SINGAPORE: Singapore's "Economic Development Board (EDB) will continue to engage [with] the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B)," which has been denied permission by the Centre to set up an exclusive campus in this city-state.

This has been communicated to The Hindu by Kenneth Tan, Director of the EDB's Services Cluster, in response to a question. The EDB is the nodal agency for facilitating the entry of prestigious foreign institutions of higher learning into the Singapore education hub.

Mr. Tan said: "We understand that IIM-B is working out some issues regarding their proposed campus in Singapore. EDB will continue to engage [with] IIM-B in their plans for Singapore."

IIM-B sources in Singapore said the "initiative to set up a campus here has not been given up" despite the latest turn of events in India. The IIM-B was "exploring options" of a partnership with one of the Singapore-based Indian institutions or some other local entities.

Charter limitations

The crux of the crisis was whether the IIM-B could, under its present charter, establish a full-fledged campus of its own as a legal entity on foreign territory.

A suitable tie-up with a Singapore-based Indian institution or some other local entity could be considered to overcome the limitations of the charter, the sources indicated.

Interest in city-state

The issue has evoked enormous interest in Singapore on two counts: the city-state's initiative to invite foreign institutions of excellence, and the presence here of over 500 alumni of the various IIMs.

They serve in multinationals or manage their own firms or hold top positions in reputed institutions such as DBS Bank, where Rajan Raju is managing director.

IIM alumni here discount the possibility that the crisis might be indicative of New Delhi's move to soft-pedal export of knowledge-economy skills in response to Singapore's perceived wariness in investing in India.

Sunny Verghese, a top executive with an IIM background, said the bottom line was that it would be a "mistake" on New Delhi's part to let "parochial" considerations prevail over the need to think and act in a "truly global" spirit in a field where India excelled across the world. While many foreign management schools were leaving their "footprints" across the Singapore hub of higher learning, the IIM-B's pullout would be "short-sighted."

India should be "encouraged to reconsider" the move, Mr. Verghese said.

Far from doing a "disservice" to students of the IIM-B, who would also benefit from a Singapore campus, India would do well to "leverage its position as a thought leader" in management studies.

An exit from the Singapore scene, where the IIM-B had done some preliminary work, could prove "a negative for its own brand name and for the [overall] India brand."

V. Shankar, another top executive with links to the IIM learning culture, said the reputed Indian institutes should be "very sensitive to preserving their strong brand image" and "prepare" themselves for any odyssey.

As a number of Indian firms were now "expanding abroad," the IIM-B's proposed venture of a Singapore campus "can lead to a substantial increase in [its] brand equity," Mr. Shankar said, without wishing to take sides in the controversy.

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