Written by Sameer Kamat

The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) successfully ventured into the world of GMAT based 1-year programs in India by launching IIMA PGPX (IIM Ahmedabad), IIMB EPGP (IIM Bangalore) & IIMC PGPEX (IIM Calcutta). And soon enough the demand for these shorter duration MBA courses shot up. And so did the confusion about Executive MBA in India vs MBA for Executives.
The average GMAT scores, the average work experience and the overall calibre of students who join these one year IIM MBA programs in India demonstrate the quality of these courses. During IIM placements, the average salaries for graduates after completing the MBA program from these IIMs is significantly higher than the conventional 2-year progams in India.
Like thousands of Indian MBA applicants, Shiv Mallya was one of the hopeful Indian IT Male Engineer candidates who set his eyes on the IIMs. The earlier rejections from top 1 year MBA programs wasn’t exactly the best start he could’ve expected to his MBA admissions journey. But he evaluated and analysed what went wrong and took another shot. This time he got admits from…not one, not two, but all 3 IIMs that he applied to. Here’s how he managed to juggle his day-job, deadlines and diapers.

Written by Sameer Kamat

The SP Jain Global MBA, as the website says, is designed for mature particpants. Their 2-year MBA designed for applicants with lesser experience has already carved a niche for itself in.

With the Global MBA (GMBA) offering, they’ve taken the SP Jain brand to an international level – literally. With cities like Dubai, Singapore and Sydney added in for good measure, the exposure is truly international.
Aditya, a current student attending the SP Jain Global MBA program describes his application experience that got him the GMBA seat.

Written by Sameer Kamat

The IIM Ahmedabad PGPX (Post Graduate Program in Management for Executives), a 1-year MBA for executives offered by the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad is unlike any other in the world. Exaggeration? Not really if you consider the IIMA PGPX class profile (average age of 34 years, average work experience of over 10 years with 4.5 years internationally) and the extremely competitive selection process (average GMAT score 713). None of the global programs can match that combination.
If you have been searching for ‘IIM Ahmedabad Executive MBA’ you might want to quickly read this post before moving on – Executive MBA vs MBA for Executives – The Big Indian Confusion

Alright, now that we know that the IIMA PGPX is not an executive MBA at IIM Ahmedabad, but rather a GMAT-based full-time regular MBA for executives, let’s focus on the main agenda. We found the perfect alumnus (from the first PGPX batch) to tell us more about the program. Vivek Joshi had a Chemical Engineering degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai (IIT-B) and a Masters degree in Chemical Engineering from USA. He placed his trust in the IIM Ahmedabad PGPX course for senior executives when the course was just launched, did amazingly well academically and took up a job in Private Equity. He is currently an Associate Director at

Written by Sameer Kamat

The average GMAT at XLRI Jamshedpur’s GMP general management program got a boost when Narendran Santhanam got his application to their 1 year MBA program accepted.
He sent in this blog post at 3:51 AM, so you can imagine the kind of workload he’s dealing with as he nears the end of an eventful year. If you’ve been going bananas trying to find out the ingredients that go into a high GMAT score, fikar not, as Chef Naren’s GMAT diet recommendation includes exactly that – bananas |

Written by Sameer Kamat

ISB Hyderabad (Indian School of Business) is a dream destination for many Indian MBA applicants. Read this article: Indian MBA (ISB hyderabad) vs International MBA.

But year after year, as ISB continues to make rapid strides and gain accolades across the world, the local competition gets more intense as wide-eyed aspirants wonder how to get into ISB Hyderabad. While there are several inspiring ISB success stories, there are a whole lot of rejection stories as well. Valentine’s day (actually the day after, to be technically correct) saw a lot of broken hearts, as ISB Round 2 results were rolled out. Riaz was one of those hopefuls who wasn’t in the list of lucky applicants.

Written by Sameer Kamat

As the joke goes, the ones who cannot get into the IIMs settle for Harvard, Stanford, Wharton and the rest of the top 10 programs globally. Those who say that aren’t being arrogant (well, maybe some are). Their comments are just reflecting the statistical reality in a country like India. Fantastic talent minus the resources to match. 

The scale and reach of the GMAT is huge. No doubt. But compare it with apna CAT (the IIM entrance exam) and it looks like a nanha-munna cousin in comparison.