The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the Indian Institute of Management(IIM) Bill, 2017, under which the IIMswould be declared as Institutions of National Importance which will enable them togrant degrees to their students.

Indian Institutes of Management are the country's premier institutions imparting best quality education in management on globally benchmarked processes of education and training in management. IIMs are recognized as world-class management Institutions and Centers of Excellence and have brought laurels to the country. All IIMs are separate autonomous bodies registered under the Societies Act.

Being societies, IIMs are not authorized to award degrees and, hence, they have been awarding Post Graduate Diploma and Fellow Programme in Management. While these awards are treated as equivalent to MBAs and Ph.D, respectively, the equivalence is not universally acceptable, especially for the Fellow Programme.