An ambitious and aspiring young person, who dreams of getting admission into the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore (IIM-B), is in a rude shock.

The Institute has hiked its fee from the existing Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 4 lakh for fiscal 2008-2009.

Under the new fee structure, students who will be going into the second year will have to pay a fee of Rs 5 lakh.

The decision to hike the fee was approved by the IIM-B Board meeting chaired by its Chairman Mukesh Ambani.

The rise in fee makes IIM-B the most expensive B-school in the country.

A spokesperson of IIM-B said, “The hiked fee will go towards the functioning of the institute, improvement of infrastructure.”

From next fiscal, the boards of governors of the IIMs at Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Kolkata had decided to hike the fees for the post-graduate programme.

IIM-B Director Pankaj Chandra said, “No student will be denied an opportunity to pursue the PGP for want of financial resources. Besides the financial assistance provided by the institute, several students won awards and merit and need-based scholarships.”