A JNU student protests against the Supreme Court stay on Friday. Picture by Prem Singh

Calcutta, April 1: The think tank of IIM Calcutta, which raised fees by Rs 25,000 from the coming session, today said the hike should not be the only way to bridge the gap between the management institute’s earnings and expenses.

“The board gave the go-ahead to a fee hike to reduce subsidy on each student. But members feel we should explore other options also,” director Shekhar Chaudhuri said after a meeting of the board of directors in Joka.

From the academic session this year, IIMC will charge Rs 2,00,000 per year — up from Rs 1,75,000 — from postgraduate students.

The institute spends approximately Rs 4 lakh a year per student. With over 500 students in the flagship PGP courses, the deficit runs into crores.

“Even after increasing fees, the institute will have to spend a significant amount on subsidies. The goal is to bridge the gap without affecting students,” Chaudhuri said.

From increasing placement fees paid by campus recruiters to jacking up prices of short-term programmes, the authorities will explore other options.

“A part of the deficit can be made up by charging recruiters more but we will have to work out the modalities,” he said.

Earnings from placements range between Rs 1.5 crore and Rs 2 crore.

With salary levels rising, the charges — Rs 30,000 as registration fee for each company and a variable amount on the number of graduates recruited — could be increased, some board members said.

The authorities have also decided to stall the proposed seat hike to accommodate the Other Backward Classes.

“Given the Supreme Court stay, we will stop the seat hike-related expansion and wait for the government directive,” Chaudhuri said.

IIMC had planned to increase its batch size from 300 to 318, with nine seats for OBCs. Around 60 students were interviewed during the admission process.

“The offer letters have to be given to students by April 12 and we are waiting for further government orders,” Chaudhuri added.