The highest salaries of top B-Schools fall flat | MBA placements trends (2021) that you should look out for!

It should come as no surprise if we tell you that about 72% of B-School students are concerned about having lesser companies on campus due to the Covid-19 pandemic, along with the constant dread of reduced salaries. And this is when 56% of B-School students expect and are happy with at least INR 1,00,001 - INR 1,50,000 minimum monthly in-hand salary after graduation. Yes! You read that right. Only about 8% of students expect an in-hand monthly salary above INR 2,50,000. So these are some of the stats that reflect the student’s mindset. Now let’s pore into how B-Schools are meeting their expectations and what does the MBA placement trends say?

With some students getting fat-pay packages and luring jobs in the MBA final placements 2021, and another huge lot of aspirants looking forward to building their futures in MBA, the first half of 2021 has proved to be an insightful period. It cannot be gainsaid that the covid scenario has affected the employment opportunities and the teaching processes at these schools. The student preferences in terms of domains have been changing, growth in the highest salaries offered and reduction in the average salaries offered have also been seen. However, a uniform judgment cannot be passed for all B-Schools without considering each of these MBA trends in detail.

The highest salaries of top B-Schools fall flat!

Almost all of the top 15 B-Schools from NIRF rankings 2020, whose final placements have already been concluded for the year 2021 surprisingly saw a dip in the highest CTC as compared to the previous year. When XLRI benchmarked its highest offer at 50 LPA+, IIFT managed to maintain its highest CTC at 46.45 LPA in 2018-2020 and 2019-2021 (domestic). However, many premier B-Schools missed the mark.

IIM Lucknow grabbed the highest domestic CTC of 51 LPA in 2019-2021 as opposed to 54 LPA last year. Following the 2021 final placement trends, IIM Indore (41.5 LPA) and IIM Kozhikode (46.88 LPA) also battled hard for maintaining a tight grip on their highest CTCs. However, a considerable drop was reported in IIM Nagpur’s statistics. The trend was also seen in some non-IIMs like SPJIMR Mumbai. Apart from wrapping up a successful placement drive, the B-School also witnessed a significant drop in its highest CTC from 51 LPA in 2018-2020 to 44.65 LPA in 2019-2021.

Here is the graphical representation of the MBA final placement trends for the years 2020 and 2021.

Bridging average CTCs of private B-Schools and IIMs

When it comes to choosing B-Schools, the salaries offered are usually one of the major factors considered. Students look for placement reports of colleges, the highest and average salaries offered, and the number of recruiters who participate in the drive. Usually, private colleges face some bias in terms of these factors to IIMs. MBA trends show that even though IIMs score better in terms of other factors such as the highest CTCs offered, some of the top private colleges offered average salaries better than IIMs this year.

While XLRI's average CTC saw a jump to INR 25.08 LPA in 2021 from INR 24.30 LPA in 2020, SPJIMR registered an average CTC of INR 26.06 LPA. For the year 2021, colleges like SIBM Pune, IIFT, and SJMSOM IIT Bombay registered an average CTC of 19.56 LPA, 21.08 LPA, and 21.96 LPA respectively, coming close to the marks of IIMs. At the same time IIM Kozhikode, IIM Indore, IIM Lucknow, and IIM Kashipur witnessed 22.53 LPA, 23.6 LPA, 26 LPA, and 14.05 LPA respectively in 2021.

These MBA trends show that private B-Schools have gracefully taken strides at the economic slump as compared to some top-notch IIMs.

Domain-wise recruitment offers in B-Schools

Marketing

Do you know that Marketing and General Management are the most preferred domains that B-School students like to work in? Some B-Schools specialize in bringing in recruiters that provide better jobs in the domain, even in terms of salary. MBA trends and the placement statistics of 2021 show that the highest number and highly paid marketing jobs were offered to IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Calcutta, IIM Indore, IIM Lucknow, ISB Hyderabad, FMS Delhi, IMT Ghaziabad, MICA, MDI Gurgaon, IIFT, and IIM Shillong to name a few.

In IIM Lucknow’s final placements 2021, the sales and marketing domain fetched the highest CTC of 44 LPA with a median of 21.6 LPA. Coveted firms including RB, Samsung, ITC, etc participated in the drive.
About 40 firms rolled out over 70 offers (15.3% of the total offers) in the Sales & Marketing domain at IIM Kozhikode with the highest package of 30 LPA.
IIM Kashipur and IIM Nagpur witnessed 30% and 36.97% of Sales and Marketing roles in placements 2021, respectively with the former institute grabbing 29 LPA as the highest CTC in the sector.
Sales & Marketing continued to be one of the domains of choice at IIFT final placements 2021 with over 24% of the offers. Marquee organizations like Hindustan Unilever Limited, HT Media, ITC, JCB, L’Oréal, Mother Dairy, Airtel, AkzoNobel, Bajaj Auto, Colgate Palmolive, Dabur, MTR Foods, Paytm, RPG Group, Signify and Welspun continued to recruit in large numbers.

Consulting

As per the D2C Employer Branding Report 2021, Consulting and FMCG/FMCD are the most sought-after sectors by B-Schoolers, closely followed by E-commerce and BFSI. And without any surprise, this year's final placements of the top B-Schools saw a wave towards jobs in the consulting domain.

After a whole era of FMCG, MBA trends show that more and more students are inclining towards consulting jobs. They offer a variety of projects with senior management, opportunities for learning through training at certain locations of the world, and definitely, an attractive salary.

Marque consulting firms such as BCG, Bain & Co., McKinsey, A.T. Kearney, Oliver Wyman, Infosys Consulting, etc., participated in the placement drives of the top B-Schools and hired big.
The MBA trends and placement reports show that the average recruitment in the consulting sector was over 32% in IIM Bangalore (36%), SPJIMR Mumbai (36%), IIM Lucknow (33%), IIM Kozhikode (32.7%), IIM Rohtak (31.93%), IIM Nagpur (31.9%) IIM Shillong (23%).
Consulting firms extended offers to 29% of the candidates in the XLRI placements 2021. This year also, it retained its position among the top segment based on roles offered! Firms such as Bain & Company, The Boston Consulting Group, AT Kearney, Accenture Strategy, Deloitte, PwC, EY, KPMG, Everest Group, Infosys Consulting, and others rolled out coveted offers to the students in the placement drive.
IIFT also strengthened its position in the consulting domain with approximately 22% of all offers being made in this domain.

Finance & BFSI

The finance and BFSI sectors are known for their good salaries to employees. As per a report by National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), India will need an additional 1.6 million skilled workforce by 2022 in the BFSI sector! And as per MBA placement trends, this sector is performing decently well despite the pandemic repercussions. Here are some stats:

IIM Kozhikode offered 21.6% roles in the finance sector, with one of the roles offering the highest CTC of 29.75 LPA in 2021. Apart from diverse roles in the banking sector, it also received roles in Investment Banking, Financial market advisory & PrivateEquity from the companies like BlackRock, Equirus Capital, Franklin Templeton, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase & Co., and Nomura.
IIFT continued to be the preferred campus for recruiters in the Finance domain and attracted 22% of the total offers. The students received roles in Investment Banking, Risk Management, Wealth Management, Equity Research, Corporate Finance, and FinTech.
IIM Lucknow attracted big names including Goldman Sachs, Citi, Avendus, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, and SabrePartners and grabbed the highest CTC of 44 LPA in the finance sector.
IIM Indore, IMT Ghaziabad, and IIM Kashipur bagged the maximum number of offers in the Finance and BFSI sector - 24%, 26%, and 21%, respectively.
Nearly 29% of the students opted for the BFSI roles at IIM Udaipur final placement drive 2021, aided by the participation of firms including Aditya Birla Group, Goldman Sachs, TATA Capital, YES Bank, and many more.

Analytics & IT

Analytics & IT domains are generally on the radar of MBA graduates with previous work experience in the sector. As per the data, it can be inferred that for jobs in analytics & IT domains, B-Schools that are preferable include IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, IIM Lucknow, IIM Nagpur, IIM Udaipur, IIM Rohtak, ISB Hyderabad, and IMT Ghaziabad among others.

MICA welcomed 71 offers from the IT/ITeS sector with the highest package of 49.75 LPA and an average of 15.38 LPA.
The IT and analytics domain saw 24% offers in the IIM Lucknow final placement drive 2021 with the highest CTC of 51.2 LPA and a median CTC of 23 LPA.
IIM Bangalore final placements 2021 saw a booming number of offers in the IT sector (17%) after consulting with Microsoft taking the lead with 12 offers. Other prominent recruiters were BrowserStack (6) and Ola (6). E-commerce companies also recruited big. The top recruiters were Amazon (28), Paytm (11), and Flipkart (6).
IT and Analytics remained a domain of choice attracting 19% of the total offers in the IIFT final placement 2021. Top brands like Angel Broking, Bridgestone, Coalshastra, DCM Shriram, Indiamart, Loginext, Microsoft, Tech Mahindra, and others hired in number for their IT roles.
In the IT/ITES space, IMT Ghaziabad saw the highest number of offers (28%) in the final placement along with 17% PPOs beating BFSI and Consulting.

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Shivangi Vatsal

Sr. Associate Content Strategist @Unstop

I am a storyteller by nature. At Unstop, I tell stories ripe with promise and inspiration, and in life, I voice out the stories of our four-legged furry friends. Providing a prospect of a good life filled with equal opportunities to students and our pawsome buddies helps me sleep better at night. And for those rainy evenings, I turn to my colors.