The number of women in the Post Graduate Programme (PGP) of Indian Institute of Management Indore has dipped from 33.88 per cent in 2021-23 to 27.59 per cent in the current 2024-26 batch.

The current PGP batch has 482 students, comprising 349 men and 133 women, an official of the premier management institute said on Friday.

The percentage of women in the 2021-23, 2022- 24 and 2023-25 batches was 33.88, 32.68 and 31.40, respectively, the official added.

Students get entry into PGP on the basis of marks they score in the Common Admission Test (CAT) and viva and it is considered equal to the Master of Business Administration degree.

"Promoting gender diversity tops the agenda of the institute and an in-depth analysis will be done to study this dip. Our initial analysis reveals that a lesser number of women come to us for the PGP admission interviews on the basis of their CAT performance," IIM Indore Director Himanshu Rai told PTI.

He said some management institutes in the country have introduced the 'supernumerary' system admission system in PGP courses, under which seats for women are reserved beyond the normal number, Rai pointed out.

"Thus, the number of female students in PGP courses of those management institutes that have introduced the supernumerary system obviously increases," the IIM Indore director asserted.

IIM Kozhikode in the southern state of Kerala has excelled in terms of admitting the maximum number of female students in PGP courses in the country.

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