The average post-MBA CTC was 2.64 times the pre-MBA CTC for PGPM Class of 2020, the school with campuses in Chennai and NCR Delhi said on its website. The highest domestic CTC offer of Rs 28.6 LPA was made by a multinational consulting firm.

Great Lakes PGPM Placement 2020 Sees Average CTC Go Up to Rs 13.6 LPA

Major Recruiters

Major recruiters at the placement included Ab-Inbev, Accenture Strategy, Aditya Birla Capital, ADP, Amazon, Cognizant, Dell, Deloitte, Decathlon, EY, Gartner, HCL, HSBC, HTC Global, Infosys, ITC Infotech, L&T Infotech, Magicbricks, Societe Generale, TCS, Zee Entertainment, ZoloStays and ZS Associates.

“Apart from the participation of top companies offering excellent roles, I am glad to see participation in some niche areas as well. We look forward to attracting more organizations from across the board, in-line with our new diversity initiatives, in the years to come,” Great Lakes Dean & Principal Dr Suresh Ramanathan said.

M Balaji, Group Director – Corporate & Career Services, said, “We are delighted with the placement outcome and the response received from the corporates. This is a testament to the confidence of our corporate partners in the quality of our graduates and we look forward to serving their talent needs in the future.”

Average Salary Bracket & Salary Range

While the top 10% was in the average salary bracket of Rs 20.1 lakh, the top 25% was in the salary bracket of Rs 7.3 lakh, top 25% at Rs 15.7 lakh and top 75% at Rs 14.6 lakh.

In salary range, 27% of the class was in the Rs 14-16 lakh, 26% in the Rs 12-14 lakh, 24% in Rs 10-12 lakh, 14% in more than Rs 16 lakh and 9% among those earning less than Rs 10 lakh.

Placement Highlights

• A number of companies across Analytics, BFSI, IT/ITES, Consulting, Digital, E-commerce, FMCG, Hospitality, Product were among the recruiters at the campus placement
• The biggest recruiters were Accenture Strategy & Technology, HCL, Deloitte US & India and ZS Associate
• Students were offered various roles in Analytics, BFSI, IT/ITES, Consulting, E-commerce, Technology Consulting, FMCG and Product.

Domain-wise Placement

Consulting topped domain-wise recruitment with Tech Consulting (29%) and Business Consulting (21%) firms contributing to a majority of the offers.

IT/ITES (29%) services firms came up with a significant number of the offers. Business Consulting rang up 21% of the offers.

Consumer and Retail notched up 4% followed by Analytics, Product, Digital & E-Commerce and BFSI (3% each). Others, including Manufacturing, Hospitality, Real Estate, Entertainment and Sports accounted for 5%.

Domain-wise Recruiters

Recruiters in the Consulting sector were Accenture Strategy, Cartesian, Crayon Data, Deloitte US, Deloitte India, EY, Gartner, IPAC, Netcore, Tiger Analytics, ZS Associates. BFSI sector saw HSBC Technologies, Aditya Birla Capital and Societe Generale.

Digital/E-Commerce recruiters were Amazon, eClerx, Magicbricks, Moglix, Social Beat, ZoloStays. IT/ITES firms included Accenture Technology, Cognizant, Forsys, GAEA Global, GAVS, HCL, Hexaware, HTC Global, Infosys, ITC Infotech, L & T Infotech, Mindtree, NSEIT, TCS, and Virtusa.

Recruiters in Product were ADP, CAMS, Dell, Vivo – Fangs Technology, Next Education. In Others (FMCG, Manufacturing, Media, Retail, Real Estate, Sports), the firms included AbInbev, Decathlon, KALS Group, Ninjacart, Schindler, Sobha Realty, Zee Entertainment and Ultramarine.

The institute said it was an interim placement report and the list of participating. companies was partial. The CTC includes fixed salary, variable incentives and benefits. The emoluments of students on sabbatical returning to their firms were not taken into consideration.

Function-wise Placement

Tech Consulting accounted for 41% followed by 20% Business & Strategy Consulting (20%), Sales & Marketing and Analytics (12% each), General Management (5%), Finance and Operations (4% each) and Product & Project Management (2%).

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Great Lakes has campuses in Chennai and Gurgaon. The school says the PGPM program aims at transforming high potential professionals into competent business managers and decision-makers. Emphasis is placed on developing competencies, teamwork and leadership, inclusivity principles and value-based management.

Great Lakes One Year MBA (PGPM 2020-21) Admission Applications Close on January 31

Eligibility Criteria

You should possess a Bachelor’s degree in any discipline from a recognized institution. A minimum work experience of two years is mandatory. However, exceptional students with 18+ months of experience (by April 30, 2020) may be considered.

You should present your GMAT scores of the test taken during the period 2017-January 31, 2020. CAT 2018 and 2019 scores are accepted. The school accepts XAT 2019 & 2020 scores as well as CMAT 2019.

Apart from the academic qualifications, the applicants should have leadership potential displayed at work, college or school level. The school also looks for integrity and ethical values in candidates along with a diversity of experience.

How to File the Application

If you meet the eligibility criteria, you could visit the website www.greatlakes.edu.in and fill in the online application form after making a payment of INR 2,000.

You have the option of either applying to Great Lakes, Chennai and Great Lakes, Gurgaon campuses separately or for both the campuses through the common application form by selecting the appropriate option in the registration form.

Alternatively, the application form can be purchased from m from the Great Lakes Offices in Chennai. However, the eventual application process is online for all candidates.

The official email-id of the recommender should be provided. The recommendation letter will be collected from the final selected students’ recommenders and should be submitted online.

Once the application is submitted, initial screening takes place and you will get the invitation for a personal interview. The next stage is AWT (Academic Writing Test) and PI following which the final shortlisting takes place.

Personal Interviews will be conducted in Mumbai (February 8-11), Delhi (February 13-16),  Bangalore (February 8-9), Chennai (February 15-16), Hyderabad (February 8-9) and Kolkata (February 15-16).

The application process also involves two essays in which you could elaborate on your motivations, career aspirations and how you would fit into the school community. The topic for the first essay is ‘Why should you be part of PGPM Class of 2021 and how do you think you can enrich the experience of the Great Lakes Community?

This essay is compulsory. The second essay, which is optional, is for you to share anything else that you have not covered in the application. You do not have to repeat any information already given.

Fees & Other Expenses

The total fee for PGPM 2020 is Rs 19.25 lakh. The break-up is Program & Academic Fee Rs 15.86, Accommodation & Food Rs 3.24 lakh, Others (including refundable deposit) Rs 0.15 lakh.

Great Lakes offers diversity and merit scholarships to PGPM students to encourage diversity of perspectives and commitment to excellence. A total of 20 diversity and merit-based scholarships worth Rs 5 lakh each will be awarded for the PGPM Class of 2020-21. A minimum of 30% of the scholarships would be for female students.

There is no separate application process for scholarships as candidates will be shortlisted on the basis of their application form, essays and interview assessment. Those selected will be intimated on the award of scholarship through email post confirmation of their admission acceptance and enrolment to the program. The process will be completed at least one month before the start of the program. 

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Great Lakes 2019 Batch PGPM Placement

Great Lakes said a total of 362 companies, including 15 new recruiters, participated in the campus placement process that concluded on February 21, 2019.

The new recruiters included

• AbInbev
• Arvind Lifestyles
• Bristlecone
• Capgemini
• Gartner
• Honeywell
• India Cements
• Kals Group
• United Health Group 
• Zolo Stays

Domain-wise Offers

The maximum number of roles were offered in

• Technology Consulting (33%)
• Analytics (15%)
• Sales & Marketing (14%)
• Business & Strategy Consulting (11%)
• Finance (9%)
• Digital (8%)
• Operations (5%) 
• Project/Product Management (5%).

Among the recruiters, TCS, Deloitte US & India, Accenture and HCL made the maximum offers.

Sector-wise Offers

Students were offered coveted roles in Analytics, BFSI, IT/ITES, Consulting, E-commerce, Technology Consulting, FMCG and Product.

IT/ITES (37%) was the largest recruiting sector followed by

• Tech Consulting (23%)
• Business Consulting (22%)
• BFSI (5%)

Recruiters Details

Recruiters who made maximum offers 

• TCS
• Deloitte US & India
• Accenture
• HCL

Other companies that participated in the placement

• Aditya Birla Capital
• ADP
• Amazon
• Barclays
• Cognizant
• Capgemini
• Deloitte
• EY
• Gartner
• HCL
• Honeywell
• HSBC
• Infosys
• ITC Infotech
• L&T Infotech
• Mentis
• MuSigma
• TCS
• Virtusa
• ZS Associates

Recruiters In Analytics

• Musigma
• Tiger Analytics
• Fractal Analytics
• Gain Insights
• i2Decisions

Recruiters in BFSI

• Barclays
• HSBC
• Aditya Birla Capital
• CAMS Online 
• WeInvest 

Recruiters in Consulting

•  Accenture
• Deloitte US
• Deloitte India
• EY
• ZS Associates
• Bristlecone
• Brillio
• Cartesian Consulting 

Recruiters in E-Commerce

• Amazon
• Zolo Stays and Moglix.

Recruiters in IT/ITES 

• Accenture
• Cognizant
• TCS
• Infosys
• Capgemini
• Honeywell
• L & T Infotech
• ITC Infotech
• Brillio
• HCL Technologies
• Hexaware
• Quest Global
• Virtusa
• Mindtree 

Recruiters in Production

• ADP
• Mentis
• Bizongo

Others (FMCG, Manufacturing, Retail, Healthcare, Research) 

• AbInbev
• KALS Group
• United Health Group
• India Cements
• Gartner
• Arvind Lifestyles

Class Profile

The PGPM Class 2018-19 had 73% male and 27% female representation. In terms of work experience

•  2 to 3 years (44%)
•  3 to 4 years (41%)
•  4 to 5 years (15%)

In Undergraduate specialization

• Electrical, Electronics, Instrumentation & Telecom (48%)
• Computer Science (27%)
• Mechanical, Metallurgical & Materials (14%)
•  Others (includes Industrial engineering, Metallurgy, manufacturing & Material Science, Power Arts & Humanities, Advertising, Economics, HR, Marketing, Mass Media, Math, Physics) (7%)
• Art, Humanities & Science (4%)

In terms of industry diversity

• IT/ITES (72%)
• Construction & Manufacturing (8%)
• FMCG, Consumer Durables, Consulting & Healthcare (6%)
• Others (5%)
• Engineering Services, Energy/Oil and Gas & Telecom (5%)
• BFSI (4%)

Source 1

Looking at joining a One Year MBA? Scouring rankings of the best One Year MBA programs is a great way to start your search. Rankings, when they are good, can give you a 360 degree view of a B-School or course on all the important parameters when you are figuring out What MBA to Select?

Outlook’s MBA Ranking should be one such ranking since it comes from a publication known in every household in India. But is Outlook’s ranking accurate?  Let’s find out!

Top 10 Colleges For a One Year MBA Programme 2018-2019

1. IIM, Calcutta
2. XLRI, Jamshedpur
3. Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai
4. SPJIMR, Mumbai
5. IIM, Shillong
6. IIT, Chennai
7. DMS, IIT, Delhi
8. IMI, Delhi
9. KJSIMSR, Mumbai
10. SDMIMD, Mysore

B-Schools That Deserve A Top 10 Rank

Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM C)

Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI), Jamshedpur

SP Jain Institute of Management Research, (SPJIMR) Mumbai

All three B-Schools have had a good track record vis-a-vis the quality of students, infrastructure, international tie-ups, placements and quality of faculty for their One Year MBA and deserve to be ranked among the Top 10 Institutes offering a One Year MBA.

B-Schools That Are Missing From the Top 10

Indian School of Business, Hyderabad 

Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM A) 

Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM B)

Indian Institute of Management, Indore (IIM I)

Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow (IIM L) 

These are some of the top B-Schools with excellent One Year MBA Programs that are missing from the ranking.

If you came looking for the ranking of India’s best executive MBA programs (part-time programs suitable for people with 10+ years work experience) and not One Year MBA courses (full time courses suitable for people with 5+ years of work experience) – please read Top 10 Executive MBA Programs in India

All these B-Schools have well established One Year MBA Programs with average salaries in placements in the Rs 20-30 lakh/ annum range.

Tier 1 recruiters such as Google, Goldman Sachs &, Deloitte hire from these programs in middle to senior management roles.

These B-Schools are respected not just in India, but have made a mark on respected global rankings.

Indian School of Business is Ranked the No.1 B-School in India for its 1 Year Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGP) as per the Financial Times Global MBA Ranking 2018-2019 while IIM A’s One Year MBA (Post graduate programme in Management for Executives / PGPX) at IIM A is ranked No.2 in the same ranking.

If one looks at the quality of students joining the course,  these B-Schools sit right at the top. Average GMAT scores at these institutes hover around 710-720. 

Outlook mentions that “Various B-schools across India were contacted for participation, among which 145+ B-schools responded and provided their objective data within the stipulated time.”.

In could be possible that these B-Schools have been excluded from the ranking because they did not respond in time/ chose to participate. 

Does this ranking then stand for anything? 

If Outlook’s ranking has excluded top B-Schools since they did not respond, Outlook should clearly say so upfront and inform the reader about which B-Schools were excluded for this reason.

Automatically giving top slots in the ranking to less deserving B-Schools, if that is what has happened here, is misleading.  

Prospective MBA students take these rankings at face value and such a practice would lead them to a wrong decision.  

The Odd Birds in The Ranking

Great Lakes, Chennai, has been awarded Rank 3 for its One Year PGPM program. It is unclear by what standard.

Outlook India’s 2018-2019 Ranking of Top 10 Institutes With One-Year Programmes

Great Lakes’ placements, recruiters base and roles on offer are not comparable to those at the top B-Schools in India. 

The average CTC salary at Great Lakes for the Class of 2018 was Rs 11.21 Lakhs p.a., which is below average for a One Year MBA course in India. The lowest salary for the Class was Rs 8 Lakh p.a.

As we shared earlier in the article, top B-Schools such as ISB and IIM A offering a One Year MBA are able to secure Rs 18 lakh-25 lakh+ avg. salaries for their students. 

Alumni reviews about Great Lakes, Chennai, like most other things on the internet are split between the positive and the negative. The positive reviews talk of good mentors and a great campus, others are very critical and talk of poor placements & dressing up of placement data. 

Some of the reviews are anonymous – this is understandable, as current students who are dependent on the institute for placements would not want to attract the institute’s ire by sharing their views openly under their own name. 

IMI, Delhi, featured at Rank 8, has had a rough ride with its Executive PGDM. 

While the sanctioned intake at IMI is 60, the Class of 2018 consisted of just 10 self-sponsored students (another 6-8 are sponsored by their companies). IMI’s class size has been shrinking steadily over the past years.  

The average class size in a One Year MBA in India course in India is 60-100 students. Some B-Schools such as ISB have a 1000 strong intake for the PGP.

It is clear that IMI’s course has a low demand from students. The ranking awarded by Outlook is therefore surprising.

KJ Somaiya’s Executive PGDM, another school included in the Top 10, has not had a great run either. The placement statistics put up the institute on its website show that the average salary for the Class of 2018 was just Rs 10.7 lakh. 

The Ranking’s Twilight Zone

The inclusion of IIT, Delhi and IIT, Chennai is possibly the most confounding aspect of the ranking. IIT, Delhi offers an Executive MBA (part-time course for executives) – it doesn’t offer a One Year MBA. Similarly, IIT, Chennai offers a 2 Year Executive MBA, it doesn’t offer a One Year MBA at all!

The inclusion of SDMIMD, Mysore in the Top 10 B-Schools for a One Year Programme published in 2018 takes the cake since the first batch of the One Year Post Graduate Certificate Program in Management hasn’t even started as yet!

Outlook’s rankings have had such goof ups in the past. Outlook had included IIM Kozhikode’s 2 Year Executive MBA course in the 2013-2014 One Year MBA ranking. 

What takes the cake is the inclusion of SDMIMD, Mysore in the Top 10!

The institute has announced that the first batch of  its One Year Post Graduate Certificate Programme in Management (PGCM) will start in August 2019.

There is no batch yet, no track record the quality of students who are choosing the course, of placements or of feedback from students on the course quality – and yet, somehow, Outlook has deemed the course worthy of a Top 10 rank! 

See the anomaly on SDMIMD’s website where the the Top 10 Ranking gained in 2018 ranking is showcased next to the course commencement date of August 2019!

SDMIMD’s Rank 10 in Outlook’s 2018 Ranking showcased on the college website – right next to the course’s commencement date in August 2019

Unclear Methodology

Outlook’s MBA Ranking 2018-2019 covers both Two Year MBA Programmes & One Year Management programs. 

The publication has published a detailed methodology for the ranking of the Two Year MBA Programmes, namely – perceptual factors, placements, infrastructure & facilities, academic excellence, selection process, personality development & industry exposure.

The publication has however not mentioned the methodology for ranking B-Schools offering a One Year MBA. 

What do you think? Let us know in the comments below!