IIM-A's PGP-FABM is a two-year full-time program that covers allied areas such as agriculture, food processing, commodities and rural development sector, and rural infrastructure. The fees for the batch 2021-2023 are 28 lakhs.

• One of my friends studying at IIM Ahmedabad said that a certificate doesn’t mean you will get a good placement offer.
• If you are taking a loan then be careful as your placement is not certain. Getting a collateral-free loan would be easy but paying it off will be a real task.
• The most important thing here is your financial goals and if getting a certificate from the IIMA PGP-FABM program fits into it then go ahead.
• As the fees for this program are too high, I’d say think about it and only go for it if you are highly interested in this field of study.

However, if you are still dicey about whether to opt for this program or not I would suggest you to invest in attending a course conducted by Pavan Bhattad’s Brainival. It is a 2-day workshop in which he discusses speed reading, mind mapping, memory techniques, and ideas generation which was initially conducted in Pune.

The PGP-FABM specifies no strict limit on marks to be obtained except for at least 50% in graduation from a university recognized by the UGC. Also, any candidate from any background can apply for the course except that students not from agricultural sciences or agricultural-related disciplines will have to submit a special form under the application procedure and must demonstrate a strong interest in agricultural, food, rural, and allied sectors.

Selection Procedure:

• For the shortlisting process in PGP-FABM, the CAT score has a weightage of 70% and your application rating (AR) score has a weightage of 30%.
• The minimum cut-off percentiles in CAT to be considered for shortlisting are 80, 70, and 60 for General, SC, and ST categories respectively.

Even if it is not the flagship PGP program, it is still a very demanding course and thus competition is very high. So, a good CAT score along with an excellent interview presentation will help you secure a seat at IIM Ahmedabad.