THE BEST STAY THE COURSE

B-SCHOOLS RISE UP TO MEET THE CHALLENGE OF A HIRING SLOWDOWN AND AI BY FOCUSING ON RESEARCH, REAL-WORLD CASE STUDIES AND SIMULATIONS, AND MORE STRUCTURED INDUSTRY COLLABORATION

- BY GEORGE SKARIA

IT IS PERHAPS fitting that the two oldest IIMS, IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Calcutta, have come up tops by claiming first and second ranks, respectively, in the BT-MDRA India's Best B-Schools Survey in which 270 business schools participated.

It was a close call: the difference between the two schools was just 0.6 points. The others in the Top Five are IIM Lucknow, SP Jain Institute of Management and Research and IIM Indore. In fact, there has been just a small reshuffle in the top ten pack. Further, in the top ten, the majority—six—are government-owned IIMs, while the other four are privately-owned and managed.

The ostensible lack of action at the top hides the varied undercurrents in India's B-school landscape captured by the BT-MDRA study. For one, B-school education continues to be in heavy demand as students look to encash its value as a ticket to a good corporate career. The average batch strength of top 100 B-schools rose from 1,076 in 2024 to 1,173 in 2025. “The demand for business education continues to grow steadily, and our numbers reflect this trend. For academic year 2025-26, 61,595 students applied to NMIMS, an increase from the previous year,” says Papiya De, Program Chairperson, SVKM’s Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai.

That said, the challenges remain, with global uncertainty, including trade wars, and fast adoption of technology such as AI, making companies wary of hiring. “On the placement front, we are aligned with global and national trends. The job market has remained muted over the past year, and like many B-schools, we have observed companies reducing the number of internships offers. This is not a reflection on student quality but a broader hiring slowdown,” says Papiya De.