Are IITs lying their way up the NIRF MBA Rankings?

21 IIMs’ Data

Total sanctioned intake in 2022-23 : 8,091 students

Students admitted as per NIRF submission for 2022-23: 8,017 students

Admission to intake: 99.09%

While IITs claim only 70.92% of the sanctioned intake was admitted, the IIMs admitted 99% of the sanctioned intake. This wide gap between sanctioned intake and admission count needed a deeper look. So, we looked at IIT Delhi and IIT Kharagpur. Here’s what we found.

IIT Delhi: Mystery of the ‘missing students’

In the case of IIT Delhi, the sanctioned intakes for 2023 and 2024 were 144 and 158, respectively, totaling to 302 students. The institute disclosed the gender of the students – 165 boys and 137 girls, totaling to 302 students. So far, its submissions are consistent and imply that all seats were filled.

However, in the column for placements, the intake remained 144 in 2023 but the number admitted fell to just 93. In all, 51 students just disappeared. Incredibly, the institute already knew the gender of the vanishing 51 students! 35% of the total intake was disowned.

Now, the DoMS at IIT Delhi needed to own up to just 93 students for placement outcomes. From the 93 students, 89 students graduated and all 89 students were placed. And voila, it is 100% placement! The median salary also jumped and 100% placement was achieved.

VG SoM, IIT Kharagpur: 40% students vanish

In the case of IIT Kharagpur, the sanctioned intakes for 2023 and 2024 were 206 each, totaling to 412 students. However, the placement column shows that only 125 students were admitted. 81 seats, or 40% of the cohort, remained unaccounted for.

Now, the VGSoM at IIT Kharagpur needed to explain and own the placement outcomes of just 125 students. Of the 125 students graduating, 124 were placed. It is 99% placement with a massive jump in median salary.

However, IIT Kharagpur has been more crafty in its subterfuge. Unlike in the case of IIT Delhi, its gender distribution data is consistent with its admissions data. But it is when submissions made to multiple editions of the NIRF are considered, that discrepancies show up. To assess placement rates and quality, NIRF seeks intake and placement data for the last three batches to graduate. For every batch, data is submitted for at least three editions of the NIRF.

IIT Kharagpur keeps changing figures for both total intake and actual number of admissions for the same year but across NIRF ranking editions, in a way that should not be possible. Consider the intake and admissions data it submitted for the year 2020-21 to NIRF for its 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25 rankings, as shown in the table below.

IIT Kharagpur’s 2020-21 admission data across 3 NIRF editions

The same tweaking can be observed in data for 2021-22 as well.

IIT Kharagpur’s 2021-22 admission data across 2 NIRF editions

The only element that’s consistent is that for both cohorts of two-year MBA students and across all ranking editions, IIT Kharagpur has claimed 100% placements. Even the median salary disclosed, for the same cohort, has fluctuated.

Not just IIT Kgp; admission data swings

It’s not just IIT Kharagpur. If one looks at the submissions by the same institute for previous years, the total number of admissions varies wildly from one year to the next. IIT Delhi’s changes by 22 students; IIT Bombay’s by a massive 154, and IIT Roorkee’s, by 19 students.

Placement Rates: IIT Vs IIM

As the figures above show, IIMs together account for far more students than the IITs’ management departments. After playing fast and loose with their intake and admission data, each of the eight IITs has explained graduate outcomes of an average of just 70% of its students. Whereas each IIM has disclosed and explained outcomes for 100% of its students.

With large chunks of their students simply magicked away, the eight IITs claimed better placement outcomes and leapfrogged into ranks higher than IIMs’ and many established business schools.

So, if a student were to decide whether an MBA at IIT Delhi is better than an MBA at IIM Mumbai or IIM Calcutta, NIRF has a different answer. And after this research, we know the reason. And the reason is similar for all DoMS of all IITs. An NIRF rank secured from data manipulation, especially from INI’s and IoE’s isn't what India bargained for, from public institutions that we fund!!!