India’s top business schools are increasing the intake of women for their flagship programmes, which experts say will help produce “top of the order” female managers and leaders at a time when industry is looking to improve diversity across levels.
Admission data compiled by ET shows that the six old Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) together have 9% more female students in the Class of 2027, compared with last year’s batch. These premier institutes have completed the admission process for this year.
At IIM-Indore, as much as 53.79% of the new students are women, the highest in the institute’s 29-year history. Female students account for 30.84% of the new batch at IIM-Ahmedabad, the most in four years. Narayanan Ramaswamy, national leader (education and skill development) at KPMG India, sees more women joining top B-schools as a win-win for the institutes and industry. While the Bschools will benefit from this diversity as their curriculum, pedagogy and industry engagement become more holistic, recruiters, too, are looking for diversity, especially at top management and decision-making leadership levels, he said. IIMs said they are taking steps to improve gender diversity on their campuses. IIM-Indore incorporated a diversity factor starting the 2025 admissions cycle, allocating special weight to women and candidates with non-engineering backgrounds.
Specific diversity points
Six out of the 100 points in the final selection stage are allocated to such candidates.
“We have introduced the diversity factor to build classrooms that reflect the richness of the real world, one that is diverse in perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences,” said its director, Himanshu Rai. “A diverse cohort equips our students to thrive in dynamic business environments where empathy, collaboration and inclusivity are critical to success.”
IIM-Kozhikode is another institute where women will be in the majority: of its 489 students, close to 55% are women in the new batch. Female and transgender candidates receive specific diversity points in the interview shortlisting process, said admissions chairperson Ram Kumar PN.
For the first time in the last four years, IIM-Ahmedabad has more than 30% female students among the 414 students in the Class of 2027. Both the batch size and gender diversity percentage have increased for this IIM, from 397 and 22.92% for the class of 2022-24.
“To help increase the pool of female candidates selected for the admission interviews, we have introduced gender diversity points this year while preparing the interview shortlist,” Karthik Sriram, chairperson, admissions, said.
Women account for close to 40% of the batch of the full-time twoyear post-graduate programme at IIM-Bangalore, which is almost like last year, said Mukta Kulkarni, dean of academic programmes. IIM-Bangalore also focuses on disability inclusion.
Admission data compiled by ET shows that the six old Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) together have 9% more female students in the Class of 2027, compared with last year’s batch. These premier institutes have completed the admission process for this year.
At IIM-Indore, as much as 53.79% of the new students are women, the highest in the institute’s 29-year history. Female students account for 30.84% of the new batch at IIM-Ahmedabad, the most in four years. Narayanan Ramaswamy, national leader (education and skill development) at KPMG India, sees more women joining top B-schools as a win-win for the institutes and industry. While the Bschools will benefit from this diversity as their curriculum, pedagogy and industry engagement become more holistic, recruiters, too, are looking for diversity, especially at top management and decision-making leadership levels, he said. IIMs said they are taking steps to improve gender diversity on their campuses. IIM-Indore incorporated a diversity factor starting the 2025 admissions cycle, allocating special weight to women and candidates with non-engineering backgrounds.
Specific diversity points
Six out of the 100 points in the final selection stage are allocated to such candidates.
“We have introduced the diversity factor to build classrooms that reflect the richness of the real world, one that is diverse in perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences,” said its director, Himanshu Rai. “A diverse cohort equips our students to thrive in dynamic business environments where empathy, collaboration and inclusivity are critical to success.”
IIM-Kozhikode is another institute where women will be in the majority: of its 489 students, close to 55% are women in the new batch. Female and transgender candidates receive specific diversity points in the interview shortlisting process, said admissions chairperson Ram Kumar PN.
For the first time in the last four years, IIM-Ahmedabad has more than 30% female students among the 414 students in the Class of 2027. Both the batch size and gender diversity percentage have increased for this IIM, from 397 and 22.92% for the class of 2022-24.
“To help increase the pool of female candidates selected for the admission interviews, we have introduced gender diversity points this year while preparing the interview shortlist,” Karthik Sriram, chairperson, admissions, said.
Women account for close to 40% of the batch of the full-time twoyear post-graduate programme at IIM-Bangalore, which is almost like last year, said Mukta Kulkarni, dean of academic programmes. IIM-Bangalore also focuses on disability inclusion.
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