A government committee has advised against further infrastructure funds for six second-generation Indian Institutes of Management, prompting veteran academics to say such a move would prevent these B-schools from utilising even their existing facilities.

The “revised cost estimate committee” of the human resource development ministry recently recommended the funding curbs for the IIMs in Ranchi (Jharkhand), Rohtak (Haryana), Raipur (Chhattisgarh), Kashipur (Uttarakhand), Udaipur (Rajasthan) and Trichy (Tamil Nadu).

It said these institutes had overspent the money released so far, and there was no point giving them additional funds beyond what was sanctioned. The ministry is yet to take the final decision.

Two former IIM directors, speaking on the condition of anonymity, blamed the B-schools’ alleged overspending on “cost escalation”, stressing that the earmarked funds had been decided on the basis of a 2008 estimate.

They said stopping the funds now might prevent these B-schools from achieving their objective of admitting 560 students each to their MBA courses per year by 2020-21.

In particular, they said, while most of these institutes have nearly finished building their classroom infrastructure, they are lagging in building hostels.

If further funding is blocked after the sanctioned money has been spent, they may be unable to build new hostels, hobbling their plans to increase the student intake and utilise the academic facilities already in place.

While the oldest six among the 20 IIMs generate their own funds, the rest depend largely on the government. Started in 2009-10 and 2010-11, these six IIMs were supposed to have 1,120 students each enrolled in their two-year MBA courses within 10 years.

The cabinet had approved Rs 333 crore for each of the institutes to build their campuses. While the ministry has released almost the entire money to five of the institutes, IIM Ranchi has received less than Rs 100 crore because it obtained the land only last year.

Although five of them, barring Ranchi, already have academic infrastructure for over 1,000 students each, they now offer just 250 MBA seats each per year. Their biggest hurdle to increasing the student intake to 560 a year is the lack of enough hostels. Being residential institutions, the IIMs need to ensure a hostel seat for every student.

“There’s been cost escalation in building the campuses because the work began around 2012-13 while the cabinet’s approval was based on an estimate made in 2008,” one of the former IIM directors said.

The other former director advised caution before increasing the student intake. He added that attracting teachers was a problem for new institutes located in places like Kashipur.

“Institutes take a long time to build reputation,” he added. “But government funding should not stop.”

A senior HRD ministry bureaucrat, higher education secretary R. Subrahmanyam, told this newspaper in a text message on Saturday night: “We shall release what has been promised.”

It was not clear whether he merely meant the government would release the promised Rs 333 crore.