IIM Nagpur Joins IIM CAP Admission Process; Win-Win for Students & Institute; To propel IIMN into Top 10 IIMs, Director Dr Bhimaraya Metri tells MBAUniverse.com

Here is some good news for IIM aspirants! From the academic session 2024-25, IIM Nagpur (IIMN) has decided not to conduct its own Personal Interview (PI) round. Instead, IIMN has decided to join IIMs Common Admission Process (IIM CAP) 2024 to admit students for 2024-26 batch. This will provide a major relief for students who run from pillar to post to attend interview process for various IIMs and other top B-schools.

So, why did IIMN decide to join IIMCAP 2024? How is IIM Nagpur planning to compete for the best students with older well-established IIMs in IIM CAP process, like IIM Udaipur, IIM Trichy and IIM Kashipur? In an exclusive interaction with MBAUniverse.com, Director Dr Bhimaraya Metri gave insights on all these questions, and a lot more! 

What is IIM CAP? When was it started? Participating IIMs in 2024
Before we get into the what and why of IIM Nagpur’s decision, let’s start a quick review of IIMCAP. As is well known, IIM CAP 2024 is the common final selection round for MBA admission 2024 in New and Baby IIMs. Eligible Candidates will get a single call to appear in PI round of 10 IIMs, including IIMN, instead of facing 10 different interviews from each IIM. On the basis of the CAP scores these IIMs prepare their final merit list and offer admission to the successful candidates. IIM CAP 2024 will be conducted Online in February and March 2024 by IIM Kashipur, who is conducting IIMCAP 2024 on behalf of all 10 IIMs.

IIM CAP Process was first held in 2015 with all the 6 new IIMs (at that time) namely IIM Tiruchirappalli, IIM Udaipur, IIM Kashipur, IIM Ranchi, IIM Raipur, IIM Rohtak coming together to conduct common PI round. Later, IIM Rohtak opted out of CAP round. With the launch of 7 more IIMs in 2015-16, the strength of CAP participating IIMs went up to nine as 4 more ‘baby IIMs’ (IIM Bodh Gaya, IIM Jammu, IIM Sambalpur, IIM Sirmaur)

joined the IIM CAP process taking the number to 9 institutions. Now with IIM Nagpur joining CAP 2024 for MBA admission 2024, the number of CAP participating IIMs has gone up to a perfect 10!

IIM Nagpur joins CAP for Admission 2024
From the academic session 2024-25, IIM Nagpur has decided to participate in IIM CAP. The decision has been taken by IIM Nagpur Director Dr Bhimaraya Metri alongwith Admission Chair Dr Magesh Nagarajan and other senior colleagues at IIM Nagpur. Confirming the decision, Dr Metri told MBAUniverse.com, “Yes, we have decided to join IIM CAP process from Admission 2024. We believe it will help IIM Nagpur to further increase the quality of student admitted. There are many other benefits as well.”

Why IIM Nagpur has Joined CAP?
Speaking with MBAUniverse.com, Director Dr BR Metri revealed the reason why IIM Nagpur has joined CAP. He shared that his past association at IIM Trichy, where he was the Director was good. Separately, Dr Prashant Gupta, Dean (Faculty, Academics & Alumni Affairs) at IIM Nagpur, and former Chairperson of IIM CAP 2022, also shared that CAP process outcomes were quite positive of IIM Trichy. So, they were positively inclined and after joining IIM Nagpur as Director, Dr Bhimaraya Metri moved forward to join IIM CAP.

Another key reason to participate in IIM Common Admission Process was that last year IIM Nagpur had to conduct more than 5000 Personal Interviews! It was a very cumbersome process for 260 seats. The process took more than a month and IIM Nagpur had to rope in senior faculty from many outside institutions like FMS Delhi and MDI Gurgaon to complete the process. “Yes, conducting so many interviews to select just a few students is very cumbersome and tedious process. This was a major reason why we have joined IIMCAP 2024,” said Dr Bhimaraya Metri. 

IIM Nagpur Well Placed amongst CAP IIMs
But isn’t the joint process of IIMCAP competitive, especially for third generation IIMs, as they have to compete with more well-established IIMs like IIM Udaipur and IIM Trichy?

IIM Nagpur believes they are well placed to attract good students. Sharing with MBAUniverse.com, Dr Metri said, “We believe IIM Nagpur is well placed to attract the best students appearing in CAP process. We have a great campus in Nagpur, our placements are doing well, and we have recruited many senior faculty members to ensure a great MBA Experience to our students!”

It seems that there is a lot going for IIM Nagpur. Set up in 2015, IIM Nagpur was initially mentored by IIM Ahmedabad. IIMN Director Dr. Bhimaraya Metri played a major role in propelling IIM Tiruchirappalli into top league when he was the Director. Now, he is confident to bring IIM Nagpur in the same league. Sharing with MBAUniverse.com, Dr Metri said, “We are confident that in the next two years IIM Nagpur will be one of the Top 10 IIMs, and will be counted in Top 20 B-schools in India.”

To do so IIM Nagpur has added senior faculty members from leading B-schools such as IIM Trichy like Dr Prashant Gupta and IMI New Delhi such as Dr Shailendra Nigam and Dr. Alok Kumar Singh. All have decades of experience in teaching, and executive education.  

IIM Nagpur to Launch Pune Campus
IIM Nagpur is likely to launch its second campus in Pune in a few years. Sharing the development with MBAUniverse.com, Dr Metri said, “IIM Nagpur is actively looking to establish second campus in Pune. We are in process of finalizing land for the development. Pune campus will primarily aim to offer executive development programs.”

So, the stage is set for the 2024-26 Batch of IIM Nagpur, which will be its 10^th batch. IIM CAP process is to roll out in mid-January 2024 and the Common PI round will begin in the last week of January or first week of February. 

Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for latest update on IIM CAP 2024 and IIM Nagpur Admissions 2024.