IIM Admissions: Non-Engineers Rise to 44%

The percentage of non-engineer students admitted to the top five Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) for the 2026-2028 batch has increased to 44%. This marks a rise from 37% in the 2024-2026 batch. Data analyzed from IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kozhikode, Indore, and Calcutta shows this trend.

Non-engineers from disciplines like commerce, economics, science, humanities, law, medicine, and architecture now represent a larger portion of students. In the current 2026-2028 batch, there are 1,065 non-engineer students. This compares to 1,049 in the previous batch and 884 two years prior.

Diversity in Top IIM Batches

IIM Indore and IIM Kozhikode reported the highest proportion of non-engineers in their 2026-2027 batches. Non-engineers constitute 54% of students at IIM Indore and 57% at IIM Kozhikode.

IIM Bangalore now has one-third non-engineer students. This is a significant shift from over a decade ago. At that time, non-engineers made up only 10-15% of students across IIMs.

IIM Indore Director Himanshu Rai stated that diverse academic backgrounds enrich classroom discussions. This fosters interdisciplinary thinking and collaborative learning. Students learn to solve complex challenges from multiple viewpoints.

Recruiter and Institute Perspectives

B-school officials note that recruiters recognize managers can emerge from varied academic fields. The changing classroom demographics reflect this understanding.

IIM Kozhikode Director Debashis Chatterjee explained their admission policy balances quantitative metrics with academic diversity. This approach aims to neutralize historical advantages for specific technical streams. It ensures equitable representation for students from commerce, humanities, medicine, and arts.

The share of non-engineers at IIM Kozhikode for the 2026-2028 batch is 57%. This increased from 53.3% in 2025-27 and 46.2% in 2024-26.

Admission Data Summary

The following table shows the number of non-engineer students in the top five IIMs: