Why Non-Engineering Students Are Flocking to IIMs: Indore, Lucknow, and Ahmedabad Lead the Diversity Shift

For decades, the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) were synonymous with engineering graduates. The stereotypical MBA classroom was filled with young professionals from the IITs, NITs, or other engineering institutions, armed with strong quantitative skills and an analytical mindset. But the winds of change are blowing through India’s premier business schools. The 2025-27 batches at IIM Indore, IIM Lucknow, and IIM Ahmedabad have recorded historic highs in the enrolment of non-engineering students — a development many describe as both deliberate and necessary for the evolving demands of the corporate world.

IIM	2013 Non-Engg (%)	2013 Engg (%)	2022 Non-Engg (%)	2022 Engg (%)
IIM-A	5	95	34	66
IIM-B	9	91	18	82
IIM-C	9	91	23	77
IIM-L	15	85	55	45
IIM-K	15	85	41	59
IIM-I	11	89	33	67

Indore Leads the Way

IIM Indore has emerged as the frontrunner in this diversity push, with 55.24% of its flagship Post Graduate Programme (PGP) seats filled by non-engineering students. That’s a clear majority — 179 women and 91 men — hailing from commerce, humanities, economics, the arts, and other non-technical disciplines.

This represents a dramatic change when viewed over the past five years. In the PGP 2021-23 batch, non-engineers made up just 41% of the intake. The number dipped to 33% for the 2022-24 cohort, rose again to 39% for 2023-25, and reached 42% in 2024-26 before this year’s record-breaking jump.

According to Himanshu Rai, Director of IIM Indore, this was no accident. “The global business environment now demands more than just technical skills. It values critical thinking, creativity, communication, and emotional intelligence — qualities often found in students from non-engineering backgrounds. This increase is the result of conscious academic design to address evolving industry requirements and to create a truly diverse student body.”

Batch	IIM Indore (%) Non Engineers
2021-23	41
2022-24	33
2023-25	39
2024-26	42
2025-27	55.24

Ahmedabad’s Steady Climb

IIM Ahmedabad, widely regarded as India’s most prestigious business school, has also been working toward this shift for years. In the last three years alone, the proportion of non-engineers in its PGP intake has risen from 33.5% to 50.12% — a near-perfect balance between technical and non-technical backgrounds.

Batch	Engineers	Non Engineers
2020 – 22	76	24
2021-23	72.5	27.5
2022-24	66.5	33.5
2023-25	58	42
2024-26	61	39
2025-27	55.24	50.12

Director Bharat Bhasker explained that the groundwork for this transformation was laid nearly a decade ago. “We introduced academic categories in our admissions policy around ten years ago, specifically to encourage diversity. The goal was to ensure that classrooms had a healthy mix of perspectives. Coupled with a growing interest from non-engineers in management careers, the results are now clearly visible.”

Bhasker emphasised that a classroom with diverse academic backgrounds enriches learning. “Case discussions, group projects, and leadership exercises benefit immensely when different ways of thinking come together. An engineer might approach a problem from a systems and efficiency perspective, while someone from a humanities background may add layers of social, behavioural, and ethical insight.”

Year	Non-engineers (%)	Engineers (%)	Freshers (%)	Workex (%)	Women (%)	Men (%)
2019	26	74	32	68	24	76
2020	24	76	26	74	22	78
2021	28	72	33	67	28	72
2022	33	67	–	–	–	–
2023	42	58	26	74	23	77

Lucknow Follows Close Behind

IIM Lucknow has matched this trend closely, with 52.86% of its latest MBA intake from non-engineering disciplines. Out of 507 students in the PGP 2025-27 batch, 268 do not have an engineering background.

Batch	Engineers	Non Engineers
2020 – 22	74	26
2021-23	77	23
2022-24	75	25
2023-25	51	49
2024-26	56	44
2025-27	48	52

Director MP Gupta noted that commerce-related courses have been the biggest feeders for these students. “The market pull is very clear. Many non-engineering graduates see an MBA as the bridge to carve out a niche in the corporate world. As industries become more specialised and global, management careers are no longer limited to those with purely technical training.”

He added that IIM Lucknow’s curriculum has evolved to reflect modern business realities. “Corporations are actively embracing digital transformation, but technology adoption must be paired with strategic thinking, human-centred design, and cross-functional leadership. Our courses are continually updated to ensure that our graduates are tech-ready but also adaptable leaders.”

Why the Shift Is Happening Now

For much of the 1990s and 2000s, the dominance of engineers at IIMs was reinforced by two factors: the format of the Common Admission Test (CAT), which heavily favoured quantitative aptitude, and the strong employability of engineers in analytical corporate roles.

But the business world has evolved. Automation and AI have made many technical skills commonplace, while strategic and interpersonal skills have grown in importance. Employers now seek graduates who can integrate data with human insight, drive change in complex environments, and communicate across cultures.

In this environment, candidates from commerce, economics, liberal arts, law, and social sciences are increasingly valued for:

• Critical Thinking – The ability to question assumptions and examine issues from multiple angles.
• Creativity – Bringing fresh approaches to problem-solving beyond formulaic models.
• Communication Skills – Crafting persuasive narratives for stakeholders, customers, and teams.
• Emotional Intelligence – Navigating interpersonal dynamics and managing teams effectively.

The Role of Admissions Policies

All three IIMs credit policy changes for accelerating this trend. At IIM Ahmedabad, the introduction of academic diversity categories allowed candidates from non-engineering fields to compete more fairly in the admissions process. This approach rewarded academic excellence in different disciplines without over-privileging quantitative test performance alone.

IIM Indore and IIM Lucknow have also refined their evaluation criteria to recognise achievements in fields beyond engineering. Weightages for academic diversity, gender diversity, and work experience have been introduced or increased in recent years.

As a result, a broader pool of applicants now sees IIMs as attainable — not just the traditional engineering graduate who excels in quant-heavy tests.

Implications for Classroom Learning

Diversity in academic backgrounds changes the dynamics of classroom discussions. In a marketing strategy case, a commerce graduate might bring deep knowledge of accounting impacts, a psychology major might interpret consumer behaviour patterns, while an engineer might model the operational feasibility.

Faculty members report that such heterogeneity makes learning more robust. It mirrors the composition of real-world corporate teams, where marketing managers, analysts, technologists, and HR professionals collaborate to solve complex problems.

Himanshu Rai of IIM Indore believes this is crucial for leadership development. “When you’re constantly exposed to peers who think differently from you, you learn to question your own assumptions and to defend your ideas more convincingly. This is exactly the skill set that leaders need.”

The Gender Factor

Interestingly, the rise in non-engineering admissions has also had a positive effect on gender diversity. Many non-engineering fields, particularly commerce and humanities, tend to have higher female enrolment at the undergraduate level compared to engineering.

For example, IIM Indore’s latest non-engineering intake includes 179 women, a substantial share of its total female representation in the batch. This aligns with the broader diversity goals of the IIM system, which has been actively working to increase the proportion of women in classrooms.

Industry Reception

Recruiters are taking note. Sectors such as consulting, FMCG, media, e-commerce, and even technology companies are now seeking a more balanced talent pool. Non-engineers often excel in roles that demand client interaction, brand storytelling, policy analysis, or organisational change management.

In fact, several alumni from non-engineering backgrounds have gone on to lead key business units in India and abroad, reinforcing the idea that management leadership is not the exclusive domain of engineers.

The Road Ahead

The non-engineering wave at IIMs is unlikely to be a short-term phenomenon. With deliberate policy measures, curriculum updates, and a receptive industry, business schools will probably continue pushing toward a 50-50 or greater balance between engineering and non-engineering students.

However, the aim is not to sideline engineers — their analytical training remains invaluable — but to ensure that the management talent pipeline reflects the interdisciplinary nature of modern business challenges.

As IIM Ahmedabad’s Bharat Bhasker sums it up, “Our classrooms should be microcosms of the real world. In a global boardroom, you’ll never find only one kind of thinker. The best decisions come from debate and collaboration among people with different strengths, backgrounds, and experiences.”

For aspiring MBA students from non-technical fields, the message is clear: the doors to India’s top management institutes are wider than ever before. And for the IIMs, this is not just a statistical shift — it is a conscious transformation toward producing leaders ready for the complexities of the 21st-century economy.