InsideIIM's MBA rankings are now more comprehensive than ever before! In 2022, we reveal for the first time the intra-IIM rankings for all 20 IIMs in the country. Our rankings now cover 75 business schools across India, including young and high-potential institutes like IIFT Kolkata, Masters' Union, BITS Pilani's SOM, MDI Murshidabad, and many others. Take a look at institutes featured in this list of top MBA colleges in India!
IIM ABC, FMS Delhi and XLRI India's Top 5 MBA Colleges | Best MBA Colleges In India 2022
When it comes to India's top MBA colleges, IIM Ahmedabad has been at the top of the pecking order for MBA aspirants. The institute has again emerged as India's top business school in 2022, only marginally pipping IIM Bangalore. Completing the holy trinity of IIMs is IIM Calcutta, coming in at third place this year.
So, why do these three IIMs - some of the most expensive business schools in the country - always come out on top? Their pre-eminence can be attributed to their legacy spanning six decades, immense global recognition, accreditations and associations, vast and successful alumni base, and incredible graduation outcomes every single year.
Joining IIMs ABC amongst India's leading MBA colleges are FMS Delhi and XLRI Jamshedpur. The preference for the former is driven largely by the tremendous return on investment provided, with an MBA from FMS Delhi costing (in 2022) just INR 2 lakhs for a two year program, and
placements nearly matching those at the IIMs. Candidates have been known to drop IIM ABC calls to join FMS for this very reason.
XLRI Jamshedpur is one of India's oldest MBA institutes - if not the oldest. The institute's PGDM-HRM program is India's leading HR-oriented MBA program. Over the years, the institute's Business Management (BM) program has also built a strong brand for itself, counted amongst India's leading general MBA programs. XLRI's rich legacy, strong alumni base, and
excellent placements are only some of the key reasons why MBA aspirants undergo a rigorous XAT-led selection process to get a seat at the b-school.
IIFT, SPJIMR Amongst India's Top 10 MBA Colleges, Ahead of MDI Gurgaon and JBIMS | Best MBA Colleges In India 2022
Amongst India's top 10 MBA colleges are IIMs Lucknow, Kozhikode and Indore, in that order. The difference in preference here is marginal, and IIM Lucknow is likely preferred for its
relatively better placement figures, while IIM Indore is likely lower in the pecking order for its huge batch size - translating to greater competition during the placements season. Regardless, three institutes are some of India's most preferred and revered MBA institutes.
Also amongst India's leading MBA colleges are SPJIMR and IIFT Delhi. SPJIMR has outranked JBIMS - another Mumbai based institute with a much better ROI as compared to SP Jain. Within Delhi NCR, IIFT has ranked ahead of MDI Gurgaon.
SJMSoM IIT Bombay, IIM Udaipur, NMIMS Amongst India's Top 20 Business Schools | Best MBA Colleges In India 2022
Amongst the top 20 Indian business schools are MDI Gurgaon and JBIMS Mumbai - business schools that have produced influential personalities across film and politics, as well as business magnates. In fact, JBIMS Mumbai is known as the 'CEO factory' of India. The institute's return on investment is also amongst the best in the top leagues. Other reputed names featuring in this league include SJMSoM IIT Bombay, TISS Mumbai, and SIBM Pune.
Two IIMs - Shillong and Udaipur, have also found a place amongst the best 20 MBA institutes in the country. IIM Udaipur, established just over a decade ago, has seen meteoric growth in terms of brand value. Last year, the institute's management program was ranked amongst the world's top programs by QS - no other 'new' IIM has yet achieved this feat. Also in the same league is NMIMS Mumbai, an institute that
recently saw a 25 percent increase in the average salary offered to the graduating batch of 2022.
A soon-to-be IIM, NITIE Mumbai, has also featured amongst India's leading business schools in 2022. The 'Gem for GEMs' has been a regular feature amongst the top-20 Indian management institutes, and once bestowed with an IIM prefix, the institute's brand value is expected to skyrocket.
All New IIMs Amongst India's Top 30 Business Schools
Apart from IIM Udaipur, all of the second generation IIMs have found a place in the list of India's best-30 b-schools, with IIM Trichy missing out a spot in the top-20 by very fine margins - not unlike IIT Delhi's Department of Management Studies (DMS).
IIFT Kolkata, which shares its placement process with IIFT Delhi, also finds itself in this league despite being one of the youngest b-schools in the entire list. The institute has successfully leveraged the strong 'IIFT' brand to come up in the rankings, and we expect the institute to rise even higher in the near future.
Baby IIMs, IITs Amongst the Best of the Rest
For the first time in the history of InsideIIM's MBA rankings, third generation 'baby' IIMs have been featured as individual institutes as opposed to being clubbed in a group. MBA aspirants can now get a more clear picture of where these very young institutes stand in the preference hierarchy.
Leading the pack is IIM Visakhapatnam, followed closely by IIMs Nagpur and Amritsar. These institutes are closing in the gap between themselves and the new IIMs - fast. Even so, these institutes have their work cut out for them, and it may be a while before these institutes are trusted to deliver aspirational graduation outcomes.
Also featuring amongst India's top 40 business schools are the IITs, including IIT Madras, IIT Kharagpur, and IIT Roorkee.
Methodology
To establish these rankings of the top business schools in India, we adopted the opinion survey format of data collection. We floated a questionnaire to our aspirant user-base which simply asked them to rank MBA institutes across India on a scale of 1 to 5. We then computed average scores per institute to reveal the most desirable business schools.
InsideIIM has not factored in any other components such as RoI, Batch Size, Fees, Location etc. to compute the mean scores of these institutes. The scores are purely based on brand perception.
What Is the Purpose of These Rankings?
The core objective of publishing these MBA rankings is to provide an introductory idea of the Indian b-school hierarchy. These rankings can be valuable in helping MBA aspirants discover their target business schools, across all percentile ranges of competitive entrance exams.
Further, since these MBA rankings are based purely on brand perception, we encourage lower-ranked institutes to sit up and take notice of their institute's brand performance, and undertake appropriate short term and long term initiatives to effectively communicate their valuable offerings to not only aspirants, but also recruiters.
In your opinion, how accurate are these rankings? Which institutes belong higher up or lower down in the list? Let us know in the comments!