The InsideIIM Recruitment Survey has found many times in its history that, while selecting a b-school or company to work with, compensation on offer takes precedence over most other factors - this makes sense, considering the colossal fees that IIMs and other b-schools charge for a two-year MBA. To find out what salaries IIM students really expect at the end of their MBA, we surveyed hundreds of students from across India to find out their monthly
in-hand salary expectations in 2021-2022. Here's what we found.
The InsideIIM Recruitment Survey of 2021 has revealed that, in 2021-2022, most MBA students from across India's top MBA colleges expect monthly in-hand salaries in the range of INR 1.1 lakhs to INR 2.0 lakhs. The largest chunk (27%) of MBA students surveyed expect salaries in the range of INR 1.10 lakh to INR 1.30 lakhs in their first job post-MBA, while about 21% of respondents have suggested a higher monthly pay bracket of INR 1.50 lakhs to INR 2.00 lakhs. Regardless of which b-school they belong to, salary expectations in excess of INR 2.5 lakhs and below INR 0.7 lakhs are deemed unrealistic.
As can be expected, the salary expectations of students from India's top-ranked IIMs is, on average, higher than the overall average. The largest chunk of students from IIMs ABCLIK expect monthly in-hand salaries of INR 1.50 lakhs to INR 2.00 lakhs, and 80% of respondents would accept jobs offering a salary in the INR 1.10 lakh to INR 2.00 lakh range. Salaries in excess of INR 2.5 lakhs or below INR 1.10 lakhs have been deemed unrealistic.
The findings for top-ranked non-IIM business schools are similar to those of their IIM counterparts, with the largest chunk of MBA students expecting salaries in the INR 1.10 lakhs to INR 1.30 lakhs range, as well as the INR 1.50 lakhs to INR 2.00 lakhs range. Salaries below INR 0.9 lakhs and above INR 2.5 lakhs have been largely deemed as unrealistic, with not a single student saying that a salary in excess of INR 3.00 lakhs per month is justified. B-schools included in this segment include XLRI, FMS, MDI, IIFT, and NITIE amongst few others.
Compared to students from the first generation of IIMs (ABCLIK), students from the second and third generation of IIMs (new and baby IIMs) have much lower salary expectations. The largest chunk of respondents from these institutes expect salaries not greater than INR 1.10 lakhs per month, while the percentage of respondents expecting salaries between INR 0.7 lakhs to INR 0.9 lakhs is even higher than the overall average. Salaries in excess of INR 2.00 lakhs per month have been deemed extremely unrealistic by student from new and baby IIMs.