COURSE CORRECTION

India's best b-schools are navigating tumultuous times. Hurdles include lower salaries offered to their graduates and students misusing AI

- ABHINAV SINGH

Rajnish Kawale was not content with how his career was shaping up. A mechanical engineer from Nagpur, he was working as operations manager at a power station in Jharkhand. He had been in the job for a few years, and things were okay. But, he felt that opportunities to meet his aspirations were limited. “I wanted to change domain,” said the 27-year-old. “So, I opted for an MBA.” He hoped specialising in marketing management would get him into the world of fast-moving consumer goods or retail. “I am trying for consulting and brand management roles via campus placements,” he said. “But, companies that come to our campus do not offer high packages; I think the high packages are offered only to top institutes like the IIMs or tier-one management institutes.”

His course fee for two years was around ₹12 lakh. “I took a loan of ₹10 lakh and was looking at a package of at least ₹15 lakh,” he said. “It may prove difficult initially.”

Kawale’s story, so far, does not fit the archetypal image about b-school education in India. Despite his wait to land a job that he is happy with, his experience with campus placement makes it clear that there seems to be no lack of interest among recruiters in visiting even b-schools that are outside the top tier. The issue seems to be the gap between expected remuneration and the salaries on offer. Is it an issue in India’s best b-schools?

Said Father S. George, SJ, director, XLRI, Jamshedpur: “The job market has not been doing well in the last two years. The pay packages are down. Last year, three-four students got ₹1 crore, but after carefully going through the packages, an auditor found that about 60 per cent of that was bonus.”