The Indian Institutes of Management may lose their faculty members to leading private business schools, which not only pay higher salaries but are also free from the kind of government intervention witnessed by the premier institutes recently.

There are already indications that IIM faculty members are unhappy with the government's intervention in the workings of the institutes. The resolution passed by the Faculty Council of IIM, Bangalore, reflected their anxieties.

Their views seem to be shared by the faculty members of IIM, Ahmedabad, and IIM, Calcutta, who pointed out that their salaries were lower than their counterparts in private management schools.

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"A major area of concern is attracting and retaining faculty as we expect leading management schools to move into India and some have already done so, and compensation is going to become a major concern. We need to address this issue urgently and indeed the government's increasing intervention is likely to have its severest impact on this issue," said the resolution submitted by the IIM, Bangalore, faculty.

It further said the IIMs' efforts to attract new teaching staff and retain existing ones would be severely impaired by the attempts made by the ministry of human resources development to curb the autonomy of the institutes. The resolution added that the best academics prefer to work in institutions that have a minimum of government intervention.

Recently, a senior member of the IIM, Ahmedabad, faculty left to join a premier private management school in Hyderabad. Not only has his pay package reportedly gone up 800 per cent, his research work will now no longer be hampered by the load of paperwork, to seek the government's approval, that is the usual practice at the IIMs.

"With low salary levels and increasing State control, academic careers at IIMs will no longer be attractive for the best. After all, the faculty resources of an educational institution determines its success," said a staff member at IIM, Bangalore.

In the IIMs, an assistant professor is offered a monthly salary of Rs 23,000, while an associate professor can draw a maximum of Rs 36,000 a month and minimum of Rs 30,000 a month.

For a professor, the monthly pay package can range from Rs 33,000 to Rs 40,000 depending on seniority. The salary structure for the IIMs is decided by the HRD ministry.

In comparison, the salary structure of private business schools, like the Indian School of Business to the Nirma Institute of Management is much higher.

A faculty member of IIM, Calcutta, said they have been facing lot of constraints in going ahead with their research. This was seconded by a member of the Faculty Council of IIM, Bangalore.

He said: "In line with the government's guidelines, we had sough approvals for two research collaborations with overseas universities. Nine months after the first project was submitted for approval, it was rejected, and no reason were attributed. The second proposal, which is to be funded by the US Department of Agriculture, is still awaiting the ministry's approval. It has been a year now, the proposal is still lying with the ministry."

Similar complaints were received also faculty members in IIM, Ahmedabad.

"There are now bindings on research work by the faculty members, even though the ministry does not need to fund most of them. This is nothing but an attempt to curb the freedom of the faculty members, who are never asked any questions for their research work by the concerned IIM's Society or Board of Governors," said a source close to Faculty Council of IIM, Ahmedabad.