The Institute of Cooperative Management, Madurai was started during 1983. The Institute is having a national network which comprise one National Institute known as Vaikunth Mehta National Institute of Cooperative Management, (VAMNICOM) Pune, Five Regional Institutes of Cooperative Management and 14 Institutes of Cooperative Management spread all over the country.

It caters to the training requirements of the officials in cooperative organizations and cooperative department. It is run by the National Council for Cooperative Training (NCCT), New Delhi under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, Government of India. The annual budget of the Institute is shared on 50:50 bases both by Ministry of Cooperation, Government of India and Tamilnadu Cooperative Union (TNCU).

The Institute is responsible to organize management development programmes for the personnel working in the Cooperative Department and different Cooperative Sectors in Tamilnadu.