CNBC-TV18, a leading business news channel in India has published the latest edition of their annual B-School rankings study, ‘India’s Best B-Schools 2012’.  The fourth edition of the ranking surveyed 145 business schools, 235 recruiters and 217 faculty members across the country. The survey uses a dual methodology to arrive at the results which makes it a complete ranking in the field of management education in the country.

Overall B-School ranking

• IIM Ahmedabad
• IIM Bangalore
• IIM Calcutta
• IIM Lucknow
• XLRI, Jamshedpur
• MDI, Gurgaon
• NITIE, Mumbai
• IIM Indore
• S P Jain Institute of Management & Research Bharati Vidya Haven’s, Mumbai
• IIM, Kozhikode
• Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi
• IIFT, New Delhi
• NMIMS, Mumbai
• IMT Ghaziabad
• IMI, New Delhi

Institutes such as ISB, Hyderabad and SIBM, Pune did not take part in the data survey.

IIM Bangalore in the path of improvement

The first position in the ranking is held by Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and continues to be a benchmark for management education in the country. However IIM Bangalore, with the second position is a close competitor for IIM Ahmedabad. The improvement in the position is as a result of its enhanced performance in key areas such as industry interaction and international connections. IIMs continued to dominate the top ten among the business schools with six out of the ten being IIMs.

Placements

Banking, Financial services and Insurance, Information Technology, Consulting and Fast Moving Consumer Goods industries forms the major recruiters from the top management schools in the country. These industries form 70 per cent of the recruiters in the B-Schools. In the case of average salary, the top management schools witnessed an average hike of about 20 per cent. In the case of business schools ranked low by the survey, they face challenges with intake, salary hike and placements.

At IIM Ahmedabad, the top salary offered in the case of an Indian job was Rs. 37 lakhs per annum and in the case of foreign job was USD 139.64 thousand per annum. The average salary per year amounted to Rs. 16.36 lakhs. The median salary per year was observed to be Rs. 15.15 lakhs. It is also observed that about 14% of the students were posted abroad. The Indian Institute of Technology Ahmedabad has recently come up with a ‘cohort’ based placement system, with which companies that seek candidates for similar positions, with similar compensation packages can visit the institute together at a particular time as allotted by the institute.

Ranking based on Placements

• IIM, Ahmedabad
• IIM Bangalore
• IIM Calcutta
• XLRI Jamshedpur
• IIM Lucknow
• FMS Delhi
• IIM Indore
• IIM Kozhikode
• SP Jain Mumbai
• MDI Gurgaon

Increased effort for research and entrepreneurship

In terms of research, IIM Ahmedabad ranked first with many publications by the faculty members of the institute in many of the leading A grade journals. Across the country, the survey observed that there is notable improvement in research published by the top management institutions, when compared to the last year.

Majority of the management schools in India have initiated different programs to encourage entrepreneurship. Business incubators are operating effectively in about top 15 institutes. Ever since the beginning, the incubation center at IIM Ahmedabad has worked with more than 50 aspiring start ups out of which about 45 are still operating and leveraging their expertise.  In the case of IIM Bangalore, the incubation center has worked with about 45 projects so far.

The ranking was made based on dual methodology which surveyed main stakeholders in management education such as management institutions, teachers and recruiters. The survey was quantitative in nature based on data collected. It also relied on perception based inputs which makes the survey important and reliable. They survey was conducted in association with Centre for Forecasting and Research (C-fore).

Methodology adopted for the ranking

The survey was conducted based on the quantitative data collected from 145 business schools along with data collected from qualitative survey carried out among 235 recruiters and 217 faculty members. The process of validation was performed by a special team which analyzed the data with reference to the documents such as appointment letters, balance sheets, annual report etc.

The overall ranking was made based on the following parameters-

• Intellectual capital
• Placement performance
• Infrastructure and facilities
• Industry interface
• International linkages
• Recruiter satisfaction

Ranking by Intellectual capital

• IIM Ahmedabad
• IIM Bangalore
• MDI Gurgaon
• IIM Calcutta
• XLRI Jamshedpur
• NITIE Mumbai
• IIM Lucknow
• IMI New Delhi
• IIM Indore
• Alliance Business School, Bangalore

Ranking by Infrastructure

• IIM Bangalore
• IIM Lucknow
• IIM Ahmedabad
• IIM Calcutta
• IIM Kozhikode
• IIM Indore
• BIMTECH Greater Noida
• Alliance Business School Bangalore
• ICFAI Hyderabad
• XIM Bhubaneswar

Ranking by International Linkages

• IIM Bangalore
• IMT Ghaziabad
• IIM Ahmedabad
• IIM Calcutta
• MDI Gurgaon
• Alliance Business School, Bangalore
• BIMTECH Greater Noida
• SP Jain Mumbai
• IIM Lucknow
• XLRI Jamshedpur

Ranking by Industry interface

• IIM Bangalore
• IIM Ahmedabad
• IIM Calcutta
• MDI Gurgaon
• XLRI Jamshedpur
• NITIE Mumbai
• NMIMS Mumbai
• IIM Lucknow
• SP Jain Mumbai
• IMI New Delhi

Ranking by recruiter satisfaction

• IIM Ahmedabad
• IIM Calcutta
• IIM Bangalore
• XLRI Jamshedpur
• FMS Delhi
• SP Jain Mumbai
• MDI Gurgaon
• IIM Lucknow
• NITIE Mumbai
• IIM Indore

These rankings are a part of the effort made to provide insights that will help students to make informed decisions on the selection of B-Schools, as there are lot of complex choices and a competitive environment. This helps the students to choose the best B-Schools which meet their expectations and requirements. It acts a guide while making important career decision which will have a long lasting impact on their future. It is claimed to be a comprehensive ranking as far as B-Schools are concerned.

The study has also observed the performance of those institutions which are in the lower ranks in the list. The survey has identified that they are facing problems such as attracting talents and recruiters.