Of IIMs, faculty, and the fight for reservation

Across 21 Indian Institutes of Management (IIM), with a total of 1,880 sanctioned faculty posts, there are less than 200 teachers from historically-marginalised communities – the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes.

- Shradha Chhetri

The only available public data shows there are 62 SC, 16 ST and 109 OBC teachers, all told.

Their representation – 3.2% for SC, 0.85% ST and 5.8% OBC– fall far below reservation levels, even though the IIMs claim to have implemented the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers' Cadre) Act, 2019. This is as per data shared with the parliamentary standing committee on education, headed by Congress MP Digvijaya singh.

Most IIMs evaded questions sent by Careers360 on the implementation of reservation in faculty appointments. IIM Kozhikode shared recent data and also issues that the institute faces during recruitment - a small pool size of qualified candidates and of those with doctoral degrees, and potential applicants preferring to work in metropolitan cities - for not being able to fill reserved positions.

A report by The Telegraph from September this year stated that the union education ministry has directed IIMs to implement reservation and warned of action if found evading it.

First-generation IIMs

Among the older IIMs, Ahmedabad had not provided a breakup by the specific category – Sc, ST or OBC – even to the panel. The table below shows the representation – of lack thereof - of teachers from marginalised backgrounds in IIM faculties, as it stood earlier this year. The report came in March, 2025.

SC, ST, OBC teachers in first-generation IIMs