In February this year, the institute had announced its decision to hike the course fees from Rs 4 lakh to Rs 7 lakh — Rs 3 lakh to be paid in the first year, and Rs 4 lakh in the second year. But at its 43rd annual convocation this evening, IIM-C decided to finalise the higher fees for the first year only, since letters have to be sent to the 2008-10 batch of students in the second week of April. The decision on increasing the fees for the second year will be taken only after the fees panel submits its report.

“Another increase would be opportunistic and not right at the moment,” said Ajit Balakrishnan, chairman of the board of governors of IIMC today. “We are awaiting the recommendations of the committee, which will not lay down the fees but the process for arriving at the fees,” he added. The fees committee is headed by former Maruti Udyog chairman RC Bhargava.

Following the recent quantum hike in fees at the IIMs in Ahmedabad and Bangalore to Rs 11.5 lakh and Rs 8 lakh respectively, there was talk that IIM-C would announce a second increase.

But Balakrishnan, an IIM-C alumnus and founder chairman of Rediff.com India, said it must not be forgotten that the IIMs are public higher educational institutes run on taxpayers’ money. He said any further fee hike, if at all, would be done in a “civilised way” — in consultation with all the stakeholders including students and their parents, as was done in February.

“It is very important that we do not scare off talented students as most come from a middle-class background,” said Balakrishnan, pointing out that the average household income of IIM students is Rs 5 lakh per year. “The PGP brings in one-third of the revenue, so raising the fee a bit will not be a case of make-or-break for the institution,” he said.