What are the Top MBA Colleges in India? This post provides you with the latest information on the Best B-Schools and the last dates to apply for their courses.
For a detailed outline of the various MBA Entrance Exams along with information about their deadlines as well, check out this article! .It may help you decide which one to write and aim for, and help you keep tabs on important dates as well.
Where do I apply for the Non-IIM institutes?
I get this question (or different variants of the same) quite often.
A lot of students mix up the meaning of applying for an exam and applying for a B-School. There is a difference. By applying for certain exams, you are automatically applying for the colleges as well, like CAT for IIMs, IIFT for its namesake, XAT for XLRI etc.
And then, there are many other private institutions which accept CAT/GMAT scores but their applications are quite separate. The application process for these institutes is different from applying for CAT or XAT, for example. They have separate deadlines, fees, programs to apply for and many other things to take care of.
Hence, to make things clearer, this blog article discusses the top MBA colleges in India, without getting into details such as the cut-offs, fees, CTCs etc. You will find a list of colleges and a short note on how one should select colleges to apply to.
Colleges have been classified into three tiers namely Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3.
The following lists are in alphabetical order and do NOT provide the exact rank.
Top MBA Colleges – Tier 1
These institutes are top of the line and considered to be the best B-Schools in the country. They have been consistently ranked as the top 15 B-Schools of India and are popular among the recruiters in terms of brand value and quality of education. These B-Schools are highly competitive and are very difficult to get into ( don’t let that stop you! ) A student needs to be in the top 1% or 2% to be eligible for an admission call. The following list consists of a good mix of Top IIMs and Private B-Schools.
- Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi (FMS)
- Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi (IIFT)
- Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM A)
- Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM B)
- Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM C)
- Indian Institute of Management, Indore (IIM I)
- Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode (IIM K)
- Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow (IIM L)
- Indian School of Business, Hyderabad (ISB)
- Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS)
- Management Development Institute, Gurgaon (MDI)
- National Institute of Industrial Engineering, Mumbai (NITIE)
- Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management, IIT Bombay (SJMSOM)
- S. P. Jain Institute of Management and Research, Mumbai (SPJIMR)
- Xavier School of Management, Jamshedpur (XLRI)
Top MBA Colleges – Tier 2
Tier 2 institutes are next in line, having established their brand name and consistent placement records. These institutes are in the second chunk (top 15 to 30) in terms of rankings. Some institutes are old and a few are newly established and promising institutes. These B-Schools are still a very good option for anybody looking to do an MBA from an established B-School.
- Department of Management Studies, IISc, Bangalore
- Department of Management Studies, IIT Delhi
- Department of Management Studies IIT Madras
- Indian Institute of Management, Kashipur
- Indian Institute of Management, Raipur
- Indian Institute of Management, Ranchi
- Indian Institute of Management, Rohtak
- Indian Institute of Management, Shillong
- Indian Institute of Management, Trichy
- Indian Institute of Management, Udaipur
- Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai (NMIMS)
- PGDBA – IIM Calcutta, IIT Kharagpur, ISI Kolkata*
- Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resource Development, Pune (SCMHRD)
- Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune (SIBM)
- Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai (TISS)
- Vinod Gupta School of Management, IIT Kharagpur (VGSOM)
- Xavier Institute of Management (XIMB), Bhubaneswar
Top MBA Colleges – Tier 3
Tier 3 colleges come next, and are a good bunch. These are still great places to learn and build a career. Do make an informed decision before you decide to join. Some of the colleges in this list have a fantastic return on investment.
- Department of Financial Studies (DFS), University of Delhi
- Department of Management Studies, IIT Roorkee
- Delhi School of Economics (DSE), University of Delhi
- Goa Institute Of Management, Goa (GIM)
- Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai (GLIM)
- Indian Institute of Management, Amritsar
- Indian Institute of Management, Bodh Gaya
- Indian Institute of Management, Jammu
- Indian Institute of Management, Nagpur
- Indian Institute of Management, Sambalpur
- Indian Institute of Management, Sirmaur
- Indian Institute of Management, Visakhapatnam
- Industrial and Management Engineering, IIT Kanpur
- International Management Institute, New Delhi (IMI)
- Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad (IMT)
- Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA)
- K. J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research, Mumbai (KJSOM)
- Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad (MICA)
- T. A. Pai Management Institute, Manipal (TAPMI)
- Welingkar Institute of Management, Mumbai (We-B)
Important Deadlines of Top MBA Colleges
| Name of the Institute | Application Begins on | Last date for applying | Scores Accepted |
| IIMs ( Along with CAT 2021) | Aug 4, 2021 | Sep 15, 2021 | CAT |
| XLRI ( Along with XAT Application) | Aug 10,2021 | Nov 30, 2021 | XAT |
| IIFT ( Along with IIFT Application) | First or Second week of September 2021(*Tentative) | Fourth week of November,2021(*Tentative) | IIFT |
| SCMHRD & SIBM ( Along with SNAP application) | August 31, 2021 | November 27, 2021 | SNAP |
| SPJIMR | Last week of September,2021(*Tentative) | Last week of November,2021(*Tentative) | CAT/GMAT |
| MDI, Gurgaon | Second week of September,2021(*Tentative) | Last week of November,2021(*Tentative) | CAT/GMAT |
| FMS, Delhi | Second week of December,2021(*Tentative) | January second week,2022(*Tentative) | CAT |
| NITIE, Mumbai | To be announced | To be announced | CAT |
| IISC Bengaluru | Second week of February, 2022 | March End, 2022 | CAT/GMAT |
| DFS, New Delhi | To be Announced | To be Announced | CAT |
| IRMA | Second Week of October,2021(*Tentative) | Third Week of January, 2022(*Tentative) | CAT/XAT |
| GLIM, Chennai | First week of September,2021(*Tentative) | Round 1: Last week OF November, 2021(*Tentative) Round 2: 1st week of January,2022(*Tentative) Round 3: February 2nd week,2022(*Tentative) | CAT/XAT/GMAT/CMAT |
| IMI, Delhi | Second week of September,2021(*Tentative) | December 1st week, 2021(*Tentative) Achiever’s Round : 2nd week of December, 2021 CAT 2021 Based Applications: Second week of December,2021(*Tentative) | CAT/GMAT |
| GIM, Goa | Second week of November,2021(*Tentative) | Early bird: December last week,2021 last date: Second week of January, 2022 | CAT/XAT/GMAT/CMAT |
| TAPMI | Second week of October,2021(*Tentative) | Third week of January, 2022(*Tentative) | CAT/XAT/GMAT |
| Welingkar, Mumbai | To be Announced | To be Announced | CAT/XAT/GMAT/CMAT/ATMA |
| TISS, Mumbai | First week of December(*Tentative) | Third week of January,2022(*Tentative) | TISSNET |
| IITs (CAP) – Delhi/Madras/Roorkee/Dhanbad | Second week of January,2022(*Tentative) | Last week of January,2022(*Tentative) | CAT |
| SJMSOM (IIT -Bombay) | First week of January,2022(*Tentative) | Last week of January,2022(*Tentative) | CAT |
| VGSOM (IIT – Kharagpur) | First week of January,2022(*Tentative) | Last week of January,2022(*Tentative) | CAT |
| DIME (IIT – Kanpur) | First week of January,2022(*Tentative | Last week of January,2022(*Tentative) | CAT |
| XIM, Bhubaneswar | To be announced | First week of January,2022(*Tentative) | CAT/XAT/GMAT |
*Based on the previous year trend
Bookmark this page to keep track of your application deadlines! We will update it regularly!
Which MBA colleges should you apply to?
Apply for 5 colleges above and 5 colleges below your calibre. Always spread your risks. Do not restrict yourself to apply to just a few colleges. An MBA would on average set you back by thereabouts of 15 lakhs. It is unwise to restrict yourself from applying to a bunch of colleges due to the application fees involved.
Here’s a wonderful video that discusses which MBA colleges you should apply based on your academics, profile and CAT Scores.
Should you worry about specialization?
There is no hard and fast specialization in most MBAs. A degree in MBA-Finance is not like a BE Civil engineering degree. A student can specialize in finance and/or marketing or neither, and still get a job in P&G or ICICI.
A rule that you can keep in mind while applying to companies is this – If you are applying to P&G call yourself a marketing guy, if you are applying to Goldman Sachs call yourself a fin guy. So, do not worry about specialization till you join college. You won’t have to worry about this until you start your second year (if you are doing a two-year course).
Keep a tab on the application deadlines. Do not wait till the last day to fill out any application.
You will have to upload certificates and photos, provide details about your interests and hobbies, write SOPs and complete many other formalities. Have everything filed, up-to-date and ready to go!
A final note!
For a clear and wonderful sectional strategy for the last lap of your CAT Preparation, check out this article!
Best Wishes for CAT 2021!!
Rajesh Balasubramanian takes the CAT every year and is a 4-time CAT 100 percentiler. He likes few things more than teaching Math and insists to this day that he is a better teacher than exam-taker.
Dear Writers ,
Why SIMSREE not included in the list.Any reason for the same.Esoecially when people who just miss JBIMS usually land up in SIMSREE ,besides best ROI ,goverment college with least fees possible.
Please do let students like us know.
Top MBA Colleges in India 2022- thats great, can i do mba i ma graduate…
please tell me sir …
Yes, definitely!