Do you ever wonder how people do internships at Indian Institute of Managements? They're not only an added benefit to your CV but you get to socialize with people from various faculty. Also, if you're lucky enough, you will be getting an opportunity to attend your professor's class.

Steps:

• Go through the websites of IIM's which you want to apply.
• Go to the section of working papers and find the paper of your relevant choice. It might happen that the department is different but what matters is your interest.
• Go to the paper and read the abstract to get an overview. You can read further to make sure it's relevant to your area of interest.
• Now, note down the email id from the paper of the professor and mail them.

• Write a cover letter mentioning why you're interested in that field and what have you done till now in that field.
• Write about your future aims and how this internship will help you in your career.
• Don't forget to mention the duration of the internship clearly.

Bonus points:

• Make a spreadsheet about the professors's contact with their research paper names. Note down the date of application so that you can follow up.
• The follow up mail should be after 4-5 days.
• Try to start mailing them from mid January till the March end as they finalise their interns by then.
• Try to mail the professors early before 8 am on Monday and Tuesday so that your mail reaches at the top of his/her inbox.
• Don't make a lengthy cover letter. It should be short and on point.

My experience:

I got a reply from 4 out of 11 professors, mostly from IIM A and B and started the project from home. Note that, only IIM Ahmedabad, Calcutta, Kozhikode pays stipend if you work on site. IIM Kozhikode has a formal internship program and they pay their interns a stipend of Rs 5k including accomodation.

And don't give up if you fail to get any replies. Apply to more institutes! Best of luck.