Ph.D. in Economics 

at IIM Calcutta, Joka

IIM Calcutta gives each of the student a stipend starting at INR 30,000 per month, which goes up to INR 35,000. Each of the student can avail of the student development grants of up to INR 65,000 for the first-year of course, and up to INR 25,000 for subsequent years. Moreover, the stipend and grants are facilitated for four years. However, it can be extended up to one or more years based on demonstration of enough progress in dissertation work. Furthermore, an additional financial support is also provided as extra funds up to INR 50,000 for field research (if required). Read about IIM Calcutta PhD/DPM course here.

For admission to a PhD/DPM course in IIM Kolkata, aspirant must meet the eligibility criteria. Only eligible candidates can fill out the admission form. Find below the eligibility requirements for the programme:

• First Class master's or postgraduate Diploma degree in any stream and a three-year bachelor's degree with at least 50% aggregate, OR
• CA with a minimum of 50% aggregate or CS/ CMA with a minimum of 55% aggregate along with a BCom degree, OR
• BTech degree of four years duration with 6.5 CGPA or equivalent, OR
• Non-engineering candidates, who have undergone 10+2+5 years, are also eligible to apply for the doctoral programme
• In addition, applicants must have obtained a minimum of 50% aggregate either at SSC/HSC-level
• A final-year student appearing for the Bachelor's degree examination in Engineering or Master's degree examination in any discipline can also apply. Such a candidate, if selected, will be provisionally admitted provided he completes all requirements for obtaining the degree before June 30, of the admission year. Admission of the candidate will remain provisional until the candidate produces mark sheets proving that he satisfies the eligibility criteria. The deadline for submitting the final year degree mark sheets is December 31 of the admission year.

The Doctoral Programme in Management is offered in the following specialisations:

• Economics
• Marketing
• Finance & Control
• Operations Management
• Organizational Behavior
• Strategic management
• Human Resource Management
• Public Policy and Management

It is mandatory to submit a letter of recommendation. For students, the recommendations are usually accepted by faculty members from the last attended institute. In addition, for working professionals, a superior of candidate can write a recommendation letter. It could be someone, who can elaborate on the candidate's research capabilities. The recommendation letter must be submitted on time along with the application for selection.  

Consulting sector also emerged as the top recruiting that made 37.2% of the total offers during IIM Calcutta placements 2025. The sector-wise offers distribution during IIM Calcutta MBA placements 2025 is presented below:

The sector-wise the highest, average and median package offered during IIM Calcutta placements 2025 is presented below:

Image Source: Official Website.

A total of 196 companies participated duirng IIM Calcutta placements for the MBA Class of 2025. The total no. of recruiters participated during IIM Calcutta placements over the past three years are presented below:

The answer to this question of whether an average student can get into IIM can be both yes and no depending on the definition of an average student.

• Based on Academics (Class 10/ Class 12/ Graduation): While a student with average scores in Class 10, Class 12 and graduation with a good CAT score certainly has good chances of getting a call from IIM-A, chances are less for someone with an average CAT score.
• Based on student category (General or Reserved): While it is tough for a General category average student to grab a seat at IIM due to high score requirements, a reserved category student can get admission being at average scores as well.
• Based on past work experience, diversity and other factors: Gender and academic diversity is also a factor on which students are shortlisted at IIM. IIMs judge the past academic category based on the degree obtained by the students before MBA and then a weightage is allotted based on that. For Engineers, the percentage for scoring the highest marks is higher as compared with other streams
• Performance in selection rounds: Once you make it to the final selection rounds, i.e., AWT/PI process, it can be considered a fresh start. At this stage, students can forget their past average-ness but definitely require good grasp over the past subjects as academics-related questions are asked in the interview.

Based on the above factors, it can be considered that while getting into top Management institutes, such as IIM is extremely tough, the past performance, CAT performance, student category and a lot of factors can be the reasons for a student to receive that final call.