300 crores for the budget for 2023–24. Even though the higher education sector's net budget for the fiscal year 2023–24 increased by 8% to a total of Rs. 44,094 crores, the reduction of 50.67% was still implemented. According to the Budget Estimates (BE) for 2022–2023, the IIMs received a total of Rs. 653.92 crores.

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Experts’ Opinion on the IIM Funding Reduction

Many people, including experts from the field of education, have opined on the reduction of the IIM funding in the Union Budget 2023-24. Ashok Banerjee, the director of IIM Udaipur, thinks that the government might be encouraging IIMs to be more inventive in how they finance their expansion goals. "The cut in budget allocation for the IIMs may hurt the newer IIMs, the latest IIM is about seven years old though," said Ashok Banerjee in a statement to the Press Trust of India.

"IIM Rohtak has never hung on to any government grant. We generate our total revenue from various training programs remote and on campus and tuition fees. Though we are a second-generation IIM, this halving of funds will not affect us. New generation IIMs might have to depend on government grants," stated Dheeraj Sharma, Director of IIM Rohtak.

The budgetary reduction for the IIMs has the support of the head of gross budgetary support (GBS). For the purpose in the years 2022–2023, the RE and BE each allocated Rs. 296.81 crore and Rs. 323.50 crore, respectively. For the upcoming fiscal year, the amount allotted under the head has been reduced to Rs. 15.17 crore (2023–24).

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