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PGDM expands to Post Graduate Diploma in Management, the confusion starts when you see the term Diploma. Many students are of the view that it is a Diploma course and not a Degree; you are right to an extent that it is a Diploma. The main reason why postgraduate courses are named as PGDM is because when an Institute is an autonomous body (meaning it is not affiliated to any University) and conducts management courses then such Institutes cannot offer MBA degree. Even IIMs, XLRI's doesn't offer MBA degrees they only give PGP Diploma or PGDM since they are autonomous and independent bodies.
When an Institute secures autonomy they design their own curriculum to be taught instead of following outdated University syllabus. I have mentioned outdated syllabus because the syllabus change at University level happens once in either 3 or 5 years. Technically syllabus change affects university affiliating colleges, the books needs to be revised and the faculty needs to upgrade themselves. Where as in PGDM, since the colleges are autonomous the curriculum can be updated regularly depending on the need in Industry without approval from any University. Hence one can say that PGDM courses are more Industry relevant, up to date as compared to MBA courses. There are some universities which stand ahead of the autonomous colleges such as the Delhi University, Banaras Hindu University etc.
While opting for PGDM courses, students must exercise caution and check the accreditation status of the college. Colleges offering PGDM courses needs to be accredited by AICTE. In case of MBA, the colleges are affiliated to an University and Universities are controlled by University Grants Commission (UGC) and the colleges may also get accredited by AICTE. According to a recent supreme court verdict, UGC recognized MBA programmes need not have AICTE approval.
Typically if any PGDM is to be equivalent to MBA then the college offering the PGDM course must have accreditation from AIU (The Association of Indian Universities).