A day after Indian Institutes of Management in Bangalore and Indore raised their fees, IIM-Lucknow has gone in for a hike of Rs 25,000 for the next academic session while the institutes at Kozhikode and Ahmedabad will take a decision on the matter after March 31.

The fees for the postgraduate programme would be raised to Rs 200,000 from the present Rs 175,000 and would come into effect from the coming academic session, IIM-L director Devi Singh said over phone from Lucknow.

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IIM-L would also add 147 seats over the next three years at an additional cost of around Rs 43 crore (Rs 430 million) to implement quotas for the OBCs, he said.

Planning to increase seats in a phased manner, the institute would add 45 seats in 2007-08, 55 seats in 2008-09 and 47 seats the year after, Singh said.

"We are spending the money for enhancing facilities like classrooms, auditorium and hostels. We have already started work on building a hostel in our campus in Lucknow," he said.

The fifth member of the franchise, IIM-Ahmedabad, is expected to follow suit after its board meeting on March 31.

IIM-Kozhikode's director Krishna Kumar said, "We have discussed the issue in our board meeting and will let you know of the final decision by April 1."

Asked to specify if the board had decided to hike the fee on the lines of the move by the IIMs in Bangalore and Indore, Kumar said: "You may have to wait till April 1."

Sources at IIM-K, however, indicated that the institute might fall in line with the other IIMs to increase the annual fee to improve its infrastructure.

"We are facing several problems at the institute now and are in need of additional resources to improve the infrastructure," a source said.

IIM-Bangalore has hiked the fee for the PG programme in management by Rs 75,000 to Rs 250,000, while IIM-Indore had raised the fee from Rs 150,000 to Rs 190,000 from the coming academic session.

The IIM in Kolkata is also likely to take a decision on the fee hike when its board meets next week.