Dehradun

Meeting people at IIM Sirmaur

IIM Sirmaur calls itself the Himalayan IIM: a 2015 institute in the lower Himalayas near the Yamuna at Paonta Sahib, best known for its MBA in Tourism and Hospitality Management and a three-day January fest called Sierra.

The story of IIM Sirmaur

IIM Sirmaur was set up by the Government of India in 2015 as a centrally funded Institute of National Importance, one of the new IIMs that took the brand to states that had never had one. It began at a temporary campus at the Himachal Institute of Technology, Paonta Sahib, in the lower Himalayas near the Yamuna.

Its founding director, Dr Neelu Rohmetra, became the first permanent woman director of an IIM, breaking a barrier that had stood since the first IIMs in 1961. Prof. Prafulla Y. Agnihotri now leads the institute.

The permanent campus is coming up at Dhaula Kuan in Sirmaur district, where the government approved a first phase of 60,384 sq m for 600 students at a cost of Rs 392.51 crore. The 9th convocation was held at Dhaula Kuan on 26 April 2025, with 295 graduates across the MBA and the MBA in Tourism and Hospitality Management.

What the campus is like socially

Life is small-town and close to nature. The campus sits in the Himalayan foothills, the Yamuna is nearby, and weekends mean hills, rivers and the Doon valley rather than malls. Batches have shifted from mostly freshers to many students with real work experience, which gives classroom discussions a practical edge.

Fifteen clubs run most of student life, from tourism and quizzing to art and photography, and RangManch brings festive nights like Dandiya and Bontakshari. The institute's tourism focus means guest lectures and simulations with travel companies are part of the regular calendar.

Traditions every IIM Sirmaur student knows

• Sierra: The annual fest of sports and culture. Sierra 2025 ran 24 to 26 January with cricket, football and volleyball finals, a fashion show called Adaah, and a concert by Vani Bhasin.
• Dandiya Night: One of RangManch's festive evenings, open to the whole campus.
• The King of Clubs: Quizzar's quiz event, one of several that test management acumen.
• Apple-o-nomics: FinServe's flagship finance event, a nod to Himachal's famous apples.
• Convocation at Dhaula Kuan: Recent convocations have been held at the site of the upcoming permanent campus.

Campus lore and insider spots

• The Himalayan IIM: Students lean into the hashtag and the mountain setting to stand apart from the plains-based IIMs.
• First woman director: The institute's founding director broke a 56-year glass ceiling in the IIM system.
• Campus on loan: Classes run in an engineering college's buildings while the permanent campus is built.
• Apples and economics: The finance club's flagship event borrows its name from Himachal's best-known crop.

How to find your people here

At IIM Sirmaur, a club or committee is the fastest way to build a real social circle, since the two-year program moves fast and most lasting friendships come out of a shared case comp or event team.

Fests and societies at IIM Sirmaur

Signature fests

• Sierra

Notable societies

• Atithya (Tourism Club)
• Consulere
• Quizzar
• RangManch

Societies worth knowing at IIM Sirmaur

• Atithya: The tourism club, with business simulations, guest lectures and industry partnerships.
• Consulere and Sapient: Consulting and strategy clubs, running case competitions and conclaves.
• FinServe and Capital 51: The finance club and the trading and investment club.
• Quizzar: The quizzing club behind The King of Clubs.
• RangManch and Darpan: The art club and the literary club.
• EBSB: The Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat club, celebrating the languages, music and food of different states.

Careers, internships and placements

IIM Sirmaur's MBA graduates go into consulting, BFSI, marketing, analytics and operations roles, while the Tourism and Hospitality MBA opens doors with travel, hotel and online travel companies.

The institute has also added an Advanced Manufacturing Management programme with RWTH Aachen University in Germany and an undergraduate Bachelor of Management Studies.

Rivalries and eternal debates

CAT takers often weigh IIM Sirmaur against IIM Bodh Gaya and IIM Jammu. Sirmaur students push back against the generic baby IIM label, pointing to the mountains, the tourism MBA and the new campus.

What IIM Sirmaur is talking about now

The move to the permanent campus at Dhaula Kuan, new programmes and growing batches dominate campus conversation.

Meeting people at IIM Sirmaur by interest

A lot of friendships here form around a shared interest rather than a class or a hostel wing. If you are into quizzing, finance and investing, startups and builders, debating and mun, and running, those pages cover where that scene actually happens in India and how to find people near you who are into the same thing.

Colleges nearby

IIM Sirmaur sits close to UPES (University of Petroleum and Energy Studies), Graphic Era (Deemed to be University), and IIT Roorkee, all part of the same Dehradun student scene. Cross-college friendships often start at inter-college fests, hackathons, or shared-interest communities rather than in class.

Similar campuses across India

If you are looking beyond your own campus, students at IIM Tiruchirappalli, IIM Udaipur, IIM Visakhapatnam, and IIM Ahmedabad share a similar campus culture, and Zyber works the same way at each: showing you verified people nearby who match on interest, intent, or timing.

Zyber on campus

Zyber is built for meeting people nearby in real time, with verified profiles only. At IIM Sirmaur, that means showing you people near you who share your interests or your drive, whether or not you overlap on a class or a society.

New to IIM Sirmaur? Start here

If you are just starting out, these freshers guides are written for exactly this moment: first week of college checklist, how to choose societies in college, making friends beyond your branch, and case competitions for freshers.

the freshers guide, the Meet People pillar, or read what Zyber is.