MBA Admission 2027-29: Placement & MBA Salary Reality Check of 627 B-Schools (Including IIMs) - NIRF 2026 Data

MBA Admission 2027: MBA Placement and Salary Reality Check

This year, we got the NIRF data of only 627 B-schools of the around 4500 MBA colleges which is around 15% of the B-schools that we have in India. This also means that another around 3800 MBA Colleges don't have anything to disclose or they don't even want to reply to the queries.

At Careers 360, we are always working on ensuring that MBA aspirants take the right decision while opting for an MBA college. In order to do so, we have compiled the data for the 627 B-schools, where the data is available. Out of these, first let's talk about the IIM placement.

IIM Placements: How Many Students Get Into IIMs Vs Graduated Vs Placed in Last 3 Years?

Out of the 22 IIMs in India, we got the data for 20 IIMs that were filed in March 2026 for the NIRF 2026 Ranking. This means this data we are talking about is of 6 months earlier but it would be important to note that with time getting an MBA placements will only become difficult in the current placement seasons as it nearing its end. So, the overall numbers that you will see will not change much and even if changes, the number will decline further. Now let's dive deep into the 20 IIM Placement data.

IIM Placement Percentage Explained

In the 2021-23 batch, the IIM intake was 7,320, which moved to 7827 in 2022-24, and moved to 8548 and 2023-25, which means the B-schools might have started a few new MBA programs. If one looks at the number of students who took MBA admission in the same period of time, it is 7343 , 7755, 8551 respectively. The number is slightly more because the IIMs might have done some lateral recruitment. The number of students who graduated was 7180 (2021-23), 7566 (2022-24), and 8379 (2023-25). So, every year the number of students graduating from IIM remains around 97-98%.

* Based on data submitted for NIRF 2026

Now if you look at the latest data, out of 8379 students graduating in 2025, 8283 have been placed which is 99.41% and 47 have been moved to higher studies and this is a very good number. Now if you look at the IIM placement percentage against the number of students graduated (8379) it comes down to 98.85%. On the other hand, if you actually calculate the IIM placement percentage against the candidates admitted (8551), then it becomes 96.87%. So everything remains around 97-98% which is very good.

Latest Video: MBA Placement Reality 2027: IIM vs Top 100 MBA Colleges Median Salary& Placement

IIM Placement Salary: Average Median Salary Holds Steady at 20-21 LPA Over 3 Years

You will see that for the 2021-23 batch, the IIM median salary was Rs 21.33 Lakhs then it fell to Rs 20.6 Lakhs in 2022-24, and this year it is up again to Rs 21.02 LPA (2023-25). So basically IIM median salary remains around Rs. 20-21 LPA approximately in the last three years. Despite some kind of inflation and the perks here and there we know in case of the IIMs we know we are dealing with a median salary of about Rs 16-20 LPA.

* Based on data submitted for NIRF 2026
Read More: IIM BLACKI Median Salary Grew only around 4%

Now, if we look at the 20 IIMs individually for which we have salary data, starting from IIM Ahmedabad. In IIM Ahmedabad, 455 students were admitted, 453 graduated and 444 were placed at a IIM Ahmedabad median salary of Rs. 33 lakh for 2023-25. Among the IIM BLACKI Median salary, IIM Bangalore median salary is Rs 32.61 LPA, IIM Kozhikode median salary is Rs 27.5 LPA, IIM Lucknow Median CTC is 31.0 LPA, while IIM Mumbai median salary is Rs 34.0 LPA, and IIM Kolkata median CTC is Rs. 35.0 LPA. So among the top most IIMs, IIM Calcutta has the highest Median salary of 35.0 LPA in 2023-25, while out of the 542 students admitted, 521 graduated and 516 were placed.

On the other hand, IIM Bodhgaya median salary is Rs. 12.12 lakh, where 438 students graduated and IIM Amritsar median salary is 12.29 lakh, where 310 were placed out of the 318 students graduated from IIM Amritsar. While talking about the average IIM median salary of Rs 21 LPA, it would also be important to note that there are also IIMs which are underperforming with around 12 LPA like IIM Bodhgaya and IIM Amritsar or IIM Kashipur which had the median salary of 14.46 LPA.

MBA Placement Beyond IIMs: How the Next Top 100 B-Schools Performed

Now let us look at the MBA Placements beyond the IIMs. In this section, we have the top 80 B-Schools from NIRF ranking except the 20 IIMs we have discussed earlier. By the way, when we say 80, there might be a few B-schools for which we don't have NIRF data. So it might be about 75 MBA colleges and all. Let's remind you that data is from the 2023-25 batch and the total MBA intake is 25,362 in these institutions. Similarly the number of students admitted in these colleges is 24,765, number of students graduated is 24,006, and placed is 22,398. 517 students moved for higher studies.

So, the MBA placement percentage for these colleges stands at 95.36%. The placement percentage against graduates (24006) is 93.3% while the MBA placement against the admitted (24.765) is 90.44%. The MBA median salary for these colleges in the 2023-2025 batch stood at Rs 12.21 Lakhs up from Rs 11.8 LPA in 2021-2023 batch.

* Based on data submitted for NIRF 2026

Latest: 6 out of 9 baby IIMs witnessed lower Median Salary

XLRI, MDI, SPJIMR: These Non-IIMs Are Quietly Beating Some IIMs on Salary

Now if you look at this data, IIT Delhi and all are public MBA colleges and they have the MBA median salary of Rs. 22.50 LPA. But when you look at the data very closely, in the IIT Delhi MBA course, 158 students were admitted, 154 graduated and 145 were placed. On the other hand, MDI Gurgaon had 578 students admitted, out of which 575 were placed, while the MDI median salary was Rs. 25 LPA.

XLRI had admitted 410 students and all of them were graduated and placed while XLRI median salary was Rs 28.0 LPA. Then you can see that IITs are doing a very good job. Apart from MDI Gurgaon, XLRI and Symbiosis and the IITs then you have SPJIMR which had the median salary of Rs 30.0 LPA in 2023-2025, followed by Narsee Moonjee, Amrita and IIT Kanpur.

MBA Placement decreased down the Ladder

While we're talking of the Top 100 MBA colleges, here also you actually have a serious problem in terms of how the data is moving. If you keep going down the list of 100, and keep looking at the data at the bottom of the Top 100 MBA Colleges as per MBA placement is concerned we can see MBA colleges which are underforming.

Take IIT Jodhpur for an example. In IIT Jodhpur MBa programme the intake was 120, 124 were admitted, 106 graduated, 18 were placed and 16 moved for higher education. That for me is a rarity because in B-schools not many people move to higher education.

But the more important thing is that we want students to understand that within these top 100 MBA colleges, one can find colleges having median salaries of around Rs. 5 lakh to Rs. 6 lakh.

For example, Atal Bihari Vajpayee Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management median salary is Rs 6 LPA, but more importantly, in that college 50 was the sanctioned intake, only 28 were admitted and 27 graduated while only 17 were placed. In the case of Anna University, out of the 100 intake 84 were admitted, 77 graduated and 55 were placed, which means the Anna University placement percentage is only 71% and Anna University median salary is of Rs. 5.0 LPA.

When an MBA college has a median salary of Rs. 6 lakh, then there will be a lot of people earning below Rs. 6 lakh, because median salary stands right in the middle of the batch. Just imagine, the MBA salary might actually go down to Rs. 4 LPA even in the cases of Top 100 B-schools in India.

Even in the MBA Placement percentages one can witness the split among the Top 100 MBA Colleges in India. Despite the fact that all the IIT Departments of Management placement are there, you still are dealing with about 90% MBA placement but a MBA median salary of Rs. 12.21 lakh. Most importantly, at the bottom of the Top 100 MBA colleges , there will be a lot of people with MBA salary between Rs. 6-8 LPA which means there's a theoretical possibility that at the bottom of the pyramid you'll actually have students getting Rs. 4 lakh to Rs. 5 lakh also as MBA salary. That's a MBA placement fact that you must be prepared for.

If you get into the better B-schools at the top of the bunch, it is fine. But when you keep coming down the bottom of the ladder, you'll get into a different problem altogether in terms of the kind of MBA placements that you have, it's dealing with Rs. 5 lakh, Rs. 6 lakh and Rs. 7 lakh kind of numbers as MBA CTC.

MBA Placement: What about other 527 MBA Colleges?

In the above two sections, we have dealt with about 32,000 students out of the 5 lakh students who actually get into an MBA. Now, let's talk about the other numbers. Let’s check out how many students got admitted to these 527 B-schools beyond the top 100 MBA colleges, how many graduated, and how many got placed.

* Based on data submitted for NIRF 2026

Latest: MBA Colleges with 0% placement

In these B-schools the total number of intake is 84,076, out of which 73,963 got MBA admission, which is only about 87% of the sanctioned intake. Out of 84,076, only 65966 have graduated, which is only about 78% of the total students intake . Out of these admitted students, only 49,200 are placed which is 66.52%.

The number of students moving for higher studies also increases as you keep moving down the ladder in terms of the B-schools. Here, in these colleges 2030 students move for higher education. If you get into an IIM, about 40 students only move for higher education across the board. If I have to go by the same proportion, 40 over 8,000 should be about 400 over 85,000. But here, 2030 students move for higher education, which essentially means that they could not get placement, so they didn't have an option but to say, "I'm moving for higher education."

In these 527 colleges, MBA placement percentage is 76.95%, however the placement against graduated in 74. 58% while the placement against admitted is 66.52% . Moreover the median salary of these colleges are Rs. 4.88 lakh across the 527 institutions.

One needs to understand this median salary data because as you keep moving down the ladder, the MBA median salary which was Rs. 20 lakh or Rs. 21 lakh in the top IIMs came down to Rs. 11 lakh or Rs. 12 lakh in the other 80 B-schools and became Rs. 4.88 lakh in the rest of the B-schools for which we have data.

MBA Colleges with Placement Percentages around 50%

While there will be good MBA Colleges beyond the top 100 MBA Colleges such as IIMT University Meerut with Rs 17 LPA median salary or colleges such as NIA, NIBM, LBSIM, FOSTIMA, OP Jindal etc ut when you keep going down the ladder, you suddenly start seeing 53% placement, 43% placement.

Aravali College of Management, has 60 students as the sanctioned intake. Only 27 were admitted, which means 33 students did not even admit themselves into the college. Twenty-three graduated, 10 were placed and the placement percentage is 43%.

When you keep going further down the ladder, you actually start seeing Rs. 4 lakh median salary, Rs. 4.2 lakh, Rs. 4 lakh, Rs. 3.6 lakh, Rs. 3 lakh and Rs. 2.7 lakh. Now you're talking of median salary. Just imagine, for example, if someone's median salary is Rs. 2.5 lakh, what is the lowest salary? That's the median salary.

Let's take this number for a moment. This is Rai University in Ahmedabad, where 180 was the sanctioned intake, 157 were admitted, 127 graduated and only 11 were placed. Just look at this data. It is shocking. Rai University had 180 as the sanctioned intake, 157 were admitted, 127 graduated and only 11 were placed at a median salary of Rs. 2.5 lakh. Fifteen moved for higher education. The placement percentage is just 10%.

We are showing you all this median salary data so that you understand where we stand regarding MBA and median salary . This is data of 84,076 students. About 73,963 were admitted, around 65,000 graduated, 49,200 were placed with a MBA Medial salary of Rs. 4.88 LPA. At the top of the table one can find IIMs placing students at a median salary of between Rs 15.0 LPA to Rs 20 LPA but when we come down to the ladder a lot of B-Schools place students at a median salary of Rs. 2-3 LPA.

Conclusion

This data that we have discussed above is based on the statistics filed with the Government of India. There are another around 3,500 B-schools which don't even talk about their placements, and that is where the big challenge is for you because what we're trying to do here is to demolish this belief that a B-school is a passport to a good job and that the job will get you about Rs. 10 lakh, Rs. 15 lakh, Rs. 20 lakh or even a salary of Rs. 1 crore. When you see all these big hoardings, you actually see pictures of students getting Rs. 1 crore packages and all. They're blatant outliers. Unless you're getting into a decent B-school, a good B-school with some kind of pedigree and legacy, you're not likely to get placement.

Increasingly, a generic MBA from Tier 2 and Tier 3 B-schools will not get you a job with a decent salary . That's because you need some kind of depth. Shallow knowledge will not work. Width is very, very cheap. Depth is at a premium. That is what you need to understand.

The reason why we are showing you all this data is so that you understand that certain things that have been sold to you through newspapers, through advertisements and through digital platforms are not the complete picture. This is the data that I'm showing you, and this is what the numbers actually indicate.