What is the Lowest Salary Package offered at IIMs?

Contentlikho Editor

Updated On: January 20, 2025 03:12 PM | CAT

The Indian Institutes of Management are known for their excellent placement drives and lucrative salary packages, however, you might be wondering what is the lowest salary package offered at IIMs. Typically, Auditing and Accounting streams receive the lowest salary packages.
What is the Lowest Salary Package offered at IIMs

The lowest salary package offered by IIMs in 2024 was INR 9 LPA . The Indian Institutes of Management or IIMs, are known for their lucrative placement packages and excellent placement drives which offer MBA graduates some of the best career opportunities in India. However, the least mentioned and talked about as an integral part of discussions over such placements is usually what remains as the lowest salary quoted to the graduate. The lowest salary offered is also an important factor that must be considered when calculating the Return on Investment for any of the IIMs.

Also Read:

CAT Score vs Percentile 2024

IIM Selection Criteria 2025-2027

Minimum Percentile in CAT 2024 to Get into IIM

List of Top IIMs in India 2025

Lowest Salary Packages Offered at IIMs

Placement reports up to date for 2024 reveal that the newly set-up institutes of Indian management, such as IIM Sirmaur and IIM Jammu, have reported the lowest salary offers compared with the other established institutes. Given that placement data in some detail is not publicly disclosed for some of these new institutes of Indian management, student response and audit-based reports reflect offers as low as INR 9 LPA in many of these newer institutes. Check the lowest salary package offered at IIMs over the years below:

Name of College

Year

Lowest Salary Package (INR)

Source

IIM Ahmedabad

2021

11 LPA

CRISIL Audit

IIM Sirmaur

2022

8.4 LPA

Student Accounts

IIM Udaipur

2015

7 LPA

CRISIL Audit

IIM Rohtak

2016

6 LPA

CRISIL Audit

IIM Bangalore

2014

8-10 LPA

Student Accounts

IIM Calcutta

2013

8-10 LPA

Student Accounts

IIM Kozhikode

2013

6-8 LPA

Student Accounts

IIM Lucknow

2013

6-8 LPA

Student Accounts

Also Read:

IIM Personal Interview Form

IIM CAT Cut-Off 2024

Reasons for Low IIM Salary

While IIMs are synonymous with global excellence in management education, some students graduate with considerably lower packages. Check the reasons behind low salary packages below:

Poor Academic Performance

Academic records mean a lot and play a severe and vital role in a more extensive placement process in the labor market. The recruiters often perceive students who show good academic profiles as more disciplined, highly competent, and better placed with various professional issues they may face in service delivery. Consequently, most students with less flattering academic results will have to end up at much more economical jobs or even never land better opportunities than recruitment top-flight companies offer.

Limited Extracurricular Achievements

Extracurricular activities can play an indispensable role in forming a fully rounded MBA profile that leaves an impression against the competitive landscape in business education. Those candidates with no such experience may find it simple to stand out during the interview- the most significant part of the hiring process. Recruiters often look for people who can balance academic obligations with other non-academic activities.

Lack of Relevant Skills

In today's fast-paced and developing job market, recruiters focus more on finding and choosing technically skilled and specialized individuals for direct relevance to the specialized demands of various industries. Thus, the case ends up where a skill gap can easily be a candidate's disqualification factor during the central placement process.

Saturation in Certain Roles

Some positions are highly competitive, such as sales, general management, or even entry-level consulting. It can be such that many applicants compete for the same few jobs that sometimes may cause a salary freeze or even lower offers to those not seen in the competition. In some industries, such as traditional manufacturing or retail, tiny budgets are allocated to hiring MBA graduates, making the salary figures for the various roles in those industries relatively low.

Market Conditions

Economic slowdowns that characteristically feature slowing economic activities, financial uncertainty in the global arena that leaves businesses in a very uncertain place, or industry-specific challenges catalyzed by various sources can negatively and strongly impact average salaries provided to workforces. Furthermore, in periods referred to as growth periods, companies still focus on cost efficiency as one of the significant strategies they use. Consequently, this will translate to lower salaries in positions that do not require skilled or experienced workforces.

Recruiter Expectations

Employers are aggressively looking for individuals who, apart from their technical skill set, possess an excellent cultural fit and all soft skills that can ensure a cordial workplace. Individuals who need to depict their ability to adapt, have excellent communication skills, or even solve problems in the interview process may be allowed to leave with an offer less than the best-suited candidate. The recruiters also look highly into personal qualities like confidence, resilience, and outstanding interpersonal skills. This will help them interact with clients or leadership roles in which the person would be expected to work with many individuals in his day-to-day work.

Rolling Placements and Opt-Outs

Candidates who do not progress through in the first round placements often go into a rolling placement. The subsequent rounds involve fewer firms, and this is often linked to a reduced level of competition for the roles that will be available and a smaller pay package. This automatically pushes them to lower immediate earnings which consequently affects the statistics relating to placements for the year group.

Lack of Transparency in Placement Reports

IIMs always include the highest, median, and average salaries in their placement reports, while often, they fail to report the lowest packages the students receive. This has created an opaque scenario that presents distorted or biased impressions of the actual placement statistics. In addition, it is worth mentioning that new IIMs or colleges with large batches tend to downplay or deny that failures to get placements have happened to all the students. This builds false hopes in the minds of those who might end up opting for those programs.

You may also check the links below to learn more about admission to IIMs!

Related Articles:

MBA Highest Package in India Total Seats in IIMs 2025

How to Get a Scholarship at IIMs Through CAT Score 2024

MBA Admission Process in India

List of Courses in IIMs

Part-Time Courses at IIMs for Working Professionals

If you have any doubts regarding IIM salary, feel free to ask our experts on the CollegeDekho QnA Zone . For FREE student counselling, call our student helpline number 1800-572-9877. Stay tuned with us for the latest news and updates!

Are you feeling lost and unsure about what career path to take after completing 12th standard?

Say goodbye to confusion and hello to a bright future!

news_cta

FAQs

How do market conditions affect IIM placement salaries?

Economic slowdowns, financial uncertainties, and industry-specific challenges will cause companies to reduce their hiring budget and salary offers. In a growth period, companies have the tendency to be cost-conscious and, hence, give low salaries for jobs not highly skilled.

What role does batch size play in salary variations at IIMs?

Large batch sizes, especially in newer IIMs, mean more competition among students for fewer high-paying roles. This could further skew the salary distribution, where some get the top packages while others are offered comparatively lesser ones.

Which IIMs typically report the lowest salary packages?

Newer IIMs like IIM Sirmaur and IIM Jammu often command lower packages than the more established older IIMs like IIM Ahmedabad or IIM Bangalore. Freshers in such new institutes often face challenges like a smaller alumni network and relatively fewer connections in the industry that sometimes restrict their access to premium recruiters.

Why do some IIM graduates receive lower salary packages?

Poor academic performance, lack of extracurricular activities, poor technical skills, and certain preferences for locations may influence the package. Market conditions, recruiter expectations, and saturation in some job roles make some students receive lesser packages.

What is the lowest salary package offered at IIMs?

According to recent years, a relatively newly established IIM named IIM Sirmaur stated its reported salary package for INR 8.4 LPA during 2022. The high-reputed IIMs include IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, and IIM Calcutta, whose salary package figures were in the lowest scale of INR 8–11 LPA as earlier years. These are also valid and authenticated by audits in CRISIL and accounts as students reported.

/articles/what-is-the-lowest-salary-package-offered-at-iims/
View All Questions

Related Questions

I want to pursue MBA from LPU. If I did not appear for any entrance exam like CAT, MAT or XAT then can I get admission?

-Narain sharmaUpdated on February 11, 2025 01:05 PM
  • 100 Answers
ankita, Student / Alumni

Yes,you can get admission to lpu's MBA program without appearing for entrance exams like CAT,MAT , or XAT.LPU conducts its own entrance exam called LPUNEST,which you can take for admission if you haven't qualified in in other exams.

READ MORE...

which book is good to prepare for mtech computer science?

-simran panigrahiUpdated on February 07, 2025 11:06 AM
  • 1 Answer
Rupsa, Content Team

Dear Student,

There are several great books available to prepare for M.Tech Computer Science. Some of the best books are Computer Organization and Design: The Hardware/Software Interface by David A. Patterson and John L. Hennessy, Data Structures and Algorithms Made Easy by Narasimha Karumanchi, Operating System Concepts by Abraham Silberschatz, Peter B. Galvin, and Greg Gagne, Introduction to the Theory of Computation by Michael Sipser, Fundamentals of Database Systems by Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Navathe, and Fundamentals of Database Systems by Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Navathe. You can select based on the Computer Science syllabus and topics …

READ MORE...

Will the scope for sports management get better?

-mmathumithaUpdated on February 07, 2025 06:39 PM
  • 1 Answer
Aarushi Jain, Content Team

Dear Student, 

The future scope for sports management career after degrees like MBA in Sports Management is indeed to get even better with more people taking sports very seriously in all parts of the world, with increased investments in the industry of sports and rising demand for professionals in terms of marketing, event management, representation of the athlete, and facility management, hence promising with ample opportunities in all directions.

The sports industry in India has been changing dramatically over the past few years. Professional leagues and Indian athletes performing on the world stage have made sports management an exciting and …

READ MORE...

Do you have a question? Ask us.

  • Typical response between 24-48 hours

  • Get personalized response

  • Free of Cost

  • Access to community

Recent Articles

Recent News

Subscribe to CollegeDekho News

By proceeding ahead you expressly agree to the CollegeDekho terms of use and privacy policy

Top 10 Management Colleges in India

View All
Top