ISB PGP graduates earned the most significant hikes in post-PGP salary for 2021, with the median salary reaching INR 27 lacs. After a stagnant 2020, the 12.5% hike was driven by the Consulting industry. Despite the registered companies falling to 308 from the highs of 433 in 2020, the number of offers balanced off at 1195. The pandemic trend of greater demand for talent at lower cost has reversed. Companies are strategically investing in talent even if it requires increasing the salary by 5-20%.
In this in-depth analysis of the ISB PGP Employment trends and Salary for the 2021 Graduating Class, we cover:
- ISB PGP Salary by Industry (2021)
- ISB PGP Salary by Function (2021)
- ISB PGP Placement & Salary by Location (2021)
- ISB PGP Top Employers (2021)
ISB PGP Salary by Industry (2021)
Consulting leads, taking 33% of the total offers, while the IT/ITES industry was a distant second (16%). Finance/Banking could attract just 10% of the total offers.
| ISB PGP | Percentage Hired | |
|---|---|---|
| Industry | 2020 | 2021 |
| Media/Advertising | 2 | 1 |
| Banking | 12 | 10 |
| Consulting | 22 | 33 |
| E-Commerce | 11 | 3 |
| FMCG/Retail | 7 | 5 |
| Hospitality | 2 | 0 |
| Real Estate | 2 | 2 |
| IT Consulting | 2 | 1 |
| IT/ITES | 15 | 16 |
| Manufacturing | 1 | 1 |
| Oil/Energy | 4 | 1 |
| Pharma | 4 | 5 |
| Technology | 1 | 6 |
| Telecom | 1 | 2 |
| Transportation/Logistics/Operations | 2 | 1 |
| Urban Mobility | 0 | 3 |
2021 vs 2020 (Offers): Consulting experienced a 10% growth in offers while E-Commerce was clearly a casualty - dropping hires by 9% in 2021 compared to 2020. Banking maintained the 10-12% offer range. Despite the drop (3%), E-Commerce offers crossed the 30-lac threshold, while Consulting was at third with 29 lacs.
Finance/Banking that traditionally has high bonus payments were in the lower quartile. IT/ITES, Pharma, Telecom, Transportation/Logistics, and Urban Mobility, were in the top half.
| ISB PGP Salary | 2020 | 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Industry | Median Salary (INR) | Median Salary (INR) | Salary Growth (%) |
| Media/Advertising | 2563709 | 2500000 | -2.49 |
| Banking | 2361667 | 2545504 | 7.78 |
| Consulting | 2677678 | 2898271 | 8.24 |
| E-Commerce | 2546647 | 3172322 | 24.57 |
| FMCG/Retail | 2762754 | 2503939 | -9.37 |
| Govt | 1800000 | 1500000 | -16.67 |
| Electronics | 2249333 | 4068750 | 80.89 |
| Hospitality | 2616667 | 2500000 | -4.46 |
| Real Estate | 2503846 | 2500000 | -0.15 |
| IT Consulting | 2323077 | 2400000 | 3.31 |
| IT/ITES | 2394407 | 2691372 | 12.40 |
| Manufacturing | 1957661 | 2362500 | 20.68 |
| Oil/Energy | 2516469 | 2581429 | 2.58 |
| Pharma | 2523603 | 2753750 | 9.12 |
| Technology | 2471539 | 2602574 | 5.30 |
| Telecom | 3016667 | 2949958 | -2.21 |
| Transportation/Logistics/Operations | 2883087 | 2778889 | -3.61 |
| Urban Mobility | 2900000 | 2707148 | -6.65 |
2021 saw a reversal for Govt (-17%), FMCG/Retail (-9.3%), Urban Mobility (-6.6%), Hospitality (-4.4%), Transportation/Logistics (-3.6%), Media/Advertising (-2.5%) and Telecom (.-2.2%) - all experiencing a decrease in remuneration.
E-Commerce was picky but compensated with an incredible 24% hike in salary.
IT/ITES (+12.4%), Pharma (+9.1%), Consulting(+8.2%), Finance/Banking (+7.7%), Technology (+5.3%) - all popular post-PGP industries, experienced robust growth in salary.
ISB PGP Salary by Function (2021)
Even on the function-wise placement trends, Consulting’s lead (34%) stands on a 29-lac median salary. Sales/Marketing and General Management, despite the lower quartile salary range (24-25 lacs), continue to attract 14% and 12% of the total offers, respectively.
| ISB PGP | Salary | 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Function | Percentage Hired | Median Salary |
| Analytics | 3% | 27,53,289 |
| Consulting | 34% | 28,77,119 |
| Finance | 5% | 23,98,258 |
| General Management/Strategic Planning | 12% | 24,68,634 |
| Operations | 4% | 28,73,765 |
| Product Development | 6% | 34,50,000 |
| Product Management | 14% | 27,44,918 |
| Project Management | 1% | 23,77,184 |
| Sales and Marketing | 14% | 25,55,204 |
| Technology | 7% | 30,42,842 |
Interestingly, all functions experienced salary growth, ranging from 3 to 22% with Consulting offers up by a standard 10%, Product Management by 4.5%, Technology by 22.5%, General Management by 6.4% while Sales & Marketing were up by 3.2%
2021 vs 2020 (Offers): Consulting function took the lion share of the offers (+11%), filling the gap from Finance (-2%), General Management (-4%), Operations (-4%), Product Management (-2%), Sales and Marketing (-2%). Technology showed resilience as it had during the pandemic with a 2% growth.
| ISB PGP | Percentage Hired | |
|---|---|---|
| Function | 2020 | 2021 |
| Analytics | 5 | 3 |
| Consulting | 23 | 34 |
| Finance | 7 | 5 |
| General Management/Strategic Planning | 16 | 12 |
| Operations | 8 | 4 |
| Others | 1 | 6 |
| Product Development | 1 | 0 |
| Product Management | 16 | 14 |
| Project Management | 2 | 1 |
| Sales and Marketing | 16 | 14 |
| Technology | 5 | 7 |
ISB PGP Placement & Salary by Location (2021)
The ISB leadership team has been vague about the international placements in the 2021 employment report - "18% of alumni working in international markets", the only insight shared in the analysis. With the 2020 data showing 1% placements in international markets, we can safely assume that immediate international placements are non-existent for the 2021 graduating class.
Among the popular industries, for the IT/ITES industry, the three niches were Product Management, Program Management, and Consulting, while in E-Commerce too – Product Management and Project Management offers were popular in addition to Operations & Sales/Marketing roles.
ISB PGP Top Employers (2021)
Close to 10% of all the offers were in leadership roles that included a diverse range of industries from Consulting (Arthur D Little), FinTech (Bajaj FinServ), Airlines (Indigo), Urban Mobility (Uber India), Investment Banking (Wells Fargo), to even Political Strategy (Indian Political Action Committee).
Consulting giants - AT Kearney, Bain and Company, Ernst and Young, Deloitte, McKinsey, PwC, Accenture, L.E.K Consulting, and KPMG showed their presence felt in 2021. IT/ITES recruiters were mostly Indian Tech companies. However, the Finance/Banking/FinTech space was led by American Banking giants balanced by recruitment from Indian FinTech leaders (PayU and PayTM).
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