INDIAN SCHOOL OF BILLIONAIRES. Review on Indian School of Business, Hyderabad

Money, get away.

Get a good job with good pay and you’re okay.

Money, it’s a gas.

Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash.

Don’t know how does it feel to be a billionaire. They are the rarest of the species ever evolved on this planet Earth. How rare? India with a billion plus population have only 27 billionaires i.e, one billionaire in every 37,03,703 Indians. Ofcourse, above figure doesn’t include the ones who, for whatever reasons, keep their money secretly under their pillows, in flush tanks, in swiss bank accounts, or 20 meters down in the backyard.

Is being a billionaire such a herculean task? Not really! If you have a degree/diploma from ISB (Indian School of Billionaires) or IIM (Indian Institute of Money), you may become one by the time you hang up your boots. That probably is the shortest way to rub shoulders with the likes of Laxmi Niwas Mittal and BIll Gates.

This year it was about ISBs vs IIMs? The students from these coveted institutions were being offered the kind of pay packages which other mortals wouldn’t earn in seven lifetimes.

But really is it about ISBs vs IIMs? I think the more institutions of excellence we have in India, the better. We are a country of a billion people which means that millions are thirsting for quality education. Competition always brings out the best and the consumer - in this case student - will benefit. But can the IIMs compete effectively if the government keeps throwing in some new clause or spanner in their functioning? I doubt, with the reservation quota lurking over it, future doesn’t seem so bright after all.

I am pretty sure some of the headlines appeared in various dailies were unintentional. I saw one which said, “ISB declines to reveal boy’s identity.” Another one, “ISB is not revealing boy’s identity, yet.” Some heinous crime has been committed and an organisation that goes by the initials of ISB is refusing to give up the accused.

The official release from ISB has not given out enough details. I guess, there are few questions that remain unanswered.

a) From the ISB placement factsheet it appears that the B-school is becoming a favoured hunting ground for Indian companies looking for middle and senior level talent. The number of foreign offers is 42, compared to 383 domestic offers. Isn’t the global/ Indian offers ratio is tilted against global offers. The Dean in fact commented that the ‘one crore’ salary was offered for a global position in an Indian company. (Did someone say ITC Infotech?)

b) 19 per cent women in a batch of 345 is a very impressive statistic. What’s more 2 women have actually bagged salaries in excess of $200,000. But I am a little intrigued by the fact that the average domestic salary for women is 9.89 lakhs vs the overall average of 11.77 lakhs. There might be a story there.

c) Lastly, the ISB course costs Rs 15 lakhs (tuition + boarding/ lodging). Plus all participants would have foregone 1 year of income - let's assume Rs 5 lakhs. I would be curious to know how the bottom half of the class (in terms of salaries bagged) feels. If you leave a Rs 5 lakh job, spend 15 lakhs and then bag a job with a salary of Rs 10 lakhs - is it still ‘worth it’?

But, we all know that the benefits of an MBA are far greater than financial. Isn’t it?

Another question pops up in my mind. Is it the peak of salary mountain -- what ISB and IIMs grads are being offered?

Not really! For example, there is someone called by the name of Stephen Hilbert, who earned a total of $277 million over the last five years as CEO of Conseco. That’s a lot of money, but remember: Hilbert founded Conseco, in 1979. He identified a niche in the insurance business, annuities and borrowed $10,000 to start the company. It was a risk, who knew whether people would buy Conseco's single-premium deferred annuities? But they did, and over the past five years Conseco's profits have jumped 117%, to $252 million, on a 121% sales gain, to $3.1 billion.

Conclusion - There are no limits as far as salary goes, provided you can earn that much and more back to the company. Afterall, its all about give and take.