“Fee hike issue did come up for discussion in the meeting. The graded system for fees that we have put into effect from this year was presented to Board members,” IIM-A director Sameer Barua told reporters here, adding there was “no question of rollback of fee hike”.

On Thursday, Barua had clearly indicated that any rollback of the hike was not being considered. His comments had come ahead of a visit by a six-member review committee to the institute on Friday amid speculation that in view of impending general elections, the HRD Ministry was not willing to see a huge hike in the fees of the premier institute.

“For the first time in the history of B-schools, we are offering courses for zero-tuition fees with zero education cost to students from families with annual income below Rs 1 lakh. We have tripled the annual family income limit from Rs 2 to 6 lakh for students to be eligible for financial support. We are in the process of extending the benefit of an estimated Rs 8.5 crore to the students, most of whom would be from the non-creamy layer,” Barua had told this paper.

On Saturday, talking to the media, he said, “You have to understand that we have implemented a graded system. Our maximum fee is Rs 5.5 lakh per year in post- graduate programme but it is also zero for students whose family income is very low. The average fee which we will earn from the batch will be around Rs 4.2 lakh per student considering the massive financial assistance given by the institute to students coming from lower income group.”

Meanwhile, the Board also decided to implement 27 per cent OBC reservation in various phases over the next three years.

“Six per cent OBC reservation will come into force from this academic year. In the second year, it will be increased to 15 per cent and in the third year, the entire quota of 27 per cent will be implemented,” Barua said.

The Board of Governors meeting headed by chairman Vijaypat Singhania took decision on the quota issue after the Union Human Resource Development Ministry’s communication to the institutes to implement reservations from this year.