New Delhi, Oct 13 (IANS): The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the establishment and operation of an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Jammu at a cost of nearly Rs 62 crore.

The cabinet meeting here was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The 20th IIM of the country will function from a temporary campus at Old Government College of Engineering and Technology for the initial four years, from 2016 to 2020.

According to an official statement, the student strength intake for this year (2016-17) in the Post Graduate Diploma Programme (PGDP) in Management is 54, and will progressively go up to a cumulative student strength of 120 in the fourth year.

Steps would also be taken up for setting up campus at Jammu and an out-campus in Kashmir region.

The Detailed Project Report for the permanent campuses is under preparation and thereafter the process for setting up of the campuses would start.

The cabinet also approved formation of an IIM Jammu Society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.

IIM Jammu will be run and managed by the Society with a Board of Governors (BOGs) to be constituted by the government, which will administer the institute and would be responsible for its establishment and operationalisation.

This is part of the Prime Minister's development package for Jammu and Kashmir.

The institute coupled with opening of an IIT at Jammu, modernisation of National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Srinagar and opening of two new AIIMS institutions, one each in Kashmir and Jammu regions, would go a long way in meeting the requirement of high quality living and education in the state.

Currently there are 19 IIMs in the country, and 13 of them are located at Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Lucknow, Indore, Kozhikode, Shillong, Ranchi, Raipur, Rohtak, Kashipur, Trichy and Udaipur.

Six other IIMs, which were started in 2015, are located at Amritsar, Sirmaur, Nagpur, Bodhgaya, Sambalpur and Vishakhapatnam.