In an effort to simplify this process, we have categorized India's Best Business schools into 8 clusters. Please note that as you proceed from the best to the also-rans, the level of differentiation between both the schools and the clusters significantly diminishes.

When reviewing B-schools within a cluster, the preference generally diminishes as you read further from left to right. For e.g. in Cluster 1, we feel that IIM-A is the best B-school in India at present, followed by Bangalore, Kolkata and so on. Also note that you are best advised to study the write-up at the end of each cluster to get an accurate picture. In certain clusters, the differentiation on the quality of the institute is specialization-driven, and the left to right reading is not necessarily representative.

Before taking final admission into any of these B-schools, please ensure that you speak to some students of the current batch of the institutes you have got calls from.

MICA is an excellent institute for those interested in Marketing Communication. It is crucial however to note that the 2 year course is not a course in Copywriting and must not be taken as a passport to the creative side of advertising.

NMIMS, IMT, SCMHRD & SIBM are all pretty much in the same league and the major differentiator is placements predominantly influenced by location. In terms of quality of teaching and infrastructure, there's not much to choose among them. Mumbai-based NM also edges out the others on industry interaction. SCMHRD is popular among students and recruiters for its HR specialization. Contrary to popular belief SCMHRD does offer specializations in other fields, such as Marketing and Operations Management. Its Marketing faculty is quite good and is favored over that of SIBM.

TAPMI, XIM & GIM lose out to all the rest in this cluster in terms of its location. Apart from placements, this also tends to affect the quality of industry interaction and the number of resident and visiting faculty at each of these institutes.

UBS, like FMS, is an excellent value for money option. Though being a good low-cost option, this program suffers a bit in terms of location from the corporate world perspective, but placements generally don't suffer as much, because of its proximity to Delhi.

IISc, IIT Kharagpur & IIT Kanpur rely on JMET as the qualifying test and though the IIT brand name helps, the peer level interaction is quite limited because of a consistency in the student profile (all engineers). However, small batch sizes ensure a decent placement track record. IIT Madras slips in at the end of this group.

Sydenham is the best of the Mumbai institutes in this category, with Welingkar shooting its way up the ranking ladder. Welingkar, backed by a visionary team, will probably break into Cluster 3 in a few years' time. It has a fantastic campus and some exciting exchange programs for its students. K J Somaiya has slipped down the rankings over the last few years and has lost its place among Mumbai's top 5 B-schools, but is still fairly well respected amongst the recruiting fraternity.
ICFAI Hyderabad is the best of the ICFAI group of institutes. This institute is highly recommended for those interested in pursuing a course in finance. The institute struggles a bit in placing its batch, the size of which is considerably higher as compared to most B-schools.

IIFM offers a specialized course and once again should be pursued only by people with a genuine interest in this discipline. It would be better to drop a year and take another shot at a B-school than join this course if it is not something you are passionate about.

SIOM, previously known as SCMHRD Nasik, is now an independent institute but still carries the Symbiosis name. SIOM is exclusively for specialization in Operations Management.

Both MFC and MBE are courses offered by Delhi University and are decent 'value for money' deals. The Business Economics course is also a good option for those interested in Economics - they can expect more in this field than what is taught in a normal MBA. ICFAI Mumbai definitely benefits from its location and is expected to do well over the years. SIES, MET & IES are some good options available to students through the CET who want to do an MBA in Mumbai. BIM and LIBA are both good institutes and are popular among students in their respective cities.

SIIB is the second best option for International Business in India, though it is a distant second. The Symbi tag helps this institute creep into Cluster 5.

Amity with its huge advertising budget has started getting a much better student base and has hence improved in quality quite substantially. This institute has a huge batch size because of the number of courses it offers and hence struggles to place all of its students.

NIRMA is a good institute and benefits significantly from visiting faculty both from IIM-A and MICA. It is possibly the best of the last resort options for those who have no other option but to do an MBA in the current year.