The Institute of Hotel Management,
Catering Technology and Applied
Nutrition, Mumbai, the first-of-its-kind
in South East Asia, was founded in the
year 1954 by the All India Women’s Central Food
Council (AIWCFC) under the leadership of Late Lilavati
Munshi. With the help of courageous women like
Homi J.H. Taleyarkhan and Leela N. Jog, late Lilavati
Munshi founded AIWCFC, which opened a chain of
Annapoornas (restaurants) across the country, primarily
in metropolises. Hence, IHM Mumbai, was founded
Even in the West, hotel administration and catering
technology were still a young discipline in those days; in
fact, Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration
bifurcated from the Department of Home Economics
as a separate faculty only in 1954. Late P.C. Rajpal,
deputed from Tea Board of India, under the sponsorship
of FAO became the first Principal of the institute. Later,
at the request of Lilavati Munshi through the Ministry
of Food and Agriculture, Department of food, Late
Belfield Smith of the U.K., one of the founder members
of Hotel Catering and Institutional Management
Association, U.K., was assigned as an expert to India
by Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United
Nations. In March 1956, Belfield Smith took over as the
Principal. Since then there has been no looking back.
There were only six students when classes
commenced in 1954 at Bhavan’s College Campus,
Andheri. The three-year Diploma Programme in Hotel
Management & Catering Technology was started
in 1958, recognised by the Directorate of Technical
Education, Maharashtra. The institute later shifted to
its own separate campus in Dadar built on the land
leased by the state government. With Thangam E.
Philip as its Principal, the growth of the institute was
spectacular with funds coming from the state and
central government. The central government took over
the total financial responsibility in 1979. Three more
regional institutes were established in 1963 in New
Delhi, Calcutta and Chennai. Hence, the first Food Craft
Institute was opened in Kalamassery and, thereafter,
more institutes were opened in different states.
This situation persisted until 1980, when Haryana and
Uttar Pradesh, launched diploma programmes in hotel
management in Panipat and Lucknow, respectively. In
1982, the National Council for Hotel Management was
established, and central IHMs were transferred from
the Ministry of Tourism to the Ministry of Agriculture.
The Ministry of Tourism felt that the strength of central
IHM and Food Craft Institute was inadequate, so
they devised a way of absorbing Food Craft institutes
and upgrading them to central IHM. From 1980 to
1990, several Food Craft institutes were upgraded
as central IHMs, with two new central IHMs opening
in Thiruvananthapuram and Chandigarh, bringing
The total number of central IHMs to 18, and three
more central IHMs opening in Gurdaspur, Gwalior,
and Shillong, bringing the total number to 21. These
institutes offered a Diploma in Hotel Management as
well as a Diploma in Hotel Operational areas, thereby
training and providing manpower for managerial,
supervisory, and entry-level positions in hotels,
restaurants, and related industries.
During the globalisation era in the 90s, the Indian
government opened the doors for private IHMs by
obtaining AICTE approval, and within a few years,
several private IHMs with AICTE license and affiliation
with state universities began operating. It led to the
addition of numerous private IHMs. It improved the
quality of training provided in these insititutes. With the
backing of Taj Group of Hotels, two private institutes,
Welcome Group Institute of Hotel Management
Manipal and Institute of Hotel Management
Aurangabad, established themselves and maintained
a higher standard of hospitality education. Since 2000,
MoT has launched a centrally-sponsored scheme to
provide one-time infrastructural financial support to
prospective SIHMs, and there are currently 29 state
IHMs and 21 central IHMs in the government sector.
Extra-curricular activities that are absent
in online method are a huge concern
We must understand that existing IHMs are not
business schools like those in the U.S. or Europe, but
rather institutes that impart managerial input with a
focus on hotel operations subjects in order to train
thousands of students for management training
programmes, supervisory positions, and entry-level
positions in hotels, restaurants, and related industries
solely on the basis of their attitude, personality,
communication, knowledge, and skill. All of these
institutes were imparting knowledge and skill in
physical mode until March 2020, but after the COVID
wave, the entire teaching and learning was disrupted.
All stakeholders used online teaching and learning
tools, with which theoretical knowledge was effectively
imparted. But skill imparting was severely harmed, and
we are still searching for and implementing the best
possible modes. Curriculum, in my opinion, is only
one component of education, whereas co-curricular
activities like seminars, discussions, peer group
learning, and extra-curricular activities, all of which
are currently unavailable in the online method, are a
huge concern. While designing our curriculum and
other learning activities for holistic development of
students, not only for the hospitality sector but also for
society as a whole, we must seriously consider these
components in NEP-2020.