Ranking: India’s Best Business Schools Of 2024

It isn’t easy to stay on top. When an institution sets the bar, their rivals set their sights. They attack their gaps and poach their people. They cut deals and spend money. And they always frame themselves as the cutting-edge upstarts who represent “the future.”

That’s what IIM Ahmedabad faces in India’s business education space. As a brand, IIMA is associated with prestige and pay, influential alumni in every corner and leadership training that’s gold standard. It is the IIM that competes globally, while accepting less than 1% of applicants. Although IIM Bangalore and IIM Kozhikode continue to elevate their performance, IIM Ahmedabad continues to reign as India’s crown jewel. How? Think consistency: sticking with a successful formula, continuing to invest where it matters, and never taking its differentiators for granted.

On Monday (August 12), the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) corroborated the conventional wisdom: IIM Ahmedabad remains the top Indian program for Management Education. It is also the 5th consecutive year that IIMA has held the top spot with NIRF, an annual ranking produced by the Government of India’s Ministry of Education.

Technically, IIM Ahmedabad’s advantage over rival schools continues to dwindle. This year, the school’s index score inched up by just .12 of a point. Compare that to 2nd-ranked IIM Bangalore, which improved by .27 of a point. Still, 2.16 points separate the two schools, nearly three times the .73 of a point difference in 2022. Rounding out the Top 3 is IIM Kozhikode, whose index score improved by 1.42 points. This jump also tightened IIM Kozhikode’s grip on the #3 spot, a far cry from ranking 8th just five years ago.

THE METHODOLOGY

Launched in 2016, the NIRF rankings cover 779 eligible management education programs in India. It features a mix of school-supplied and third-party data, which are scrubbed and verified against a range of criteria. Like the previous year, the ranking is based on five parameters (with their accompanying weights):

Teaching, Learning and Resources (TLR) – 30%

Research and Professional Practice (RP) – 30%

Graduation Outcome (GO) – 20%

Outreach and Inclusivity (OI) – 10%

Perception (PR) – 10%

Inside each of these parameters are “marks”. These subcategories are woven together to produce a weighted score. For example, the Graduation Outcome (GO) score is based on four criteria: Placement (40%), Median Salary (25%), PhD Students (20%), and University Examinations (15%). In contrast, the Teaching, Learning, and Resources (TLR) parameter is composed of Faculty-Student Ratio (25%), Student Strength (20%), Faculty with PhDs (20%), Financial Resources and Utilization (20%), Online Education (10%), and Indian Knowledge Systems (5%). Overall, schools are evaluated across the board in the Management Education ranking; the MBA component is not pulled out and graded separately.

IIM MUMBAI AND IIT DELHI MAKE STATEMENTS

Not surprisingly, IIM Ahmedabad scored the best in the parameters where the weights were the highest. That includes the highest score in TLR (Teaching, Learning and Resources), which represents a 30% weight. Here, IIMA produced a 91.80 score, though this number is .65 of a point lower than the previous year. Still, it is 1.8 points above IIM Bangalore and 4.89 points better than IIM Kozhikode. By the same token, IIMA notched a 99.14 score in GO (Graduation Outcome), which carries a 20% weight. It edged out IIM Bangalore by .03 of a point (and bested IIM Kozhikode by 4.22 points). In Research and Profession Practice – a 30% weight – IIM Ahmedabad also produced the 2nd-best score – over seven points above IIM Bangalore and nearly five points better than IIM Kozhikode.

Dominant across 80% of the ranking weight, IIM Ahmedabad could afford to rank below IIM Bangalore in both OI (Outreach and Inclusivity) and Perception – each only constituting a 10% weight. Despite this, IIMA actually improved its scores in both OI and Perception against the previous year (along with raising its RPC score). In contrast, IIM Bangalore posted improvements in two categories, while maintaining a perfect 100 score in Perception. By boosting its scores across four of five parameters – including a near three-point jump in RPC – IIM Kozhikode remains poised to continue its upward surge.

This year’s biggest gainer? Technically, that would be the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade. It rocketed from 27th to 15th, thanks to upping its scores by five points or more in three parameters. IIM Ranchi also moved up seven spots to 17th, including a near three-point rise in TLR. In terms of impact, IIT Delhi wrestled the #4 spot away from IIM Calcutta, with the former holding a 30-point advantage in RPC and the latter enjoying a 20-point advantage in Perception.

One big omission: The Indian School of Business, which ranked 31st in the 2024 Financial Times MBA Ranking, was also not part of this year’s NIRF Business Education ranking.

Here are the top performers in the individual parameters:

TEACHING, LEARNING AND RESOURCES (TLR)

While IIM Ahmedabad led the pack in this parameter, XL Ri Xavier School of Management punched above its ranking. The school’s 85.49 score ranked 4th, even though it lost 2.06 points in this measure. While IIT Delhi boosted its TLR score by 5.34 points, it still ranked 17th among Top 20 schools here. That wasn’t the biggest gain in TLR over the past year, however. That honor belongs to IIT Madras, which raised its score from 64.36 to 70.39.

RESEARCH AND PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE (RP)

IIT Delhi remained the top management education program for publication volume and quantity – and it wasn’t even close. In a parameter that also includes patents and research projects, IIT Delhi mustered a 78.39 score – a full 14.5 points above IIM Ahmedabad. Despite ranking 19th overall, IIT Kharagpur finished just .21 of a point behind IIMA – though its score dropped by 9.09 points from the 2023 ranking. IIT Roorkee also performed well in research, finishing ahead of IIM Bangalore, IIM Kozhikode, and IIM Calcutta. For the most part, schools scored lowest in RP than any other parameter.

GRADUATION OUTCOME (GO)

Why did IIM Mumbai make such a splashy debut? Start with Graduation Outcome. Worth a 20% weight, the school compiled a near-perfect 99.41 score in GO. That was .32 and .70 of a point better than IIM Calcutta and IIM Ahmedabad respectively. You could also describe GO as the great equalizer, as 20th-ranked S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research edged out 2nd-ranked IIM Bangalore by .24 of a point. Even more stunning, 4th-ranked IIT Delhi finished 13th in this parameter, despite raising its score by nearly three points. Among the Top 20, IIT Kharagpur made the biggest strides, going from 82.27 to 87.88 in one year.

OUTREACH AND INCLUSIVITY (OI)

The parameter covers a variety of diversity dimensions: women, region, social challenges, and physical challenges. Like 2023, IIM Raipur posted the highest score at 80.55, up nearly 3.5 points over runner-up IIM Kozhikode. OI also represented the second-lowest scores for both IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Bangalore in the NIRF ranking.

PERCEPTION (PR)

Reputation is currency. It provides credibility to job seekers and thought leaders alike. In a survey of employers, professionals, and academics, IIM Bangalore achieved the only perfect score in the NIRF Business Education ranking. Here, IIM Ahmedabad posted a 96.81, good for 2nd and a noticeable .67 of a point improvement over 2023. While Perception encompasses just a 10% weight, it is a strong predictor of rank. Among the ten-highest ranked NIRF programs, nine also finished in the Top 10 for Perception. The only outlier? That would be IIT Madras, which finished 10th in this parameter..

Editor’s Note: To see how the Top 20 management institutions ranked in the various categories, go to the next page.