By Mohil Mittal

Ever since I got an admission call from IIMC, my difficulties increased.

This statement might seem preposterous, but at that point, I was in an awkward predicament. The excitement of making it to IIMs made way for fear of an uncertain future. I truly wanted to indulge in the moment and enjoy my time before diving into the academic rigour but I could not.

Seeking guidance, I connected with people in my network, who have already undertaken this journey. But the current students were tight-lipped by Non-Disclosure Agreements with placement offices and the older alumni were heavily prejudiced based on their placement experiences.

Google know-it-all was silent over the current state of one-year MBA programs. The search results only confirmed the existence of one-year MBA programs, but I could barely find an honest piece of critique on career prospects of one-year MBA programs in India.

you should do your bit and continually work on networking and building your resume and the best time to start working on these factors is now

Even to this day, the much sought-after guidance note does not exist. I learnt it the hard way by giving plenty of moolah when I could have got it for free. So, I thought of writing this article to answer those nagging questions, which routinely bother many.

This article is not a comparative statement of different colleges offering one-year MBA programs. Its purpose is plain and simple: to help you make an informed decision before joining any one-year MBA program in India.

Is ISB truly in the same league as other one-year MBA programs?

Definitely not. ISB is uniquely positioned as it caters largely to MBA junta who are seemingly over-experienced for a regular 2-year MBA and do not qualify the experience threshold of 1-year MBA programs. However, given its strong market presence and pull factor, ISB does not shy away from luring candidates with experience over 5 years.

ISB’s flagship program is considered at par with the other two-year MBA programs by the industry and the market alike, and a comparison with one-year MBA program offered by IIMs is erroneous.

Would a one-year MBA program set you for life?

I think MBA is a must for anyone who wants to work on the business side, as it exposes one to a whole lot of new disciplines and avenues unheard of. There is so much more to business than one can imagine, and it is important to have a bird’s eye view of things before one ventures back in the professional setting. The focus of this one-year should be to maximize one’s learning and to relate with the work experience.

This is a must-do to reap the true benefits of this program. A one-year MBA simply cannot put one on the path of success, but it eases one’s ride in the corporate world.

Another important aspect of one-year MBA is peer learning which is seldom realized to the full extent. I strongly feel it can work wonders if one engages with a variety of people in the batch. The output of these discussions has helped many to shape & switch their careers.

How are the placement opportunities at the one-year MBA program?

Sadly, the placement opportunities through campus are limited in comparison with a regular two-year MBA program and one should not rest his/her decision of joining any MBA program solely on placement figures. Your idea of doing MBA should be grounded in this reality to help you remain free of any confusion.

Luckily, there is a wide, open job market out there which can be targeted once you are an MBA. So, don’t view the campus placements as the holy grail of a successful mid-career start but as a platform for a long-term success. Interestingly, the roles offered in campuses are not significantly different from the ones listed on job portals.

However, you should do your bit and continually work on networking and building your resume and the best time to start working on these factors is now. I cannot emphasize enough on the importance of weaving the right terminology in your fabric of experience.

General Trends in market

IT: There is lot of demand for middle-level managers in IT firms especially in areas like Analytics, Cybersecurity, Consulting and they are inclined towards hiring from one-year MBA program. Importantly, they are agnostic of one’s background and ready to give a chance to people from traditional industries that have a proclivity towards technology.

Operations: Opportunities for operations related profile are limited to service-based industries/start-ups with little participation from conventional manufacturing companies. The packages offered are relatively less. FMCG companies are not keen on hiring experienced candidates from non-FMCG companies.

Consulting: The big consulting companies M/B/B are averse to hiring experienced professionals and thus mostly shy away from one-year MBA programs. Big 4 audit firms are open to candidates for domain-consulting roles.

Finance: Conventionally, there are very limited candidates with a finance background who join one-year MBA programs.

Marketing: There are a lot of opportunities for BD/Sales roles for candidates with relevant experience. Product management and market research roles are rare.

Who should opt for the one-year MBA program?

A simple test: If you can successfully change your job at this point in your career without an MBA degree, MBA is surely going to make you more employable and is a right value proposition.

Those who don’t qualify the above test would find themselves stuck in their job. MBA can be a wise escape, but it is would mean a lot of hard-work and directed efforts to make career amends.

It is surely not meant for weak-hearted. If you yearn for knowledge and have little or no self-doubts, you would do great as an MBA graduate. This one-year is surely going to change your outlook and make you more perceptive.

The best time to obtain a one-year MBA degree is right once you are eligible to apply for it. The basic reason is the pre-MBA experience is heavily discounted in comparison with post-MBA experience.

Lesser the experience, better are the job prospects as companies are favourably inclined towards hiring lesser-experienced candidates.

Why it makes no sense to compare one-year MBA programs with two-year MBA programs?

Both the programs are different in every sense. A regular PGP is targeted towards students who are yet to set feet in the corporate world. Companies can very well prime them to their requirements and effectively deploy them.

Two-year MBA programs have proliferated in the last two decades. Some institutions, including IIMs, have been running it for over 50 years now. They have been churning out bigger and bigger batches every year.

Just imagine the alumni base, the foothold they would have in the corporate world. The complete job industry is aligned as per these programs because of their long history and sheer scale. The kinds of roles offered to PGP graduates by leading MNCs are curated to help these graduates grow to the helm.

Compare it with one-year MBA programs which are barely one decade old and are offered in limited campuses. These programs are new in the market and are required to be marketed well both among the industry and aspiring candidates before they can claim their rightful position. How else did ISB-Hyderabad, established in the year 2001, become an acclaimed MBA institute in just 15 years?

Vital areas of improvement

 A lot of hard work and coordinated efforts is required from the leading institutes of the country to highlight these programs effectively.

 The alumni base of one-year MBA programs is meagre and initiatives would be required to bring this fledgeling community together. How else would you catch-up with somebody who has decades of head-start?

 The placement process of one-year MBA programs needs a major overhaul to assess and find the right balance between the diversity of the incoming batches & standardization that can be achieved in the placement process.

One-year MBA programs have a long way to go before they can make a significant mark in Indian higher education system. Till that time, it is best to accept them in their pristine form: management education.

Contributing blogger: Mohil Mittal has completed his one year MBA (PGPEX) at IIM Calcutta. He has around 8 years of work experience in the Energy Sector. Mohil is an active sportsperson and keenly interested in Table Tennis, Badminton and Tennis. He loves reading thrillers and non-fiction books. He has recently started exploring the realms of mysticism and spirituality. 

The term 1 of PGPEX was THE experience that makes IIMC the place to be at. As they say, time is relative and the best place to live the theory is at a B-school.

There were few of the early starters who could have appeared for the exams the very first day and then there are poor souls like me who even after the end term were left wondering what hit them.

Despite all such setbacks, the classes were what made everything worth it. The superb faculty of IIM C actually initiated us to the world of practical learning, something very distinctive from the routine of learning in our previous academic experiences.

But once you let go of the kaleidoscope of the exam, you actually realise the volume of knowledge you have acquired in just a span of 6 weeks.

The first few weeks were overwhelming for most of us, as we were coming back to academics after a long hiatus and landing straight into an ocean of never ending assignments, pre-reads, case studies and quizzes.

On the very first day of the course, I had decided to keep up the speed and never lag behind. However, by the end of the week, that resolution had already gone for a toss even with caffeine shots at 2 o’clock in the night.

Despite all such setbacks, the classes were what made everything worth it. The superb faculty of IIM C actually initiated us to the world of practical learning, something very distinctive from the routine of learning in our previous academic experiences.

There is so much learning in the classes that even after being awake till 4 o’clock in the morning you can make it through a hectic day that ends at 6 in the evening without dozing off.

Soon enough, we came to love and get a grip on subjects such as Finance, Microeconomics and Organisational behaviour.

The numerous presentations and group activities fostered friendships. Personally, I loved this aspect because I got to see unknown facets of people and a sense of the uniquely innovative ideas they could come up with!

The X-factor of this term was the elections that took place to form the different committees, true to the spirit of the institute- “Everything is student driven”.

We had a whole load of fun campaigning, listening to pitches of the candidates and finally having expected and unexpected winners. There has been so much action around that I cannot recall a single dull moment from the entire term.

Then there is the Management Development Centre (MDC) and then our in-house parties, which are a huge stress buster. Parties at the campus are legendary and we already have our own share of stories to add to it.

Without divulging too much let’s just say we discovered unexpected winners there too. The bonding and camaraderie grow stronger by the day.

I also learned that body clock is a misnomer and that your body is tremendously agile. As one of my friends pointed out after managing on average 4 hours sleep for more than a week, said,  “I thought I can never function with less than 8 hours sleep but now I feel fresh even after 4 hours in bed.”

Reflecting back on the past 6 weeks I can’t wait to experience the next 9 months. I am sure it’s going to be one big roller coaster ride and all 68 of us will come out the better.

(Breety has 7 years of work experience as an R&D professional in Medical devices primarily and in the transportation sector. She is a Certified Reliability Engineer from American Society of Quality.)

One decade is a long time. One decade ago, getting an offer letter from the IIMs could have made you jump sky high. Sweets would have been distributed by your parents among your neighbours on this extraordinary achievement.

I am also reminded of the winning and confident attitudes of the students at these premier institutes those days. That was the time when students used to attend the interviews in shorts and get selected with the promise of fat pay cheques.

How the newspaper front pages were filled with unbelievable offers of top salary figures (1 crore+ ) at IIMs and even at other B-schools such as ISB.

It was also the time when Atal Bihari Vajpayee headed the first BJP-led NDA Government at the centre (1999-2004). The then HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi wanted to drastically reduce fees at IIMs reasoning that such high fees were probably not affordable to the majority of students. Fees at that time was Rs 3 lakh for 2 year MBA programs. The Minister wanted to bring it down to Rs. 0.75 lakh – a steep reduction by 75% in order to make it affordable to the common people.

However, the BJP did not return to power after the elections being replaced by the Congress-led UPA. The issue, meanwhile, got lost. By then, the IIMs came up with a proposal to create their own endowment funds. They argued that their students were getting hefty salary packages and the fees were pegged too low against mounting expenses.

At that time, the ISB was charging Rs 20 lakh+ fees while IIMs were charging a mere Rs 3 lakh. IIMs argued that their fees were substantially lower than their global peers (not a very good argument when one looks at global per capita income vs. Indian per capita income) and started hiking the fees incrementally or in some cases, rather steeply.

Following the example of the IIMs, even other leading B-schools got emboldened to increase fees by 4-5 times within a short period of time.

Worryingly, during last one decade, fees at IIMs/ top B-Schools went up by leaps and bounds right from Rs. 3 lakh to Rs. 20 lakh. However, average placements remain stuck at almost decade old figures.

Lets take a case. A medium family background scene. Father is briefed by his dear son of his feat of scoring top CAT score (somewhere >99 percentile) and securing seat in several of IIMs and other leading B-Schools of India. He also shares other details of the offer letter including fees of the program close to Rs. 20 lakh.

I assume he will react happily under the hope that some great fortune is on the way.

However, they (parents) realise that their son or daughter will have to take an educational loan of Rs. 20 lakh for the MBA program. It would turn out to be a whopping Rs. 35,000 monthly instalment to be repaid for full 7 years.

This is the case of a common medium income level family entering into such a large liability in return for a tacit asset which is “education”. You cannot touch it. It is a degree rather than some house or car. You cannot sell it even if you want.

I might sound rude here but facts are facts. The boy or girl who is going to probably earn decently after completion of the course (please don’t assume that all IIM graduates earn more than Rs.1.5 – 2 lakh per month) would be treading a very risky and frustrating path.

What if something happens to the career of that boy or girl. He or she will further slip into loan trap and it will be very difficult for a family to rescue their son or daughter from chronic tension of monthly instalments repayments.

Don’t forget these sons/ daughters have moral duty to support their old parents / younger siblings financially as they are expected to come forward in this age group.

A fees of Rs. 20 lakh in a developing nation like India is highly unwarrented when the applicant is already cracking some national exam (> 99 percentile) to earn his seat. India has per capita income of mere few thousand rupees per month. Imagine someone who is admitted to big institutes with hefty tuition fees tag coming from such a family.

Over the years, admission procedures at IITs / IIMs have become highly skewed in favour of people from “well off” families rather than the poorer classes.

Another irony is that in India, the prevailing Education Loan Interest Rate is 11-14% while the Home Loan/Car Loan Interest Rates stands at only 9-10%/ and 8-9% respectively.

Moreover, with such a hefty loan on your head drastically reduces your bargaining power with recruiting companies on campus. It results in sub-ordinary packages cum job profiles. Over the years, it becomes even more difficult to land suitable roles.

Now compare this scenario that your son or daughter gets admission into IAS / NDA / PCS / PSUs, etc. For sure, the family should start celebration on such achievement.

In the past, it was the trend that people, despite having secured govt. / PSU jobs, used to try for premier IIMs/ top B-schools in order to get into top corporate jobs and aiming for top salary packages.

The incentive/ reason was that this talented bunch was not convinced with slow growth of govt. jobs and they aspired for global profiles. But I don’t think this is happening any more.

Firstly, your salary has got reduced to mediocre 50k-100k per month on majority basis (not talking of few 10% who make it to 200k per month).

Secondly, more worrisome is that you are having a loan with EMI of 35k for full seven years. Please note that you cannot even think of a break in these seven years supposedly (due to any reasons – start ups or something like that) even if you need/ aspire for.

In view of the above arguments, there are high chances that your family might not even cherish if you crack MBA exam in future. The sheen/ craze has got reduced significantly now.

IIT/ IIM graduates along with other top T/ B School graduates are expected to lead/ start their own start-ups (these guys have great potential for start ups).

It is again a noble move, but with above facts as I mentioned, at least for a middle class family background guy such step is a simple “no-no”.

By virtue of the high fees structure, the IIMs are no longer attracting best of best minds from large pool of society. Rather, they are only attracting privileged convent educated kids from metros who already groom themselves for these elite institutes.

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Have a look at selection procedure and one can easily figure out how you stand no chance when you are from Hindi/Regional Medium school with “humble” (read poor) family background.

We should not forget IIMs are prestigious institutes set up by the Government of India with a vision of providing leaders to corporate world and society at large.

Citizens already pay Income Tax and all other applicable taxes. It is the government’s responsibility to at least maintain affordable fees at their best institutes to meet the aspirations of all segments of the society.

  I hope present BJP government would look into their unfinished agenda/ education loan interest rate and consider how justified is charging hefty fees from very those students who crack top scores and are invited to join these prestigious education institutions. Such a rethink is also necessary if the government wants its Start Up India initiative to succeed.

Rishabh Agarwal, Tech – SCM Enthusiast/Public Policy/Strategy in the Oil & Energy sector, is an alum of IIM Calcutta.

The conviction to learn revolves around the same principle of preparing ourselves to become shapeless, moulding ourselves as per new framework, re-framing ourselves according to new environment and retaining ourselves in adverse conditions.

IPMX has rightly pointed me in the direction of inculcating this organized and structured thinking. Guidance of scholarly professors, rigorous 800+ contact hours, live projects and huge network of 800+ alumni have given me a platform to dive into, for me, the unchartered aspects of academics, business acumen, peer learning and self-development.

IPMX program has provided me with some of important analytical tools and the ways of utilizing them to take the right decision. Practical learning through industry visits and live projects has helped implement theoretical concepts in real time framework.

Our exposure to European business through BMW and Volkswagen’s operational understanding, financial status of Mittelstand (small and medium-sized enterprises in German-speaking countries– Germany, Austria and Switzerland) and supply chain management of Louis Vuitton during International immersion program has provided us interesting insights into how Europe has evolved its manufacturing industry.

IPMX program has provided me with some of important analytical tools and the ways of utilizing them to take the right decision. Practical learning through industry visits and live projects has helped implement theoretical concepts in real time framework.

Visits to the Indian embassy and interaction with eminent people of our country in foreign land provided us an opportunity to explore political avenues.

Pedagogy of explaining concepts utilizing cases and various research results, faculty’s exposure and consultancy projects with Indian and International companies have provided us with a holistic way of looking at business.

The importance of appreciating the existence of all stake holders, prioritizing common business goal over individualistic aspiration, balancing growth of organization and associated people are just some of the values IPMX has inculcated in me.

The process of vendor development to ensure vertical integration and its importance in organization growth, negotiation, mergers and acquisition has widened my perspective of understanding business as community and sustainable growth.

A competitive advantage that IPMX has provided me with is the opportunity to interact, learn and observe along with 63 beautiful and intelligent minds. Each one having the uniqueness to provide you deeper insights into diversity and its advantages through peer learning.

Managing conflicts, positive argumentative approach, increased reflexive ability has groomed me well enough to deal confidently in professional and personal life.

Ted Talks and responsibilities to organize events like Leadership talk series, ‘Udayam’ and a football tournament have not only enriched me with confidence and communicating capabilities but also improved my way of analyzing situations logically.

Interaction with eminent leaders such as SBI Card CEO Vijay Jasuja has inculcated in me humbleness in working with subordinates. Learnings from AT Kearney HR head Rakhi Malik made me aware of people management aspects prevalent in the industry in India and abroad.

As a whole, IPMX has axed the periphery around me on wisely managing time, enhancing my ethos, increased confidence, collaboration and perception. In the end, I believe “It’s what we think we know that keeps us from learning” and it has been IPMXED.

Chirag Bhargava is in the IPMX (2016-17) batch, the one year full time MBA program for executives at IIM Lucknow, Prior to joining IIM L, Chirag worked for Accenture Services Pvt Ltd and Secure Meters Ltd. He has a 9+ years of experience IT consulting and project management. His primary interests is ERP technology. He likes to spend time with his family and friends. He can be reached at chirag_bhargava@rediffmail.com