The IIPM programme was conceptualized in 1973 keeping in mind the unfortunate fact that education in India till then had still remained primarily oriented towards the needs of the private sector and had overlooked the specific requirements of the public sector. We had even failed to do justice to the private sector in as much as we had not succeeded in impressing upon the students the basic framework within which the private sector had to operate in our country. The scope and role of the private sector in our country, in the context of national economic planning, was quite distinct from that of the private sector in the free market economies originally developed through colonial exploitation.

Problems of development of the private and the public sectors were, therefore, needed to be studied and analyzed carefully in the background of national economic planning. Otherwise, we would not be able to translate the laudable goals of plans into physical realities, however sophisticated the planning models may be.

The Indian Institute of Planning and Management had thus set before it the twin tasks: to reorient education and research towards the needs of both the sectors and to establish the link between the national economic planning and the development of private enterprises in our country.

IIPM further believes that sustainable growth can only be achieved in the Indian economy when growth strategies cater to the bottom 80% of the population and not just the top 20%. The time has come for India to lead the way in the world and the Indian managers need to develop a strong vision for their companies and help them compete in the world markets while accelerating market growth to make India economically the strongest country in the world. This is the breed of future leaders and managers that IIPM wants to create, those who are aware of the challenges and do not remain intellectually handicapped.

WHY IIPM COURSES ARE SUPERIOR TO MBA?

IIPM has so far claimed the superiority of its Entrepreneur-ship program neither by the size of its campus, nor by the entry level salary of its pass-outs, but by its qualitatively superior and intellectually stimulating academic program. The IIPM course is a 22 month, 1944 hour course which includes in depth studies of national economic planning and ways to regulate its parameters to achieve higher growth rate of GDP ensuring higher growth of market segments within the national economy as well as higher growth of income of all sections of the people, including those who are below the poverty line.

The importance of including studies in national economic planning processes can be explained with an example of natural science. At one level of knowledge it appeared that the Sun revolves around the Earth. At a higher level of knowledge it was discovered that the Earth rotates around its axis and also revolves around the Sun. Similarly, present MBA course structure concentrating only on market segments by individual profit making units. This fails to explain the potentiality of market expansion through distributive justice. Potentiality of business is always in harmony with growth rate of national economy. That is why business expands much more rapidly in China compared with expansion of business seen in India in the past. Knowledge of national economic planning potentiality will encourage the owners of capital to demand collectively the raising of living standards of the people at the bottom.

IIPM's Entrepreneurship program is superior to standard MBA programs as it also develops certain entrepreneurial qualities in program participants. These helps to remove aversion to calculated risk taking, imbued with ambition beyond normal career growth. Personal ambition in tune with social vision makes an entrepreneur reach out beyond boundaries again and again. Work remains no work, but hobby. Failures are looked upon as inevitable intermediate stages to success.

IIPM also offers a unique Global Opportunity and Threat Analysis (GOTA) program, through which students are taken abroad for a period of 12-14 days, wherein the students get to attend lecture sessions at leading academic institutions and organizations like World Trade Organization, United Nations, World Bank, Credit Suisse, Nestle, etc. This allows them to widen their horizon in understanding various forces of globalization through experiential learning.

Further, under the Global Outreach Program, IIPM invites distinguished faculties from leading global institutions like Harvard, Wharton, Columbia, Chicago, Yale, London School of Economics, Oxford, Cambridge, IMD Lausanne, INSEAD, etc., to come down to India to interact with IIPM students. All this put together make the IIPM course better than any other course of a similar nature in India.