IIM Doctoral Programmes are not part of our conversations when we talk about the post-CAT opportunities for the B-school aspirants. The discussions are usually limited to the MBA/PGDM/PGP courses, and seldom touch the area of PhD.
The IIM Doctoral Programmes are known as Fellow Programme in Management (FPM), Doctoral Programme in Management (DPM) or PhD, depending upon which IIM one is applying to. But the overall coursework roughly remains the same across all the IIMs.
What is the Doctoral Programme all about?
It is a four-year-and-six-month-long residential programme (which sometimes gets extended beyond, on a case-by-case basis) aimed at research across different areas of specializations.
The programme consists of three phases.
Phase 1
This is the first year of the programme where the candidates will get to study the management courses. There could be overlaps with the courses of PGDM/MBA in this phase.
Phase 2
This is when the candidates start going specifically into research-oriented coursework common to all areas of specialization.
Phase 3
At the end of Phase 2, there is a qualifying examination, which consolidates the learnings of the candidate across the first two years. After this, the candidates delve fully into the research-oriented coursework (thesis, dissertation and the like).
The requirements for the IIM Doctoral Programmes
There is a misconception that the Doctoral Programmes requires that the candidates should have completed a Masters degree. That is not true.
The factors that come into play are the work experience relevant to the interested area of specialization, Statement of Purpose (SoP), a research topic (preferably, but not mandatorily) and the Letters of Recommendation.
The CAT score requirements
There are no rigorous sectional cutoff requirements, unlike what is required for a PGP course. The candidates are also allowed to appear for other examinations as specified in the websites of the respective campuses, in lieu of CAT.
Important note
The candidates who wish to apply to the IIM Doctoral Programmes should visit the respective IIM websites and apply separately. Merely selecting the checkboxes while filling the CAT 2020 application form does not translate to all the candidates being considered for the programme.
Important dates and deadlines for the IIM Doctoral Programmes
The candidates are advised to check the eligibility criteria – marks and grades in their academic qualifications thus far, age limit, CAT scores and percentiles – for different areas of specializations across different IIMs. The table given below is only an overview of the deadlines at the 20 IIMs.
| Institution | Areas of Specialization | Last date to apply | Website |
| IIM Ahmedabad | Strategy, Economics, Finance and Accounting, Food and Agribusiness, Information Systems, Innovation and Management in Education, Marketing, Organizational Behaviour, Human Resource Management, Production and Quantitative Methods, Public Systems Group | January 21, 2021 | https://www.iima.ac.in/web/fpm/apply/admissions |
| IIM Amritsar | Business Economics, Finance and Accounting, Human Resource Management, Information Technology and Systems, Marketing Management, Operations Management, Organizational Behaviour, Strategy Management | March 10, 2021 | https://iimamritsar.ac.in/p/online-application-2021-22-1 |
| IIM Bangalore | Decision Science, Economic and Social Science, Entrepreneurship, Finance and Accounting, Information Systems, Marketing, Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource Management, Production and Operations Management, Public Policy, Strategy | January 18, 2021 | https://www.iimb.ac.in/programmes/doctoral-programme |
| IIM Bodh Gaya | Marketing, Economics, Finance and Accounting, Information Technology and Systems, Operations Management and Quantitative Techniques, Human Resource Management and Organizational Behaviour | March 31, 2021 | http://iimbg.ac.in/phd |
| IIM Calcutta | Economics, Finance and Control, Human Resource Management, Management Information Systems, Marketing, Operations Management, Organizational Behaviour, Public Policy and Management, Strategic Management, Operations Research and Systems Analysis, Regional Development, Sociology | January 28, 2021 | https://www.iimcal.ac.in/programs/doctoral/admissions |
| IIM Indore | Communication, Economics, Finance and Accounting, Information Systems, Marketing Management, Operations Management and Quantitative Techniques, Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource Management, Strategic Management | January 25, 2021 | https://www.iimidr.ac.in/academic-programmes/fellow-programme-in-management-fpm/admissions/ |
| IIM Jammu | Business Policy, Strategy and Entrepreneurship, Economics and Business Environment, Finance and Accounting, IT Systems and Analytics, Marketing, Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource Management, Operations and Supply Chain Management | March 31, 2021 | http://www.iimj.ac.in/phd-admission-policy-2021 |
| IIM Kashipur | Business Communication, Economics, Finance and Accounting, Information Technology and Systems, Marketing, Operations Management and Decision Sciences, Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource Management, Public Policy and Governance | February 15, 2021 | http://iimkashipur.ac.in/academics/doctoral-programme/phd |
| IIM Kozhikode | Economics, Finance, Accounting and Control, Information Systems, Marketing Management, Organizational Behaviour and Human Resources, Quantitative Methods and Operations Management, Strategic Management | 25 January, 2021 | https://www.iimk.ac.in/academics/fpm/admission.php |
| IIM Lucknow | Agribusiness Management, Business Environment (Economics), Decision Sciences, Finance and Accounting, Human Resource Management, Information Technology and Systems, Marketing, Operations Management, Strategic Management | To be updated | http://www.iiml.ac.in/phd |
| IIM Nagpur | Decision Science and Information Systems, Finance and Accounting, Marketing, Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource Management, Production and Operations Management, Strategy and Entrepreneurship | To be updated | https://www.iimnagpur.ac.in/programmes/doctoral-phd/ |
| IIM Raipur | Business Policy and Strategy, Economics and Business Environment, Finance and Accounting, Information Technology and Systems, Marketing, Operations Management, Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource Management | To be updated | https://www.iimraipur.ac.in/index.php/programmes/fellow-programe/about-fpm |
| IIM Ranchi | Accounting and Finance, Economics, General Management, Information Systems, Marketing Management, Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource Management, Operations Management, Strategic Management | March 24, 2021 | https://iimranchi.ac.in/p/phd |
| IIM Rohtak | Economics and Public Policy, Finance and Accounting, Management Information Systems, Marketing and Strategic Management, Operations Management and Quantitative Techniques, Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource Management | January 31, 2021 | https://iimrohtak.ac.in/index.php/programmes/doctoral-programme-fpm/admission |
| IIM Sambalpur | Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource Management, Finance and Accounting Management, Production and Operation Management, Economics, Policy and Strategic Management, Information System Management, Marketing Management | March 31, 2021* | https://www.iimsambalpur.ac.in/en/phd/admission-process |
| IIM Shillong | Economics and Public Policy, Marketing, Finance and Control, Information Systems and Analytics, Operations and Quantitative Techniques, Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource, Strategic Management, Sustainability and Liberal Studies | January 30, 2021 | https://www.iimshillong.ac.in/admissions-iims/PhD_admissions.html |
| IIM Sirmaur | Marketing, Strategic Management, Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource Management, Decision Sciences and Operations Management, Information Technology and Systems, Economics and Business Environment | 21 February, 2021 | https://www.iimsirmaur.ac.in/iims/iim/admission-process |
| IIM Trichy | Economics and Public Policy, Finance and Accounting, General Management, Information Systems and Analytics, Marketing, Operations Management and Decision Sciences, Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource Management, Strategy | Deadline is over | https://www.iimtrichy.ac.in/fpm |
| IIM Udaipur | Operations Management, Marketing, Finance and Accounting, Organizational Behaviour and Human Resources Management | January 22, 2021 | https://www.iimu.ac.in/programs/phd/iim-phd-program |
| IIM Vishakapatnam | Decision Sciences, Economics, Finance and Accounting, Information Systems, Marketing, Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource Management, Production and Operations Management, Strategy | March 15, 2021 | https://www.iimv.ac.in/admissions/phdprg-admissions/ |
To know about the MBA application deadlines for different B-schools, click here.
For information pertaining to the deadlines of the B-school entrance examinations, click here.
Stay safe, register early and best wishes.
Written by Giridharan Raghuraman
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