ISB Placements 2025: Salary Trends, Top Recruiters & Career Insights

Introduction

ISB has been globally ranked #27 as per the coveted FT Global MBA Ranking 2025 and commands a stellar reputation in the world of business. The school’s 20,000+ alumni spread across the globe hold top leadership positions and are driving considerable impact for their organizations and the society as a whole. This legacy, built over multiple decades, instills confidence in all major firms and start-ups to recruit the best and brightest from ISB.

Why ISB placements attract top companies and high salary packages?

ISB placements are a mega-event for both the recruiters and students. Top firms compete to secure the best slots on Day 0 of placements and students with industry-ready skillset and top-notch credentials don’t make the selection process any easier for the firms. Due to the talent war, major firms offer lucrative compensation packages, coveted roles and unique perks to attract the very best from the cohort.

1. ISB Placements 2024: Key Highlights

Total number of offers made

For Class of 2024, 405 companies in total registered for the campus placements generating 1208 offers for a class size of 870. In a year plagued by layoffs and recession fears, these numbers indicate the brand value of ISB and its strong relationships with the business diaspora.

• For reference, the number of offers generated for the previous 4 years, from latest (2023) to oldest (2020) have been 1609, 2072, 1195 and 1504 respectively.

• The total number of offers has consistently been at least 1.3x times the number of students in the cohort.

  
  

Quality of offers extended

On the one hand, the total number of offers has been really strong across multiple cohorts and on the other hand, the general quality of offers has also been incredible.

• 80% of the Class of 2024 cohort received more than ~35 LPA compensation.

• There were 27 international offers across multiple geographies such as Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa which gave students direct business exposure to completely new environments. 

• A lot of students pursuing MBA wish to switch domains post the program and for ISB Class of 2024, 70% of students were able to make industry shifts and 74% of students made functional shifts. This trend has been very similar for historical years as well.

2. ISB Average Salary & Highest Package (2024)

Breakdown of the average salary package

The average salary at ISB placements has consistently seen an uptrend and has been robust to the changing external factors that impact the economy and financials of companies.

• The average annual domestic salary (in lakhs INR) for ISB students from 2018-2024 has been 22.6, 25.1, 25.6, 28.2, 34.1, 34.2 and 35.5 respectively.

• Although not published officially, the estimated highest domestic salary offered in 2024 was reported to be INR 72 lakhs and the highest international salary offered in 2024 was INR 3 Cr (not PPP adjusted).

3. Top Recruiters at ISB in 2024

List of major companies hiring from ISB with industry-wise trends

The top 4 domains in terms of number of offers in 2024 were Consulting, Technology, Finance and Sales & Marketing.

• The BFSI segment accounted for roughly 10% of total offers with key segments being Investment Banking, Venture Capital and FinTech.

• FMCG and E-commerce also contributed to roughly 10% of the offers with popular roles being Business Strategy, Brand Manager, Marketing, Corporate Planning and Leadership Programs.

  
  

Below are the details of the firms which recruited in highest numbers from ISB in 2024:

• Accenture and Deloitte together extended over 100 offers in the field of consulting

• McKinsey, Nagarro and Navi Technologies were other major recruiters with 20+ offers each

• 70 first time recruiters participated in the placement process of ISB with more than 20 of them extending 10+ offers each

• First time recruiters included IDFC FIRST Bank, India Sotheby's, Blenheim Chalcot India, Stride Ventures, Target, WEH Venture Partners, PI Investment Advisors, and Tata Steel.

4. Industry and Function-Wise Offer Breakdown

Split of offers by Industrial Background is shown below:

Split of offers by Functional Background is shown below:

5. ISB Placements Process: How It Works

Timeline of the placement season and general format

ISB placement process majorly happens between November to February over several phases.

• Each phase is planned for a duration of 3-5 days with recruiters signing up for the hiring process.

• However, the internal placement portal opens up in September itself where students can upload their resume and access repositories of prep materials.

• It is also noteworthy that ISB follows a two-offer policy for placements which means that a student can continue to actively participate in the placement process till the point he/she receives up to two offers.

  
  

Role of ISB’s Career Advancement Services (CAS).

ISB’s Career Advancement Services (CAS) is a dedicated internal team that tirelessly collaborates with students, organizations and alumni to facilitate career counseling, corporate networking and career transition for the students.

• Unlike most other Indian B-Schools where the process is mostly driven by a student-led placement committee, ISB’s CAS builds long term relationships with organizations and leads the end-to-end process with the help of students and alumni.

How students prepare for placements?

CAS also helps students prepare for the placements in a very structured and timely manner. Here are some of the important aspects of this process:

• Resume building workshops are conducted by experts to help students understand the best practices

• Multiple resume review sessions are scheduled with alumni from diverse industries and backgrounds

• Several rounds of mock interviews with seasoned alums are organized to ensure that the students are interview ready

• Numerous workshops and networking sessions with multiple organizations across industries are organized by different clubs

• A dedicated mentor is assigned to every student to help them navigate the stressful journey during the placement season. This mentor is chosen from the primary domain that the student is targeting during the placements so that the inputs and feedback are as relevant as possible.

6. ISB vs Other Top B-Schools: Salary & Placement Comparison

Comparison of ISB’s placements with IIMs and other global MBA programs

Comparison of B-Schools only on the basis of placement statistics is a myopic (and often misleading) way of taking decisions. This is because every MBA program from any Tier-1 B-School has their own unique value proposition, alumni base and academic prowess. Given a candidate has multiple admits, he/she should holistically evaluate all relevant factors that resonate with their specific goals before arriving at a decision.

How ISB stands out in terms of ROI and career growth?

Given that the placement scenario still remains one of the top factors in the decision making framework for students, we provide a brief overview of how ISB stacks up against other similar 1-year programs in India.

	ISB PGP	IIMA PGPX	IIMB EPGP	IIMC MBAEx
Average Domestic Salary (in INR Lakhs)	35.5	36.4	34.3	30.9
Cohort Size	870	147	75	78

• As you can observe that there isn’t much difference in the average salary and the total fee at IIMs is lower than that of ISB.

• However, note that ISB has the oldest 1 year program and much higher cohort size compared to other top 1 year IIM programs.

• This in turn also means that ISB attracts a wider range of companies for a more diverse set of roles. 

  
  

7. Tips for Maximizing Placement Success at ISB

Strategies to land top offers

The number one advice for landing “top offers” is to understand that there is no single or uniform definition of “top offers”.

• Sometimes the intense environment can lead you to believe that select consulting firms such as McKinsey, Bain & BCG are the gold standard of placements but that’s an incomplete way to look at the placement opportunity.

• The top offer for a student should be an individual journey which identifies the companies and roles that best align with their future aspirations with respect to domain, compensation, quality of life and long term desired career trajectory.

Importance of networking and resume-building

Once you shortlist a set of roles and firms that you want to target:

• Research everything about them - GPA requirements, interview process, profiles of alums who have cracked similar roles previously, number of offers extended in previous years.

• Identify opportunities to interact with alums having a similar experience, choose a mentor from that field and be a part of clubs/events related to that domain.

What if you couldn’t crack your dream role during the placements?

While placement might seem the most important event during the MBA journey, 5 years post graduation >90% of students switch roles and career paths.

• So even if you are not able to crack your “dream job” during the placements, be assured that it’s not the end of the world.

• You’ll get ample opportunities to explore and switch opportunities in the future.

• Keep learning, be aware of your goals and always continue to take steps in that direction both during and after ISB.

Conclusion

For several years now, ISB has placed its students across diverse industries at coveted positions with high impact responsibilities. Even during economic slowdowns, the school has been able to generate offers that are 1.3x the number of students in the cohort. The compensation for such a large student cohort of 870 students has also been pretty healthy at a domestic average of ~35 LPA.

Why ISB remains a top choice for MBA aspirants?

Over the last 24 years of ISB’s existence, the school has managed to deliver stellar placement results consistently irrespective of economic cycles, geo-political situations and once in a lifetime events such as demonetization and COVID pandemic. In the ever evolving world of business, it is difficult to predict the trends for job demand but you can be certain that ISB will do everything possible to propel you ahead in your career.