A few years ago, it was boom time in India. The economy was awash with capital and investors were salivating at the prospect of a nation with a young population and a growing aspirational middle class. For many entrepreneurs, whatever their background and experience, opening a business school seemed like a golden investment opportunity.
“The education market got seduced,” says Ajit Rangnekar, dean at the Indian School of Business, one of the most respected institutions in the country. “A whole lot of opportunists and, as always, some charlatans started all sorts of business schools ... thinking this is now the magic mantra to make money.”
Although some of India’s newer MBA programmes are highly regarded, such overzealous enthusiasm helped create a bubble of oversupply in the management education market. However, this bubble has now burst, as the Indian economy limps out of its worst financial crisis in almost two decades and the poor quality of many of these fledgling institutions has come to light.