New Delhi: The Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD) is thinking of expanding the jurisdiction of the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and, reportedly, has already approved sites for the setting up of IIM-Uttarakhand and IIM-Tamil Nadu.

The site in Uttarakhand that has been decided for the IIM is at Kashipur, which is around 30 km away from the Corbett National Park and the one in Tamil Nadu is likely to come up at Tiruchirapalli.

According to sources, the two new IIMs have been registered by the HRD ministry under the Societies Act earlier this month. These two IIMs are part of a plan to set up six new IIMs in the country during the next few years.

The new IIMs in Ranchi, Tamil Nadu, Raipur and Rohtak will begin functioning from the academic year 2010-11 whereas the IIMs in Uttarakhand and Rajasthan will begin their operations next year. Each new institute would offer 140 seats initially.

There had been a proposal last year to set up an IIM in Jammu and Kashmir but was withdrawn because the state had been unable to decide a place to set up the campus. Instead, the HRD ministry had promised to establish two new central universities in the state.