IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, and FMS Delhi Withdraw from Business Today B-school Rankings 2024; 'Poor Placements That Could Impact Credibility' Cited as a Potential Reason
Indeed, as reported by MBAUniverse.com earlier, the MBA Placements 2024 season was unlike any other in last decade. The average and highest salaries dropped across almost all top B-schools. The recently released Business Today (BT) B-school Rankings 2024 has visibility changed in light of this development. Three of the top 10 B-schools including IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Bangalore seem to have dropped out of the popular BT Rankings. Business Today has acknowledged the absence of marquee B-schools and has suggested that the possible reason for top B-schools pulling out of the ranking is that the “poor placements that could impact their credibility”. IIM Calcutta is ranked as the top B-school in India by BT.
Business Today India’s Best B-schools 2024 Released
The much anticipated 25th edition of Business Today’s ‘India’s Best B-schools Survey 2024’, with issue date of October 13, was released last week. The BT Rankings are prepared jointly by Business Today and Marketing & Development Research Associates (MDRA), a leading market research firm.
IIM Calcutta is ranked at #1 position, as the top the list of the two-year MBA programmes for the fourth time in a row. IIM Lucknow is ranked at #2 while SPJIMR Mumbai is ranked #3. At #4, IIM Kozhikode has made a new entry into the rankings. IIMs has dominated the ranking with the fifth rank going to IIM Indore.
Top B-schools Conspicuously Absent from BT MBA Rankings 2024
BT B-school Rankings 2024 has visibility changed in light of lower placements recorded across b-schools in March-April 2024. Three of the top 10 B-schools seem to have dropped out of the popular BT Rankings.
IIM Ahmedabad, which was ranked at #2 for the last two years is conspicuously absent from the BT MBA Rankings 2024.
Similarly, IIM Bangalore, which was ranked at #3 for the last two years is also missing from the BT MBA Rankings 2024.
Another top B-school that is absent from the BT MBA Rankings 2024 is FMS, University of Delhi. Last year the B-schools was ranked at #8.
XLRI and SJ Mehta SOM IIT Mumbai, both ranked within Top 10 B-schools in NIRF 2024 are also missing in the rankings. It appears that both these B-schools haven’t participated in the ranking in recent past editions too.
BT says reason was “poor placements that could impact their credibility”
Business Today has acknowledged that some of the top B-schools are missing in action its rankings. The BT Ranking 2024 methodology section notes“…the BT-MDRA annual ranking of business schools notably lacks a few top B-schools.” It added, “The reason was surprising-a pessimistic scenario stemming from poor placements that could impact their credibility.”
Absence of top B-schools hits impact of media rankings, strengthens NIRF
The fact that so many top B-schools are missing from the popular Business Today MBA Ranking 2024 reduces the impact and credibility of media rankings, and strengthens government back NIRF Rankings, which has been criticized by some analysts for its inconsistencies.
As a result of the misses by top B-schools, B-schools which are otherwise ranked lower down the order have been artificially pushed up the BT ranking. The other negative impact is that MBA aspirants who may want to use such a ranking will not be able to compare all the peer B-schools to get a true picture.
Let’s now look at the Top 10 B-schools in India as per the BT Ranking. The data on past year’s rankings has been taken from MBAUniverse.com analysis of previous rankings.
Business Today MBA Rankings 2024: Top 10 B-Schools
|
B-school
|
Rank 2024
|
Rank 2023
|
Rank 2022
|
|
Indian Institute of Management, (IIM) Calcutta
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
|
Indian Institute of Management, (IIM) Ahmedabad
|
Absent
|
2
|
2
|
|
Indian Institute of Management, (IIM) Bangalore
|
Absent
|
3
|
3
|
|
Indian Institute of Management, (IIM) Lucknow
|
2
|
4
|
4
|
|
S. P. Jain Institute of Management and Research, Mumbai
|
3
|
5
|
5
|
|
Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Kozhikode
|
4
|
Absent
|
Absent
|
|
Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Indore
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
|
Management Development Institute (MDI) Gurgaon
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
|
Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), University of Delhi
|
Absent
|
8
|
9
|
|
Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), New Delhi
|
7
|
9
|
10
|
|
SVKM’s NMIMS School of Business Management, Mumbai
|
8
|
10
|
11
|
|
Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Shillong
|
9
|
12
|
13
|
|
International Management Institute (IMI), New Delhi
|
10
|
11
|
12
|
Source: Business Today
Business Today Rankings Issue Highlights Placements Woes
Business Today ranking issue has taken a note of the slowdown in B-school placements this year. BT Issue makes following specific comments about MBA placements 2024:
- Poorer placements: “Placement is undoubtedly the most important barometer of MBA-admission decision making. The placements of MBA batch 2022-24 were dismal, even at the top B-schools, including many IIMs.”
- Average salaries declined: “The average salary offered for domestic placements in the Top 25 B-schools dropped nearly 5% to 22.7 lakh from 23.88 lakh in 2023. The decline was to the extent of 15% in a few cases.”
- Extended placement season: “Some leading B-schools failed to get 100% campus placements, despite extended placement sessions. This year, several Bschools extended their placement season multiple times.”
- Highest offers plummeted: “The highest salaries offered at many B-schools have significantly decreased compared to previous years, affecting not only regular MBAs but also executive MBAs.”
- Lesser international placements: “International placements got a big jolt at several campuses, both in terms of the number of offers and the salary packages offered.”
Above developments are likely to have a negative impact on MBA education demand in the long term. BT issue notes, “In fact, many B-schools were seen leveraging their alumni networks aggressively to secure placements for the outgoing batch. Considering placement is a key reason for students to go in for management studies, this may hurt the MBA's appeal in India.” It adds, “ROI has declined significantly as the average salary packages offered have decreased and course fees have increased.”
Business Today ranking issue also notes that total course fees (tuition and other fees) have increased 12.5% for the Top 25 B-schools.
BT MBA Ranking 2024: Methodology & Parameters
Business Today B-school ranking is based on five parameters including Learning Experience and Placements Performance. The weightages, out of 1,000, awarded to 5 parameters are unchanged from last few years.
|
Sl No.
|
Parameters
|
Weightage 2024
|
Weightage 2023
|
|
1
|
Learning Experience
|
250
|
250
|
|
2
|
Living Experience
|
150
|
150
|
|
3
|
Placement Performance
|
250
|
250
|
|
4
|
Selection Process, Governance & Establishment
|
150
|
150
|
|
5
|
Future Orientation
|
200
|
200
|
|
Total
|
1000
|
1,000
| |
Read more: