IIFT vs SIBM - Rankings, Placements, Fees | B-School Comparison

The Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) Delhi, and Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIBM) Pune are counted amongst the top management institutes of the country. But which B-schools should be your target institute? Is it worth joining either of these institutes, keeping in mind the return on investment, batch diversity, and career opportunities? How do these institutes fare against each other, based on crucial criteria for B-school selection? In this IIFT Delhi vs SIBM Pune B-school comparison, find out which of these two "elite" institutes is the right fit for you!

IIFT Delhi vs SIBM Pune – Flagship Programmes, Scores Accepted

B-School	Programme Offered	Programme Duration	Scores Accepted
IIFT Delhi	MBA (International Business)	24 months	IIFT
SIBM Pune	MBA	24 months	SNAP

IIFT Delhi vs SIBM Pune – Rankings

B-school rankings are not an ideal way to compare two business schools. However, they do provide a starting point to compare two institutes with similar repute and popularity. The table below comprises B-school rankings on InsideIIM (based on perception and brand equity), as well as rankings by MHRD’s NIRF (based on Graduation Outcomes). The two rankings paint completely different pictures. When it comes to desirability, IIFT Delhi is counted amongst the top-10 management institutes of the country, i.e., MBA aspirants consider the institute to be in the same league as the top-IIMs and other elite management institutes. SIBM Pune features in the top-20 B-schools, based on brand equity. However, when it comes to graduation outcomes, SIBM Pune is miles ahead of IIFT Delhi, with the former consistently ranked amongst the top-10 and the latter ranked amongst the top-25. Clearly, though IIFT is much more desirable for the average MBA aspirant, the outcome of your MBA is likely to be better at SIBM Pune, as per NIRF rankings.

IIFT Delhi vs SIBM Pune – Placements, Return on Investment (Class of 2019)

Return on Investment (RoI) is arguably the most important factor to be considered when selecting a business school - you cannot end up with a hefty loan that takes half a decade to repay. In the table below, placement figures are juxtaposed with the fees to give a clear idea of what to expect in terms of RoI from IIFT Delhi and SIBM Pune. In terms of RoI, IIFT Delhi seems to be a better option based on the comparison between the median CTC and the latest programme fee. Placements At IIFT Delhi - Class of 2019

• The batch of 2017-19 constituting 279 students were placed across 98 companies with 32 new recruiters participating in the placement drive.
• The highest salary offered overall crossed Rs. 1 crore with several students receiving compensations of over Rs. 75 LPA. The average overall compensation offered was 20.07 LPA compared to 19.23 LPA last year while average domestic compensation rose to 18.89 LPA compared to 18.27 LPA last year. The median compensation for the year also rose to 18 LPA.
• The placement season was buoyed by 93 PPOs offered by major recruiters such as ABFRL, Airtel, Amazon, Axis Bank, Bajaj Auto, Bain Capability Network, Britannia, Citibank, GE, GEP, Godrej, Goldman Sachs, HP, HT Media, IVP, ICICI, Infoedge, ITC, JPMC, KPMG, Louis Dreyfus, Maersk Line, Marico, OfBusiness, Piramal, PPG Asian Paints, Royal Enfield, RPG, Shell, Synergy Consulting, Tata Metalliks, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Wipro Technologies and Yes Bank.
• Among the 32 first time recruiters were Aegis Resources, Axtria, Bata, DE Shaw Group, Epik InDiFi, Enhance Group, Export Trading Group, Fermenta Biotech, Field Fresh Foods, Go-MMT, HomeCredit, Lenskart, United Health Group, Paytm, Polycab, Rivigo, Roland Berger, Samunnati Finance, Tata Global Beverages, Tresvista Financial Services and Zomato. GE Healthcare opened its coveted Commercial Leadership Program for the first time.

Placements At SIBM Pune - Class of 2019

• A total of 83 companies participated in the Final Placements process at SIBM Pune, giving out 192 offers to the 180-strong Class of 2019.
• 28 new recruiters participated in the recruitment process, including top brands like Google, Barclays, Reckitt Benckiser, Walmart and MindTree among others.
• 62 students of the Class of 2019 received Pre-Placement Offers.

SIBM Pune Final Placements – Highest CTC, Average CTC, Median CTC Figures – Class of 2019
Highest CTC	Rs. 29.00 lakhs p.a.
Average CTC	Rs. 17.48 lakhs p.a.
Median CTC	Rs. 16.25 lakhs p.a.
Average CTC (Top 50)	Rs. 23.76 lakhs p.a.
Average CTC (Top 100)	Rs. 20.53 lakhs p.a.
Average CTC (Top 150)	Rs. 18.81 lakhs p.a.

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SIBM Pune Final Placements – Average CTC For Different Specialisations – Class of 2019
Specialization	Average CTC
Marketing	Rs. 17.56 lakhs p.a.
Operations	Rs. 17.44 lakhs p.a.
Finance	Rs. 17.30 lakhs p.a.
HR	Rs. 17.28 lakhs p.a.

Also read - MBA Fees In India - How Long Will Take For You To Recover Your B-School Fee?

IIFT Delhi vs SIBM Pune – Student Exchange Opportunities

IIFT Delhi IIFT has international collaborations with nearly 30 business schools abroad. The exchange programme at IIFT is scheduled in the 3 trimesters of the MBA (International Business) 2-year programme. The trimesters are as follows:

• Spring Trimester: July-September
• Winter Trimester: October-December
• Fall Trimester: January-March

Read everything about the student exchange programme at IIFT here. SIBM Pune "To help students to cope with the global academic environment SIBM Pune offers to its students Semester exchange programme in collaboration with International Universities." SIBM Pune has international collaborations with various top business schools abroad, such as the University of Dauphine, The Berlin School of Economics and Law, Arizona State University and Nanyang Technological University amongst others. Read everything about the student exchange programme at SIBM Pune here.  

IIFT Delhi vs SIBM Pune – Campus Life

At IIFT, apart from academics, students also indulge in various sports, cultural and social events. During the course, a visit to the port town is arranged in India/abroad for the students to acquire first-hand knowledge of Port Operations, Custom Procedure, Shipping and role of other trade facilitating agencies. In addition, interactive sessions are arranged with corporate managers and trade promotion agencies during the visit. In the Social Awareness Program (SAP), every student undertakes a one-month long internship with various NGOs across the city that provides care for the elderly and destitute, drug and alcohol addicts, orphans, women and fight evils like people trafficking, child abuse and so on. Apart from this, IIFT also conducts events such as TEDxIIFTDelhi and their annual fest called Quo Vadis. SIBM Pune is a mixed bag of students coming from various cultures. Students with different work cultures and graduate disciplines gather together to have a single goal i.e, MBA. Students are passionate and appreciate every colour that this college has to offer. SIBM Pune promotes a student-driven culture. There are nine student councils along with four special interest groups. These nine student councils look after everything: from admissions to arranging seminars and guest lectures. SIBM believes that such activities develop a sense of responsibility as well as a taste of how the world would look and behave after they have graduated. This helps them develop a close relationship with the institution even after they have graduated.

IIFT Delhi vs SIBM Pune – Conclusion

All factors considered, it is clear that both IIFT Delhi and SIBM Pune are management institutes almost at par with each other, with IIFT Delhi gaining a slight advantage in terms of rankings and placements, and SIBM Pune being more non-engineer friendly. IIFT Delhi offers better RoI, given the 2½ lakhs less that the MBA (IB) students have to pay compared to their counterparts at SIBM Pune. There are many other important factors to be considered that, unfortunately, cannot be backed by data-points and objective information such as campus life. However, what becomes clear is that if you receive an admission offer from either of the two institutes, the decision to join is a no-brainer. If either of these institutes is your target B-school, a must-read for you are the IIFT Delhi and SIBM Pune archives, which will give you a glimpse into the life at these two elite institutes. In fact, InsideIIM has created a video on SIBM Pune, which can be found here. You may also be interested in reading this comparison between IIM Indore and MDI Gurgaon, as well as many other B-school comparisons on InsideIIM. Have suggestions on how this comparative report can be improved? Discrepancies in data? Let me know in the comments below!