IIM Bangalore (IIMB): Indian Institute of Management Bangalore

In 1973 the Government of Karnataka offered 100 acres and Rs 30 lakh toward the corpus for a third IIM. That decision shapes most of what follows on this page. The Indian Institute of Management Bangalore opened to train managers for public sector boards and electricity utilities, when India's private corporate sector barely existed. It still runs PGPPM, the oldest public-policy management programme at an IIM, set up with the Department of Personnel and Training, alongside its two-year flagship PGP.

Who this suits: someone chasing a consulting or strategy career. Consulting alone took 45% of the 2026 batch's offers. It also suits someone who wants an MBA with real QS and Financial Times recognition, not just an Indian ranking. Who should check twice: anyone assuming NAAC accreditation applies here. IIM Bangalore carries no NAAC grade, similar to other IIMs. It grants its own degrees under the IIM Act, 2017, not through UGC or AICTE affiliation.

What do you actually get for the IIM Bangalore fees? The 2026-28 PGP costs Rs 26,00,000 across two years. That figure has not moved since the 2024-26 batch, per IIM Bangalore's own Financial Aid and Scholarships page. Set the fee against the 2026 batch's outcome. Median CTC on graduation reached Rs 34.75 lakh.

Who should choose IIM Bangalore, and who should check twice first? If your goal is a top-three Indian B-school credential with real international weight, IIM Bangalore delivers. Its PGP sits at world rank 30 in the QS Masters in Management list for 2026, the highest of any Indian programme in that category. If your goal is a broad campus mixing engineering, science and management, look elsewhere. IIM Bangalore runs no engineering stream, and its BBA and BSc degrees are recent additions, not its core identity.

The IIM Bangalore placement report for the 2026 batch shows exactly where that fee goes. Management consulting alone absorbed nearly half the offers. A candidate targeting a different sector should read the full sector split before assuming the headline number applies to them.

IIM Bangalore runs from a 100-acre campus on Bannerghatta Road. The table carries every headline number on this page, in one screen.

Why does IIM Bangalore have no NAAC grade? Every IIM sits outside the NAAC system by law. The IIM Act, 2017 lets every IIM award its own degrees directly. Its Schedule listed 20 IIMs in 2017, 21 after 2023 and 22 after 2025. Parliament built NAAC accreditation for UGC-affiliated colleges, so it does not apply here.

IIM Bangalore runs nine courses across three levels: one doctoral track, six postgraduate management programmes and two recent undergraduate degrees. The two-year PGP is the one most applicants mean when they say "IIM Bangalore."

What is the IIM Bangalore fee structure for each course?

The Rs 26 lakh PGP figure bundles tuition, library, internet, course material, hostel room rent, service charges and insurance, per IIM Bangalore's own page. It excludes GST and other taxes, billed separately. It also excludes personal expenses, a laptop and travel.

Are the IIM Bangalore fees charged every year, or all at once? The Rs 26 lakh runs across the two years' six trimesters, not as one upfront payment. On top of tuition, first-year students pay a one-time caution deposit and a recurring mess advance of Rs 30,000 per term. See the full IIM Bangalore fees and payment schedule for the term-wise breakup.

Which IIM Bangalore course costs the least? IIM Bangalore waives the tuition fee and pays a monthly stipend for five years, because its Doctoral Programme in Management trains researchers rather than fee-paying MBA students. Every other IIM Bangalore course fees figure sits inside its own programme circular, not one shared page.

What is the IIM Bangalore eligibility rule? Every IIM Bangalore admission for PGP and PGPBA starts with the same base: a bachelor's degree in any discipline, with at least 50% marks or an equivalent CGPA. SC, ST and PwD candidates need 45%. CAT is the entrance exam for both. EPGP asks for a bachelor's degree plus five years of work experience as on 31 March 2027, and accepts a GMAT or GRE score only. PGPEM asks for six years of full-time experience as on the same date, and accepts CAT, GMAT, GRE or the IIMB Test.

As of September 2026, IIM Bangalore's PGP 2026-28 cycle is already closed and that batch has joined. IIM Bangalore has published its PGP 2027-29 admission process document, but its PGP 2027-29 domestic shortlisting, interview and offer dates are not officially announced as of September 10, 2026. The confirmed step right now is CAT 2026 itself: registration runs 3 August 2026 to 15 September 2026 (5:00 PM IST), with the exam held 29 November 2026, per the official CAT website. Its sibling PGPBA 2027-29 cycle is already live: applications open 1 October 2026 and close 14 January 2027. Confirm PGP's own dates on IIM Bangalore's PGP admissions page once IIM Bangalore publishes them, rather than assuming last cycle's dates carry over.

How does the IIM Bangalore selection criteria actually work? Shortlisting for PI runs on a 100-point pre-interview score. CAT contributes 55 points. Boards, the bachelor's degree, and work experience or a professional qualification each add 10 points, and gender diversity adds 5. Clear that stage, and the weights shift sharply. The final composite score gives the Personal Interview 40 points and the Written Ability Test 10, while CAT drops to 25.

How many students get an IIM Bangalore interview call? IIM Bangalore does not publish the exact shortlist count. It does publish batch size each year: the 2026-28 cohort has 541 PGP and 77 PGPBA students, 618 in total. Among candidates already in the first shortlist, the top ten on each of three lists automatically qualify for the PI stage: total CAT score, adjusted bachelor's degree score, and professional (CA/ICWA/CS) score. See the full IIM Bangalore admission process for the stage-by-stage detail and document checklist.

The PGP and PGPBA Class of 2026 took 665 offers for 605 students, from 177 recruiters, per IIM Bangalore's audited Placement Report 2026. IIM Bangalore's median package came in at Rs 34.75 lakh and the IIM Bangalore average package at Rs 35.35 lakh. Both rose from the 2025 batch's own numbers, a median of Rs 32.61 lakh and an average of Rs 34.88 lakh. The median climbed by Rs 2.14 lakh, or roughly 6.6%, in a single year. Every IIM Bangalore salary figure carries its own batch year, so a 2025 figure is never confused with a 2026 one.

Management consulting took 45% of all offers in 2026. Accenture Strategy led with 94 offers, followed by Boston Consulting Group, Bain & Company and EY-Parthenon. IIM Bangalore's placement reports omit a single highest placement package figure, unlike some peer institutes. There is no single outlier IIM Bangalore salary figure to correct here, only the IIM Bangalore average package and median package to plan around. See the full IIM Bangalore placement report for the sector-wise split and recruiter list.

IIM Bangalore's most recently published IIM Bangalore cutoff table sits inside its own PGP 2026-28 admission document. It sets the CAT percentile for IIM Bangalore's first shortlist: 85 aggregate for General, 75 for NC-OBC and EWS, 70 for SC, 65 for ST, 60 for PwD, per the PGP 2027-29 admission process document. EWS and NC-OBC share the same 75 mark. Neither matches General's 85. Check the full IIM Bangalore CAT cutoff page for the sectional break-up by category.

IIM Bangalore's Financial Aid Program covers students from households earning under Rs 8,00,000 a year, or facing genuine unexpected hardship. The award ranges from 20% to 100% of tuition after a two-stage review. On top of that sit merit scholarships like the Aditya Birla award (Rs 1.75 lakh) and OPJEMS (Rs 1.5 lakh). Government-run, need-cum-merit routes for SC, ST and PwD students can cover full tuition. See every route and its renewal condition on the IIM Bangalore scholarship page.

IIM Bangalore rankings hold NIRF's #2 spot in Management for 2025, scoring 81.56, up from 81.16 in 2024, per NIRF's own Management table. Both years, IIM Ahmedabad stayed ahead. Its PGP ranks 30th worldwide in the QS Masters in Management list for 2026, the best of any Indian programme there. The PGP also climbed to 21st globally in the Financial Times Masters in Management Ranking 2026, up from 28th in 2025, the only Indian B-school in that ranking's global top 25. Its one-year EPGP separately jumped from 57th to 34th in the Financial Times Global MBA Ranking 2026, a 23-place rise in one year. Full category-wise IIM Bangalore rankings detail sits on the IIM Bangalore ranking page.

IIM Bangalore accepts a different test for almost every programme. Which IIM Bangalore entrance exam does your course need? PGP and PGPBA run on CAT for domestic candidates. PGP also runs a separate international and overseas admission process on a test-centre GMAT or GRE score, and that route does not accept CAT. EPGP accepts GMAT or GRE only. PGPEM accepts CAT, GMAT, GRE or the IIMB Test.

PGPPM runs no written test of its own. It accepts a valid CAT, GMAT, GRE or IIMB Test score, then an interview and a case analysis on the interview day. Since 2025 it has run two routes: a DoPT-sponsored route for government officers, and an Open route for candidates outside government. IIM Bangalore publishes the Open-candidate tuition at Rs 20,00,000 for the 2026 cohort.

The PhD, IIM Bangalore's Doctoral Programme in Management, runs no research written test either. It accepts CAT, GMAT, GRE, GATE or UGC-CSIR/JRF NET depending on the area, or the IIMB Test, then an interview.

The undergraduate routes split. BBA DBE takes the IIMB Entrance Test, the CUET (UG) General Test or JEE Main, with Class 12 at 60% (55% for SC and ST). The two BSc (Hons) programmes, Data Science and Economics, admit only through the IIMB Undergraduate Admissions Test plus an interview, with Mathematics in Class 12. CUET does not apply to either BSc.

A PGP candidate with a strong CAT percentile but no work experience sits in a different position. An EPGP candidate with eight years' experience but no recent CAT score sits in another. Confirm which exam actually gates your target programme before you spend preparation time on the wrong one.

The IIM Bangalore campus runs across 100 acres on Bannerghatta Road. This IIM Bangalore location and address sits about 13 km from Bengaluru City Railway Station and roughly 45 km from Kempegowda International Airport. The PGP fee covers IIM Bangalore hostel accommodation on campus for the first year. Second-year students may arrange off-campus housing on their own instead. The comprehensive fee also folds in library, internet and case-material charges as one line item, not separate bills.

The Indian Institute of Management Bangalore address is Bannerghatta Road, Bilekahalli. This IIM Bangalore address and location sits roughly 45 km by road from Kempegowda International Airport and 13 km from Bengaluru City Railway Station. A pre-paid airport taxi takes about 90 minutes outside peak traffic, longer between 9-11 am and 5:30-8 pm. The nearest landmark for a driver is the Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology flyover, about 3 km short of the gate. Full route detail, fares and the cheapest options sit on the IIM Bangalore how to reach page.

IIM Bangalore's NIRF 2025 Perception score sits at a perfect 100 out of 100, its strongest of five NIRF components. Its PGP posts a QS employability score of 80.9, well above the 48.4 global average for Masters in Management. Its PGPBA ranks 14th globally on the same measure. These are official, third-party assessed figures, not self-reported testimonials. See the full IIM Bangalore reviews page for what the available official data does and does not cover.