A number of Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs)—including the three highest-ranked schools in the recently released 2024 NIRF Ranking, IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, and IIM Kozhikode—have increased tuition fees in the last two years.
Meanwhile the average salaries earned by MBA students of these top IIMs after they graduate have either dropped or stagnated, with grads entering a challenging job market impacted by economic pressure and a slowdown in hiring.
Falling average IIM package
IIM salary placement packages have been falling at a number of top-ranked public Indian business schools over the last two years.
At IIM Ahmedabad, the top-ranked business school in India, graduating students’ average salary packages were stagnant between 2022 and 2023. The IIM Ahmedabad average package rose marginally from Rs 31.58 lakh to Rs 31.59 lakh.
MBA graduates of the class of 2023 at IIM Bangalore—India’s second highest-ranked IIM—experienced a drop in salaries as the IIM Bangalore average package fell from Rs 33 lakh in 2023 to Rs 32.5 lakh in 2024.
IIM Kozhikode, the third highest ranking school in the 2024 NIRF Ranking, saw grads of the class of 2023 earn average IIM salary packages of Rs 26.5 lakh, with the most recent graduating class earning the same.
At IIM Lucknow, a school that ranks seventh among India’s best MBA colleges, the average IIM Lucknow package fell from Rs 30 lakh in 2023 to Rs 27 lakh for the most recent graduating class.
Another IIM that ranks among the top 10, IIM Indore, reported falling salaries for MBA graduates. The IIM Indore average package was at Rs 27.2 lakh for the previous cohort, while this year’s graduating students earned Rs 24.5 lakh.
Some top-ranking Indian business schools have bucked this trend. For example IIM Calcutta, which ranks fifth in the NIRF list, has seen an increase in its average IIM salary package in the last two years. While the figures for 2024 are yet to be published, the program's average IIM salary rose from Rs 31 lakh in 2022 to Rs 33.67 lakh in 2023.
Rising IIM tuition fees
Meanwhile, as the average IIM salary at many of India’s leading business schools has dropped, a number of these schools have also increased tuition fees for incoming MBA students.
At IIM Ahmedabad, the school increased its tuition fee from Rs 24.61 lakh in 2022 to Rs 25 lakh the following year. The IIM tuition fee for incoming students is Rs 26.5 lakh.
While salaries have fallen at IIM Bangalore, the school has raised tuition fees. New students are required to pay IIM Bangalore fees of Rs 26 lakh compared to the Rs 24.5 lakh paid by the previous class.
Likewise, at IIM Mumbai—formerly known as National Institute for Training in Industrial Engineering (NITIE Mumbai)—the current tuition fee of 21 lakh for the current class is a 40% increase from that paid by the previous cohort.
A challenging IIM placement environment
The financial changes impacting students at India’s top business schools reflect wider challenges in the country's business education sector.
Earlier this year, it was revealed that the success of placements at these top schools—which usually place between 95% and 100% of students with top employers across various sectors—has been mixed this year.
Firms in the tech, IT, and consulting sectors in particular were noted to have scaled back hiring. Despite its reputation, IIM Ahmedabad admitted the job market was challenging with firms in the management consulting industry hiring fewer students.
IIM Lucknow also took the widely publicized decision to request alumni for assistance with placing its students, though the school later added that this was standard practice.
Professor Ganesh N Prabhu, chairperson of Career Development Services at IIM Bangalore, revealed it had been “a difficult placement year" for its well-renowned MBA program.
