In an apparent support to the proposal of prestigious Indian business schools setting up shops abroad, President A P J Abdul Kalam on Tuesday favoured sharing of knowledge among countries saying no single country could achieve knowledge in isolation.

Asked to comment on the Centre's refusal to allow Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, to go ahead with its Singapore campus proposal, he told reporters accompanying him on his three-nation tour that "knowledge does not come solo. There are some countries which are strong in software and others in hardware. When they come together, it creates a new synergy. Societies have to come together for sharing knowledge."

His remarks come ahead of Wednesday's meeting of the directors of Indian Institutes of Management on the controversial issue.

• IIMs: Triumphs and Tribulations

The IIM directors are to discuss amending their charter which prohibits them from setting up shops abroad.

The first proposal by IIM Bangalore to set up a venture in Singapore had got thumbs down from the heckles of human resource ministry which said the prestigious B-schools should first concentrate on meeting domestic demand.

However, in the face of widespread criticism of the HRD ministry's stand, Human Resource Minister Arjun Singh later softened his stand and said the IIMs should amend their Memoranda of Association (MoA) if they wanted to go global.

Following the minister's statement, IIM-B as also some other IIMs had set in motion the process of changing their MoA, a process which is expected to be completed in the next two months before being placed before the board of governors and government for approval.

The Singapore venture of IIM-B is estimated to earn substantial revenue for the institution in its overall objective of achieving financial autonomy in future.

IIM-B, IIM-Ahmedabad and IIM-Kolkata have already become financially independent in the last two years but IIMs in Lucknow, Indore and Kozhikode are still getting funds from the Centre.