300,000.That is the approximate variety of aspiring managers who wish to be a part of India’s business schools yearly.
After a roller-coaster trip in the course of the Covid-19 years when hybrid and blended studying modes stored enterprise faculties busy, MBA is at an inflexion level in India. As companies are coping with new and emergent contexts, India’s main enterprise faculties—from Ahmedabad to Kozhikode—are initiating conversations on reimagining and rethinking the coveted postgraduate diploma in business management.

This comes at a time when, globally, the appeal of MBA is fading. In 2023, the variety of functions to graduate enterprise faculties fell by 5%, over 2022, based on the Graduate Management Admission Council, which owns and administers the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT). Meanwhile, India goes in the other way. It had a document 3.3 lakh college students registering for the Common Admission Test (CAT)—the very best within the historical past of the doorway examination, which began in 1977. Around 2.88 lakh candidates wrote the examination in November.

An MBA diploma is as dear as it’s prized. The tuition charge for a two-year MBA course at a number one Indian Institute of Management (IIM) involves about Rs 25 lakh. For the 2023-25 batch, the charge is Rs 20.5 lakh at IIM-Kozhikode, and Rs 24.5 lakh at IIM-Bangalore.

Indians are lapping up on-line enterprise levels as nicely. India has the second highest variety of learners enrolling in enterprise levels on Coursera, subsequent solely to the US. In 2023, there was a 30% year-on-year rise in enrolments in enterprise programs amongst Indian learners, reveals information from Coursera. Globally, this was 18%. IIM-Ahmedabad’s programs on Leadership Skills and Pre-MBA Statistics on Coursera noticed over 200,000 learners inside seven months of the launch —of them, 172,000 had been from India.

There can also be a constant clamour from India for Ivy League levels regardless of issues concerning the excessive price of their high MBA programmes—tuition charge for a two-year MBA on the Harvard Business School is upwards of $150,000 (Rs 1.25 crore). Last yr, Admissions Gateway, an training consultancy centered on international universities, noticed over 140 Indian college students going to the M7 enterprise faculties—Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Kellogg, Chicago Booth, Columbia and MIT.

Rajdeep Chimni, cofounder of Admissions Gateway, says typically the demand for high MBA programmes runs opposite to the energy of an financial system. When the financial system is powerful, much less folks go to B-schools as a result of there are higher job prospects. When the financial system is weak, extra folks go for MBA within the hope that the financial system would get better by the point they graduate. “Top 15 programmes globally remain popular but beyond them, students are showing preference for flexible formats like hybrid or part-time MBA,” says Chimni.

Vibha Kagzi, founding father of training advisory agency AttainIvy, is getting a gentle circulation of queries and sign-ups for international MBA programmes. “Students understand the value of an MBA from top global schools. The networking opportunities and placements are the best in the industry.”

Degree of Separation
Why is the India story totally different from the remainder in terms of MBA? Rishikesha T Krishnan, director and professor of technique, Ram Charan Chair in Innovation and Leadership, IIM-Bangalore, says, within the context of management education, the outlook in India could also be totally different from that of the developed world. “India is well placed to strive for at least 7-8% economic growth per year for the next two decades. Such rapid growth will need significant managerial capacity and capability. Management education, specifically MBA programmes, has a critical role to play in making this capacity available.”

Says IIM-Ahmedabad director Bharat Bhasker: “India stands at a vantage point with its demographic dividend and its soaring economic growth curve. Our government is working towards realising the dream of becoming a $5 trillion economy in the next few years, which opens up innumerable avenues for young talent to grow and thrive.” Another main issue that has come into play is that Indian companies are more and more going international, which implies there’s a surge within the requirement for environment friendly managers and leaders who perceive the worldwide trade, provides Bhasker.

Hence the push to accumulate management skills. The development will maintain, says Debashis Chatterjee, director, IIM-Kozhikode. While the GDP of US and China is $25 trillion and $18 trillion in 2022, respectively, the economies are rising slower than India. India stands fifth in world economies with a GDP of $3.39 trillion in 2022. In phrases of trajectory, the expansion of the Indian financial system is similar to that of the Chinese financial system in 2000-10, says Chatterjee. “There is a need for greater managerial talent to support this growth. Hence, you see a significant rise in the number of applicants for an MBA programme,” he provides.

Moreover, Indians put nice emphasis on aggressive exams like CAT, says Arvind Sahay, director, MDI Gurgaon. The rigorous choice course of and the aspirational worth hooked up to securing admission to top-tier establishments gasoline the excessive variety of candidates.

Recruiters at high corporations say MBA grads are key to their enterprise methods. However, they’ve a want listing for what their future managers would appear like.

Across B-schools, fast paced client items bellwether Hindustan Unilever Limited, often known as CEO manufacturing facility, is without doubt one of the most sought-after corporations to work for. Anuradha Razdan, govt director, HR, HUL, says, “The foundational skills built at a business school enable students to land successfully in their early careers and the big roles we assign them. However, I do see scope for the curriculum to be more sharply focused on two fronts—in enabling students to have a better appreciation of sociopolitical and macroeconomic trends that impact business realities, and in embedding digital literacy that will help students stay ahead of the curve.”

The firm already has a flagship administration trainee programme (Unilever Future Leaders Programme), which gives college students an accelerated studying atmosphere. “We see digitisation, premiumisation and sustainability as the three big trends that will have a lasting impact on the FMCG industry, and we have already pivoted our programme to have electives and differentiated track around these, thereby ensuring we are building the right talent pools for our business,” says Razdan.

Richard Lobo, chief folks officer, Tech Mahindra, says whereas MBA programmes have been profitable in offering a robust basis in conventional enterprise ideas, there’s a want to reinforce the curriculum to satisfy the calls for of the fashionable enterprise world. “To be more effective, MBA programmes should focus on incorporating interdisciplinary approaches that bridge the gap between business and technology, emphasising real-world problem-solving with a focus on new-age technologies, ESG, sustainability and climate change. By doing so, the programme can equip future leaders with the necessary skills, perspectives and knowledge to navigate the complexities of the modern business environment.”

This is one thing enterprise college leaders have began to listen to typically. Recently, a know-how chief at a retail financial institution instructed IIM-Kozhikode’s Chatterjee that he was attempting to drive a synthetic intelligence (AI) mindset in his organisation. Hand-in-hand with this had been training investments in the direction of the identical. The expectation? MBA grads would deliver these expertise and mindsets to the desk.

“He was looking for value creation rather than just knowledge of AI and analytics. How do you apply tech to accelerate value creation? The creative application of that is more important than the knowledge of AI,” says Chatterjee. “That’s where an MBA can come in—to preempt the impact of change. That’s what the industry wants.”

Course Correction
Business faculties are stepping as much as the problem, and rebooting what they educate and the way they educate. Indian School of Business, which has campuses in Hyderabad and Mohali, is engaged on pedagogical improvements in order that college students could have much more hands-on and experiential studying. “The curriculum is designed to prepare students on how to learn to learn where the learning continues beyond just one year in the programme,” says Ramabhadran Thirumalai, deputy dean, tutorial programmes, ISB.

IIM-Kozhikode is making two varieties of adjustments. First, it plans to make use of a number of channels, together with immersive experiences and simulated environments, other than school rooms, to strengthen studying. Second, there’s a shift in focus within the curriculum in the direction of AI, sustainability, enterprise fashions for digital financial system and management in unsure environments.

IIM-Indore now gives electives in cryptocurrency, metaverse and cybersecurity, together with an elective in know-how administration and innovation in organisations. It has additionally joined forces with IIT-Indore to supply a grasp of science in Data Science and Management. Says Himanshu Rai, director, IIM-Indore: “Today, business models are being rapidly transformed by technology, data analytics and AI. Therefore, B-schools must adapt by incorporating courses in digital transformation, innovation and digital marketing to equip students with the skills needed to navigate and thrive in the digital economy.”

Technology is just one a part of what corporations are in search of. S Venkatesh, group president-HR, RPG Enterprises, says not all MBA college students have the ability units to hit the bottom working. “We are looking for MBA programmes to teach them the softer aspects: ethics, how to be more resilient, how to manage people from different socioeconomic backgrounds, etc. Campuses need to focus on that,” he says.

B-schools additionally have to work together rather more with corporates, he says. “Right now there is too much focus on placing students and getting the right salaries. They need to get industry leaders to visit more often, speak about their journeys and give more feedback. Such interactions will help institutes understand the gap and figure out what they need to do better,” says Venkatesh. Daljeet Singh, director, Centre for Management Services, All India Management Association, says the curriculum will not be altering as quick because it ought to neither is it actually taking place past Tier-1 and -2 institutes.

Education specialists like Narayanan Ramaswamy, nationwide chief (training and ability growth), KPMG India, predict there will probably be two components of administration research. “One part is where you are creating managerial talent—which is where IIMs and other such reputed management institutions come in. The other part is more like specialised training courses—which are also very important because they fulfil the need for employable resources and help create genuine management cadre people. In my opinion, specialised MBAs—without a strong part 1—are a bit of a fad,” he says.

( Originally printed on Mar 23, 2024 )