Dr Barua took over as the director from Dr Bakul Dholakia in November 2007. In his address, Dr Barua highlighted the performance of various programmes offered by the institute, particularly PGP and PGPX programmes. Talking about the flagship Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGP), Dr Barua said, In the last year, PGP continued its dominant position as the top ranked programme in the country and as among the best such programme in the Asia-pacific region.

For PGP, the fees for the first year will be Rs 3 lakhs and Rs 3.1 lakhs will be the fees for the second year, added Dr Parashar. The fee for PGP 2007 batch at IIM-I is Rs 1.90 per year.

When asked what is the reason behind the increase in fees at IIM-I, said Dr Parashar, Other IIMs across the country are increasing their fees. So, we are also increasing our fees for the PGP this year.

Last year, IIM-I increased its fees to Rs 1.9 lakhs from Rs 1.5 lakhs for its PGP programme.

At the convocation, 255 students from the Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGP) received their diplomas. Planning Commissions deputy Chairman Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia was the chief guest on the occasion. Mr Vijaypat Singhania, Chairman of IIM A board, presided over the ceremony.

Addressing the graduating students, Dr Ahluwalia said, IIMs is one of the handful of Indian academic institutions that have achieved international recognition. It is important to sustain this reputation with supply of talented faculty members.

On the occasion, 13th Batch of Post Graduate Programme in Communications Management (PGPCM) will receive their diplomas and degrees.

The fee will be increase substantially -- from approximately Rs 2.5 lakhs per annum to Rs 5.50 lakhs for the first year and Rs 6 lakhs for the second year. The decision was taken after the board meeting that took place at IIM A campus on March 29.

According to information shared by IIT-K VGSOM with MBAUniverse.com, The batch of 121 students have got total 160 offers from prestigious companies for coveted positions in the corporate world. Further it added, A notable aspect of Vantage 2008 that stands out is the 30% increase in the average compensation levels.

The average domestic salary this year stands out at Rs11.44 lakhs p.a, while the media is Rs10.32 lakhs p.a. The highest domestic compensation offered was Rs18 lakhs p.a. while the average international compensation was 70,000 USD.

While delivering his address at the 43rd Annual Convocation, Mr Vijaypat Singhania, Chairman of IIM-A, minced no word on the issue. Said Mr Singhania, Institution like the IIMs need to stand on their own feet and should not have to be financially supported indefinitely by any arm of the government. I see no reason why ministry should try to run the institute by proxy. We need autonomy; we need more leg-room.

Union Minister of Commerce Mr Kamal Nath was the guest of honour on the occasion. Commerce secretary and chairman of IIFT Mr G K Pillai and Director, IIFT Delhi Mr K T Chacko presided over the function. This was also the first convocation for IIFT Kolkatta Campus students.

On the occasion students were handed out their medals, trophies and degrees. MBAUniverse.com captures (Click Here )the mood from the campus.

In his address, Mr Kamal Nath noted that Globalization has brought Indian business into direct competition with the best in the world. He said, These are exciting times to be an Indian- more particularly, to be a trained manger living and working in India, participating on a daily basis in the practical business of economics and commerce. He further added, India wants to make positive difference to the changing world order and we as a nation are depending on young and bright minds like you to build new India of our dreams.

Delivering his convocation address at IIFT, Mr K T Chacko, Director of IIFT said, Indias esteem and repute in the field of business has reached all time high. In the four decades of IIFTs existence, the institute contributes to policy making, which hones human resources and is a hub of research.

Research is one of the major focus areas at IIFT. IIFT has strived towards keeping pace with the expanding domain of knowledge through its research. In line with this objective we have substantially increased the intake for the institutes PhD programme from the year 2007, he said.