Rajiv Gandhi Indian Institute of Management (RGIIM) Shillong became the 7th IIM of the nation with the formal approval of Union Human Resource Development Ministry in 2007. By setting up this institute, the Government of India has provided a new impetus to the quality management education in the entire north-east region. Named after the visionary leader and late Prime Minister Shri Rajiv Gandhi, the institute will endeavor to fulfill the need of future management professionals there by modernizing and globalizing the entire nation.

The proposal of setting up an IIM in North Eastern Region was considered during the Review Meeting taken by the Union Minister of Human Resource Development with the Chief Ministers of the North Eastern States held in Shillong during June 2004. In the subsequent years the government made consultation with the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DONER) as well with the Chief Ministers of the region; it was decided only in 2007 to locate the Institute at Shillong and named as Rajiv Gandhi Indian Institute of Management (RGIIM).

India's North East Region plays an important role in the socio-economic development of the country. There was a need of setting up an institute of higher learning in the region to offer challenging opportunity to the students. Primarily dominated by hilly terrain and an agricultural economy, North Eastern Region comprising eight states is at the frontier of the Indian Territory with a lot of foreign interaction in trade, economic, cultural and political matters. On the one hand, while there is abundance of natural resources, on the other hand, the infrastructure and social and economic condition calls for special attention and an in-depth understanding of the economy.