More than another campus: IIM Guwahati and the future of Assam

With the passage of the Indian Institutes of Management (Amendment) Bill, 2025, in the monsoon session, Parliament has set the stage for India’s twenty-second IIM and the very first in Assam. The institute at Guwahati comes with a planned support of Rs 555 crore over five years, after which it is expected to run on its own revenue streams. 

Why Guwahati, and why now? Assam is home to over three crore people and has more than 5.5 lakh students in higher education. However, it lacked a premier management institute. Establishing IIM Guwahati is an important intervention for a region that has long needed a strong anchor in higher education and professional training. The new IIM forms part of a larger Special Development Package. The new IIM will strengthen education, expand opportunities for managerial training, and contribute to regional growth. Therefore, the start of IIM Guwahati carries weight, especially in the context of the North-East’s aspirations.

The likely impact of this IIM is not difficult to imagine. IIM Guwahati can professionalise industries that matter most to the North-East, such as tea, tourism, oil and gas, bamboo and forest-based products. This institute can focus on research and executive training around these industries. Guwahati’s position as the gateway to the Act East corridor makes it a natural hub for work on cross-border trade and supply chain networks. At the same time, the institute can work with the governments of North-Eastern states to improve managerial skills in public systems of the region.

Experience from IIM Shillong is instructive. The North East Centre for Community Impact and Engagement (NECCIE) at IIM Shillong has connected management education to school mentoring, entrepreneurship awareness, and livelihoods programmes focusing on local needs.  IIM Guwahati can collaborate with IIM Shillong and amplify the scale of such work. This collaborative work will ensure that the benefits of an IIM are not confined to classrooms but reach out to society.

Funding for IIM Guwahati has been planned with care. A five-year allocation of Rs 555 crore ensures stability for infrastructure, faculty hiring, and creation of support systems. After that, the institute is expected to generate its own resources, much like other newer IIMs that moved towards self-sustainability. This approach balances public investment with institutional responsibility.

The larger context of IIM Guwahati is worth recalling. In 1961, the first IIMs, one at Calcutta (now Kolkata) and the other at Ahmedabad, were created outside the university structure. The other IIMs were established in Bangalore, Lucknow, Indore, and Kozhikode in the following years. Many new IIMs were established in the 2000s and 2010s. In 2023, NITIE Mumbai became 21st in Mumbai. IIM Guwahati continues this trajectory, though with a sharper regional development lens.

IIM Guwahati will not serve Assam alone. It is an institute of national importance. Therefore, it will attract students from every part of our country to come together to learn and collaborate. Students at IIM Guwahati will be able to build businesses in the region, contributing to its economic growth. Over time, it can generate new trade, tourism, and investment networks. When bright minds from across the country begin to see Assam as a land of opportunities, the North-East can gain recognition and renewed momentum for growth that connects regional potential with national ambition.

The author is a former Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC) and a former Vice-Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).