Future IIM students look into the highest package and decide on their specializations. But this may be the least useful number. This is because the highest salary package is the offer given to only one student. It may be an international offer or come from a niche role that you may not opt for. Thus, to help you choose the right IIM and the right domain, this blog analyses the latest placement reports of seven old IIMs: Ahmedabad, Calcutta, Bangalore, Lucknow, Kozhikode, Indore, and Mumbai. IIM Ahmedabad is the best for consulting, the already-famous IIM Calcutta for finance, and many more. Read on to know which IIM is best for Finance, Marketing, and Consulting.
Join iQuanta’s diversified student community for free and prepare with other 4.1L+ peers. Get access to 24/7 doubt-solving, mentorship, free webinars, etc., all at one single platform.
Old IIMs Compared: Best for Finance, Marketing, Consulting, and more
| IIM | Average Salary Package | Best for |
| Ahmedabad | Rs 35.50 LPA | Consulting |
| Calcutta | Rs 36 LPA | Finance |
| Bangalore | Rs 35.35 LPA | Tech, product, analytics |
| Lucknow | Rs 33.20 LPA | Sales and marketing |
| Kozhikode | Rs 28.18 LPA | Consulting |
| Indore | Rs 27.27 LPA | Consulting and Finance |
| Mumbai | Rs 31.40 LPA | Operations, supply chain |
IIM Ahmedabad: Best for Consulting
If you want consulting, this is the campus. In the 2025 batch, 156 of 395 job offers came from consulting firms, roughly four in every ten students. BCG hired 35, Accenture Strategy 31, Bain 17. Those three firms alone took a fifth of the batch. Finance is the second-biggest option, with 99 offers. Goldman Sachs was the top bank, hiring nine.
If we talk about the salary package, the biggest number in the latest placement report is Rs 1.10 CPA, and it went to a finance student. But one big offer pulls up the average. A fairer way to compare is the middle of the batch, and there, consulting wins. Half of all consulting offers were worth above Rs 40 LPA, against Rs 35.7 LPA for finance. Consulting spreads good money across more students. Finance has a few huge offers and a much wider gap between them.
IIM Calcutta: Best for Finance
IIM Calcutta calls itself India’s “finance campus,” and its recruiter list backs that up. Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Citibank, DE Shaw, UBS, Avendus, Motilal Oswal and Standard Chartered all hired from the 61st batch. The batch itself had more than 80 students holding CA, CFA or FRM qualifications.
Finance also produces the biggest offers here. The IIMC highest salary package (domestic) was Rs 1.45 CPA, and finance had the highest ceiling of any domain. However, reports highlight that Consulting, not finance, is where most students actually go, 38% of all offers, against 18.6% for finance. Consulting also pays better in the middle: a typical consulting offer was around Rs 44 LPA, against roughly Rs 37 LPA in finance. Finance shows a higher average, given that this domain received quite a few very large offers.
Across a batch of 458 students, 202 firms made 542 offers, and everyone was placed. Average salary was Rs 36 LPA and the median Rs 35 LPA. The top half of the batch averaged Rs 47 LPA. Sales and marketing made up 9% of offers, with the lowest maximum salary of around Rs 36 LPA.
IIM Bangalore: Best for Tech, Product and Analytics
IIM Bangalore sends more students into consulting than any other IIM, 45% of final offers for the 2024-26 batch. Accenture Strategy alone made 94 final-placement offers. BCG, Bain and McKinsey together made 59. Where IIM B genuinely stands apart is technology. IT, analytics and product management took 14% of offers, more than finance. E-commerce, payments and logistics were recorded at 10%, and roughly a quarter of the batch went into tech-linked roles.
Recruiters included Amazon, Tekion, Shadowfax, Media.net and Navi. No other IIM has this pipeline given that the campus sits inside India’s startup capital.
Recruitments in the Finance domain were recorded at 11% of offers, with Goldman Sachs making seven. If banking is your goal, IIM Calcutta is the stronger campus.
Overall, 605 students received 665 offers from 177 firms. The median salary was Rs 34.75 LPA, and the IIM B average salary package was Rs 35.35 LPA.
IIM Lucknow: Best for Sales and Marketing
IIM Lucknow’s real strength is its pull with consumer goods recruiters. HUL, ITC, P&G, Colgate-Palmolive, Marico, Dabur, Godrej, PepsiCo, Pidilite, Haleon, Tata Consumer and Zydus Wellness all hired from the 2026 batch. If brand management is the goal, IIM Lucknow is your safe spot.
Placement in the sales and marketing domain was recorded at 8%, and it paid an average salary package of Rs 28.5 LPA against a batch average of Rs 33.2 LPA. Consulting took 39% of placements at an average of Rs 36.9 LPA, the highest of any domain. Accenture made 56 offers, Deloitte 26 and PwC 24, while Bain, BCG and McKinsey together made 48.
The IIM Lucknow highest salary package in finance was recorded at Rs 1 CPA, with average salary package of Rs 34.8 LPA below consulting. Consulting’s own best offer was Rs 45.4 LPA.
Overall, 559 students received more than 580 offers, with a median salary package of Rs 32.9 lakh.
IIM Kozhikode: Strong on Consulting
IIM Kozhikode’s 2025 report highlights that the finance sector produced the batch’s highest salary package of Rs 81 LPA with Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Citi, Barclays, Deutsche Bank and Ambit Capital all recruiting. The IIM K highest salary package for the finance sector was recorded at Rs 24.97 LPA. The overall average salary package of IIM Kozhikode was recorded at Rs 28.18 LPA.
In the Consulting domain, the best offer was Rs 45.50 LPA, with its average salary package recorded at Rs 33.13 LPA, given that it is the highest average package of any domain and Rs 8 LPA higher than finance. It took 32% of offers, with Bain, BCG, Kearney, Accenture Strategy and EY-Parthenon hiring.
For IT and analytics, the average salary package was Rs 28.54 LPA with 13.5% of offers. And female students averaged Rs 31.04 LPA, which is nearly Rs 3 LPA above the batch, in a cohort that was 41% women.
Overall, the placement report this year listed 561 students, 169 recruiters, median salary package of Rs 27.50 LPA. That median salary package, however, sits below Lucknow, Bangalore and Calcutta.
IIM Indore: Best for Consulting
IIM Indore ran the broadest drive of any top IIM this season with over 240 recruiters, more than 70 of them hiring on campus for the first time, for a batch of 586. Consulting took 41% of offers, a bigger share than at Ahmedabad, Calcutta or Lucknow. Among recruiters, Bain appears through Bain Capability Network, its analytics support arm, and the bulk of consulting hiring came from Accenture, Deloitte, EY, KPMG, PwC and Infosys Consulting.
Finance took 20%, with Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Bank of America, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Nomura and DE Shaw all recruiting. Sales and marketing took 13%, IT and analytics 11%. The IIM Indore average salary package was recorded at Rs 27.27 LPA and the median salary package at Rs 25 LPA. The latest placement report highlights that IIM Indore received a total of 158 offers and 27% of all placements came through pre-placement offers. If you are focusing on summer internship, it matters more here than almost anywhere.
IIM Mumbai: Best for Operations and Supply Chain
Supply chain was the single largest role category at IIM Mumbai, taking 30% of all offers, ahead of consulting at 23%. For comparison, operations and supply chain together accounted for under 3% of offers at IIM Ahmedabad and 3% at IIM Lucknow.
Of 505 students, 178 are enrolled in a dedicated MBA in Operations and Supply Chain Management. The institute is the nodal centre for the government’s PM Gati Shakti programme and hosts a Centre of Excellence in Logistics and Supply Chain Management. Recruiters included Maersk, FedEx, Michelin and Schneider Electric alongside the usual names.
Consulting recruiters consisted of Accenture, Deloitte, EY, KPMG, PwC, Kearney and Alvarez & Marsal. Bain appears as Bain Capability Network. The IIM Mumbai average salary package was Rs 31.4 lakh, with the top 10% averaging at Rs 47.5 LPA. The three-year average median at IIM Mumbai was Rs 33 LPA. At 48% women, this was also the most gender-balanced batch in this comparison.
Domain-Wise Share of Offers at Each Old IIM
| IIM | Consulting | Finance | Sales and marketing | IT and analytics | Operations, supply chain |
| Ahmedabad | 37.50% | 20.30% | 9.40% | 0.50% | 2.80% |
| Calcutta | 38% | 18.60% | 9% | 13.30% | – |
| Bangalore | 45% | 11% | – | 14% | – |
| Lucknow | 39% | 17% | 8% | 13% | 3% |
| Kozhikode | 32% | 19.20% | 14.40% | 13.50% | 4.50% |
| Indore | 41% | 20% | 13% | 11% | – |
| Mumbai | 23% | 13% | 22% | 7% | 30% |
Old IIMs: Consulting vs Finance
| IIM | Consulting | Finance | Consulting advantage |
| Ahmedabad (median) | Rs 40.09 LPA | Rs 35.74 LPA | Rs 4.35 LPA |
| Calcutta (median) | ~ Rs 44 LPA | ~ Rs 37 LPA | ~ + Rs 7 LPA |
| Lucknow (average) | Rs 36.90 LPA | Rs 34.80 LPA | Rs 2.10 LPA |
| Kozhikode (average) | Rs 33.13 LPA | Rs 24.97 LPA | Rs 8.16 LPA |
Conclusion
Consulting is one of the largest domains at six of the seven IIMs, accounting for 32% of roles at Kozhikode and 45% at Bangalore. IIM Mumbai was the only exception, with supply chain leading at 30%. The highest package however, often came from different domains. Finance offered the highest package at Ahmedabad, Calcutta, Lucknow, and Kozhikode. At Bangalore, Accenture Strategy made more offers than all three combined. At Indore and Mumbai, Bain appeared through its Capability Network.
The next blog will cover the same for Second-Generation and Newer IIMs, covering placement patterns, leading career domains, recruiter presence, and typical salaries. The analysis will include Shillong, Rohtak, Ranchi, Raipur, Tiruchirappalli, Kashipur, Udaipur, Nagpur, Visakhapatnam, Amritsar, Bodh Gaya, Sambalpur, Sirmaur, Jammu, and the newly established IIM Guwahati.
FAQs
IIM Ahmedabad. Consulting took 37.5% of offers, with BCG making 35, Accenture Strategy 31 and Bain 17. IIM Bangalore has a higher consulting share at 45%.
IIM Calcutta, which calls itself India’s finance campus. Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Bank of America, Citi, DE Shaw and UBS all recruited from the 61st batch.
IIM Lucknow, for recruiter access. HUL, ITC, P&G, Colgate-Palmolive, Marico, Dabur, Godrej, PepsiCo and Tata Consumer all hired from the 2026 batch. But sales and marketing took 8% of placements at an average of Rs 28.5 lakh, against a batch average of Rs 33.2 lakh.
IIM Mumbai. Supply chain was the single largest role category at 30% of offers, ahead of consulting at 23%. The equivalent figure is under 3% at IIM Ahmedabad and 3% at IIM Lucknow.
