Shillong (Meghalaya): Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh on Saturday laid the foundation stone of the country's seventh Indian Institute of Management (IIM) here.

Speaking at the ceremony, the minister said, "The launching of this institute would contribute to the manpower of tomorrow, not only in the northeast, but also in the whole country and abroad."

The institute - christened Rajiv Gandhi Indian Institute of Management - is the seventh IIM in the country after Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Lucknow, Indore and Kozhikode.

Admissions are expected by the next academic session in July with an intake of 60 students. The strength would be subsequently increased to 120 in 2010 and 180 in 2013.

Singh said through this institute northeast is on the threshold of being linked to the world's growing marketing and management realities.

"The setting up of the IIM (in Shillong) would give a boost to the city as a centre of advanced learning. The institute will provide crucial inputs regarding modern management practices to the public and private sectors of the northeast," union minister for tribal affairs P.R. Kyndiah said.

The institute - in a campus spread over 120 acres of land - would presently conduct three courses of Post-graduate Diploma in Business Management (PGDBM), Fellowship Programme in Management (FPM) and Management Development Programmes (MDPs).

The institute would later introduce new courses on tourism and hospitality management, tele-services and tele-medicine, information systems and technology, and subjects on horticulture and hydel power. IANS