As shortlists start pouring in, we look at about 40 management programmes in the country and the cost of doing those management programmes.
We recently released our survey results for what students think is an all-inclusive reasonable cost of a MBA programme. Check the analysis
here and a snapshot of aspirant and 1st year student responses below.
As we will see below in the table, spending at least INR 10 Lacs on a MBA programme is the new normal and schools seem to recognize it and have priced their programmes accordingly. Or maybe it is the other way round where schools have set the price and aspirants think it is ok to pay so much?
We haven't considered EPGP/PGPX programmes since the most popular programmes are the 2 year PGP programmes. Only ISB and GLIM Chennai have been considered from the 1 year lot as they are open to students with 24 month work experience and enough candidates face the dilemma of choosing between them and other 2 year programmes. The thumb rule for Executive programmes is 5 years of post grad experience.
What should be kept in mind while reading the stats below?
- Length of the programme - A 1 year programme means you start earning faster (assuming you get placed). Time is an important factor to be considered. It matters more to older candidates.
- Placements - Obviously. You want to invest your time and money in a programme which will yield returns soon i.e. starting salary. Try hunting average in-hand salary figure. It is tough to find but if you ask enough people in the eco-system it should be possible. Use insideIIM placement reports and other data to get overall trends. We haven't put placement figures simply because we don't trust most schools. CRISIL audited reports have some credibility and as a benchmark you could use IIM A's figures - INR 17 Lacs Median Salary plus a potential but not guaranteed 4 Lac Bonus to take median to 21 Lacs. The EMI for a 19 Lac Loan would vary between INR 25,000 to 35,000 per month depending on the tenure and rates.
- Infrastructure - Students often overlook the quality of facilities and exposure they may get when deciding which school to join. It may make more sense to go to a slightly more expensive school which will give you a superior experience as compared to just a starting salary.
- Long term brand value and effect of the network - This cannot be quantified easily. However, you need to make an assessment on how much value you think the programme will continue to give you many years after you have graduated. The other invaluable contribution that a school does is help you become part of a network of highly skilled and outstanding professionals (Assuming you do get admitted in such a school). Will you be able to draw the support of your alma mater's alumni network? For e.g. it will be easier to raise money from a PE/VC/Bank if your batch mate is working there! Or will you one day pitch a collaboration to that FMCG Brand manager who sat 2 seats next to you? Or may be you will one day just call upon your peers to learn something new about the industry.
- Opportunity Cost - What would you be doing if you weren't doing a MBA? How much would you be earning? You must add that too to the cost of the programme in the final analysis. We often request those earning above 10-12 Lacs to exercise caution before making a MBA school decision.
All schools arranged in descending order of the cost of the programme. None of the figures below includes the cost of student exchange or any excursions.
| Name of the B-school |
Program Offered |
Fees (2 years or 1 year wherever applicable) |
| Indian School of Business |
PGPM (1 Year Programme) |
₹3,027,475 |
| MISB Bocconi |
PGPB |
₹2,050,000 |
| XLRI Jamshedpur |
PGDM (BM and HR) |
₹2,000,000 |
| IIM Calcutta |
PGDM |
₹1,900,000 |
| MDI Gurgaon |
PGPM/PGP-HRM 17-19 |
₹1,886,000 |
| IIM Ahmedabad |
PGP 16-18 |
₹1,878,000 |
| IIM Bangalore |
PGP 17-19 |
₹1,870,000 |
| SIBM Pune |
MBA Full Time |
₹1,825,000 |
| IMT Ghaziabad |
PGDM 17-19 |
₹1,650,000 |
| IIM Kozhikode |
PGP 16-18 |
₹1,600,000 |
| IIFT Delhi and Kolkata |
MBA (IB) 16-18 |
₹1,570,000 |
| SIBM Bangalore |
MBA Full Time |
₹1,565,000 |
| SCMHRD Pune |
MBA General 17-19 batch |
₹1,545,000 |
| XIM Bhubaneshwar |
MBA BM/HRM |
₹1,540,000 |
| Great Lakes Chennai |
PGPM (1 Year Programme) |
₹1,850,000 |
| NMIMS Mumbai |
MBA Program 15-16 |
₹1,800,000 |
| SPJIMR Mumbai |
PGDM 16-18 |
₹1,460,000 |
| IIM Lucknow |
PGPM 13-15 |
₹1,406,000 |
| TAPMI Manipal |
PGDM Program |
₹1,400,000 |
| Goa Institute of Management |
PGDM Full Time 17-19 |
₹1,385,000 |
| MICA Ahmedabad |
PGDM - Communications |
₹1,350,000 |
| IIM Indore |
PGP |
₹1,300,000 |
| IIM Raipur |
PGP 17-19 |
₹1,232,200 |
| IFMR Chennai |
PGDM |
₹1,200,000 |
| IIM Udaipur |
PGP 16-17 |
₹1,072,700 |
| IIM Rohtak |
PGP 16-18 |
₹1,050,000 |
| Great Lakes Chennai/Gurgaon |
PGDM 2017-19 |
₹1,046,000 |
| IIM Nagpur |
PGP |
₹1,000,000 |
| BIM Trichy |
PGDM Full Time/PGDM International Business |
₹1,000,000 |
| MYRA School of Business |
PGDM |
₹1,000,000 |
| IRMA Anand |
PGP in Rural Management |
₹950,000 |
| Welingkar Mumbai |
PGDM |
₹860,000 |
| K.J Somaiya Mumbai |
(PGDM, PGDM-IB, PGDM-RM PGDM-FS, PGDM –Comm. |
₹800,000 |
| IIM Shillong |
PGP |
₹800,000 |
| NITIE Mumbai |
PG Programs 2013-15 |
₹626,500 |
| TISS Mumbai |
HRM & LR |
₹238,600 |
| SJMSOM Mumbai |
MMS |
₹899,504 |
| JBIMS Mumbai |
Masters in Management |
₹210,000 |
| SIMSREE Mumbai |
MMS & PGDBM |
₹134,000 |
| FMS Delhi |
MBA Full Time |
₹20,960 |
| IIM Trichy |
MBA Full Time |
₹13,20,000 |
Before any analysis is done, it is important to note that none of the schools mentioned above have any seats going empty. There are schools mentioned in the above table across different tiers and are said to be offering average salaries ranging from INR 6 Lacs to INR 21 Lacs. Demand for quality education far outstrips supply. Maybe, there is academic inflation which is built in and a graduation degree no longer offers a decent job. Yes - we hear of B-Schools shutting down but those are schools which were never started with the intention of providing any quality education or career opportunities. If you look at the top 50 to 75 Business Schools in India it is fantastic for them from a business point of view. With education loans available far more easily (as compared to earlier) and the general propensity to pay for higher education going up, a half decent business school in India can do very well. Contrary to popular opinion, our belief at InsideIIM.com is that the number of students likely to try to get into a good MBA school is only going to go up going forward even if there is a technological or regulatory disruption. The formats may vary slightly but it still provides a fantastic chance of finding decent employment opportunities. India's service industry thrives on MBA graduates as their fresh hires across the spectrum offering 4 Lacs to 50 Lacs as salary depending on which school you hail from.
ISB is clearly an expensive programme but they have positioned it as a premium programme and the 1 year completion helps people start earning sooner. A batch of almost 800 enters ISB each year across 2 campuses.
On the other end of the spectrum, we have FMS where you can do a 2 year MBA programme at a cost lower than that of a smartphone. Your laptop costs more than your tuition fees at FMS Delhi. It is an extreme case (JBIMS is also extremely cost effective at 2 Lacs) where such a low tuition fee could ensure a salary worth a hundred times more. Would FMS seats go empty if the fees were increased 50 times? We doubt it will have any effect on the quality of the students or the placements. Possibly, FMS students could get even better facilities.
Among the IIMs, IIM ABC lead the inflation chart. For years, IIM A was the most expensive programme which seems to have been overtaken marginally by IIM Calcutta. IIM Indore was very quick to raise fees to 13 lacs from about 9 Lacs 4 years back and was the 3rd most expensive IIM at one time (IIM C increased later), but has decided to stay put for almost 5 years now. IIM Lucknow was the cheapest (they had
reduced fees in one of the years!) among the old IIMs as recently as 3 years back has increased its fees steadily over the last 2 years and so has IIM Kozhikode.
XLRI saw a sudden increase in fees to 17 Lacs 2 years back and has now gone up to INR 2 Million. MDI Gurgaon (18 Lacs plus), SPJIMR, IIFT, SIBM, NMIMS are all relatively expensive programmes when compared to the IIMs. It must be noted that even now many old IIMs depend on government grants and are not fully autonomous and so it is tougher for private schools to compete if we were to do a like for like comparison.
Overall it has to be said that it is extremely profitable to run a business school in India as long as there is some credibility to the institution. The value offered to students hasn't changed so much over the last few years vis-a-vis the increase in the cost. There is an argument that the programmes were too inexpensive for many years before the fees were finally increased.
All we can say is that the jury is still out on it!
(Please point out any data discrepancies in the commentsNote: section below)
Note: This article was last updated on 15th May 2017.