The two-year Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGP), offering the Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM), is the flagship programme across all Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs). These post graduate diploma programmes are considered equivalent to regular Master of Business Administration (MBA) programmes.

The certificate programmes at IIMs are not considered as equivalent to the MBA or EMBA. Only the diploma level programmes are considered as equivalent to an MBA or EMBA depending on whether it is full-time or part-time.


Some IIMs also offer a one-year Post Graduate Diploma Programme for graduates with more work experience. Most IIMs also offer short-term executive education/EMBA courses and part-time programmes.

PGP programme usually starts in June and runs till April of the second year. It is a general, fully integrated management programme with no specialisation, and typically includes courses in Accounting, Behavioural sciences, Finance, Economics, Human Resource Management (HRM), Management Sciences and Information Technology, Marketing, Business operations, Business Mathematics, Public Policy, Statistics and Decision Analysis, Strategy and General Management.

It is usually structured into six trimesters spread across two years. The first year coursework generally consists of core courses in various management disciplines, while in the second year students are allowed to select courses from an exhaustive list of electives.

Designed as a regular MBA programme which focuses on using the prior experience of the class, 1 year MBA is named differently by different IIMs. It is called the Post Graduate Program for Executives by IIM Calcutta and IIM Shillong (PGPEX in short), (PGPX in short) by IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Udaipur, Executive Post Graduate Programme (EPGP) by IIM Bangalore and IIM Indore, International Programme in Management for Executives (IPMX) by IIM Lucknow.

IIM Calcutta offers a specialised executive MBA programme called the Post Graduate Programme for Executives for Visionary Leadership in Manufacturing (PGPEX-VLM) jointly with IIT Kanpur and IIT Madras. It is a one-year, rigorous programme with a heavy focus on the manufacturing sector.

IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Lucknow offer 2 years Post Graduate Programme in Agribusiness Management (PGP-ABM) programme. This is essentially an MBA programme with a specialisation in Agribusiness. IIM Ranchi offers a post graduate programme specialized in Human Resources, called the Post Graduate Diploma in Human Resource Management (PGDHRM).

Different programmes of IIMs follow different admission processes. Admission for residents of India to the flagship two-year PGP programmes at all IIMs is based on the Common Admission Test (CAT). CAT scores are often used as the primary short-listing criteria for admissions. International/overseas applicants have the option to apply using GMAT scores in lieu of CAT scores.