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Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a two-year degree course. In India, MBA degree can be awarded by any recognised university or by a business school affiliated to any university. Post Graduate Diploma in management (PGDM) is a two-year Diploma course offered by the institutes that are recognised by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and which are autonomous and not affiliated to any university. It is not mandatory that a PGDM is equal to MBA. PGDM institutes accreditation by Association of Indian Universities (AIU) makes an institute's PGDM course equivalent to an MBA.
There are a large number of similarities between the curriculum of both MBA and PGDM. An MBA institute follows a fixed curriculum as it will be based on the university guidelines which occasionally may not be aligned to industry requirements. Autonomous institutes do not follow university standards, so it has the flexibility to align its curriculum according to industry standards and change in the business environment. Some of the PGDM from IIMs, XLRI, etc., have more value than MBA. However, MBA of FMS DU, IIFT, etc., have similar value as IIMs. Students are advised to choose an institute based on its ranking, not on nomenclature of degree.