Shillong (PTI): Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh on Saturday laid the foundation stone of the country's seventh IIM, christened as the Rajiv Gandhi Indian Institute of Management (RG-IIM), at Shillong.

"With this IIM, north east will be linked to the global reality of marketing and management," Singh said in the ground-breaking function at the Mayurbhanj complex in Nongthymmai here.

The Meghalaya government has alloted a plot of 80 acres near the North Eastern Hill University here for the IIM's permanent campus. Till it is constructed, the institute would function from the Mayurbhanj complex, which has been renovated by the state government for the purpose.

Singh hoped that the institute would contribute to the country's manpower of tommorrow. "The north east is on the march, and it is not alone. All the handicaps which the NE region faces today will be a thing of the past, and a bright future awaits the people," the minister said.

The RG-IIM will be the seventh IIM in the country, in addition to the existing ones at Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Lucknow, Indore and Kozhikode.

Admissions to the courses are expected to commence in July next year with an annual intake of 60 students in the first year.

The institute plans to offer to three courses -- post graduate diploma in business management, fellowship programme in management and management development programmes.