Irma plans new campus in Orissa

Institute to open one centre each in north and south India

The Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA) is planning to set up a new campus in Orissa with cost of over Rs 40 crore. The new campus is expected to be operational in next two years.

The institute is also planning to open two more centres of excellence for imparting rural management education, one each in north and south India. However, the location has not yet been finilised.

"There are over 900 management institutes in the country imparting business education, while over 73 per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) is still dependent upon agriculture. The country needs instate of excellence for rural education such as Irma than those business schools," Vargease Kurien, chairman Irma told Business Standard.

The institute was established in 1979 at Anand district in Gujarat, with support of the Centre, state government and the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), to promote professional management of democratic and sustainable institutions for eco-friendly and equitable socio economic development of rural people.

"We have already procured over 60 acres of land for the development of new campus in Orissa and we expect it to be ready in next two years," Kurien said.

At present, the institute do not receive any funds from the government and meet its expenses through the consultancy fees, management development programmes (MDPs) and its corpus funds.

However, the institute was provided with a corpus of Rs 9 crore from NDDB in 1987 and another Rs 10 crore in 1996, subject to a condition that the institute can only use the interest amount of the corpus fund.

Kurien categorically denied getting money from the government for the new campus. "We do not receive any fund from the government. It then coat us around Rs 10 crore to establish Irma, but at present it would cost over Rs 40 crore to set up an institute of excellence such as Irma. So we are planning to build one by one, after Orissa campus we will start working for setting up such institutes in north and south India."

At present, the institute has a corpus of over Rs 40 crore including the corpus fund provided by NDDB.

The institute fetched over Rs 3.5 crore as interest on corpus to meet its expenses during the financial year 2003-2004.

However, the institute has brought within its ambit several non-government development organisations, international development organisations, and various funding agencies, which address the issues of rural development and may help in developing new campus.