The top consulting firms in India for MBA students
Eighteen consulting firms have landed a place on the list of the top 100 employers in India for MBA graduates. The comprehensive list has been compiled by global employer branding firm Universum, and features big names from the worlds of strategy, management and IT consulting.
The rankings are based on a survey conducted among more than 3,000 MBA graduates in India. The research reveals that most graduates on the verge of starting their professional career appear well aware of market trends in India and across the globe, given the sectors that they wish to dive into.
Approximately a quarter of Indian MBA graduates surveyed hope to join a strategy or management consulting firm. India’s dynamic business environment has caused a spike in the demand for consulting services, driving major international consulting firms – including the Big Four – to ramp up their investment in the country.
A look at the top 100 employers reveals that graduates are also well aware of the tech revolution that India is currently going through. Ten of the eighteen consulting firms that made the top 100 employers are IT consulting firms, all of which are facing booming demand amid a rapidly digitalising economy.
Despite the fact that all three segments are on the rise in India, the fields of strategy, management and IT consulting are distinct in the type of engagements worked on, and hence the skills and talent that they require. Graduates who wish to begin a professional consulting career must be aware of these distinctions and differentiate between the consultancies they wish to join.
Strategy consulting is a top of the bill segment in the consulting world, and four prestigious strategy consulting firms feature in India's list of top 100 employers for graduates. McKinsey & Company leads the way in 7th place on the overall list, followed by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in 16th, Bain & Company in 43rd, and A.T. Kearney in 91st.
In the management consulting segment, the Big Four accounting and advisory firms are thriving in India. Deloitte is the most popular among the Big Four, ranked 4th overall, trailing just after American giants Google, Amazon and Apple.
EY, KPMG and PwC follow in 12th, 15th and 37th respectively. While PwC trails the Big Four, a suite of new policies under the firm's new Chief People Officer might contribute to its attractiveness as an employer.
Notable is that while management and digital consulting comprises the chunk of the work done by the Big Four, they also have dedicated strategy consulting divisions. Deloitte has Monitor Deloitte, EY operates with EY-Parthenon and PwC has Strategy&, which formed after it acquired Booz & Company.
The IT consulting segment dominates the consulting presence on the list, predictably led by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which places 8th in the top 100. In recent years, the firm has emerged as the largest IT services firm in India, and the fastest growing IT services firm in the world, making it an attractive prospect for graduates.
TCS is followed by Infosys and Wipro in 21st and 24th, followed by Accenture in 31st, although targeted investments have recently helped Accenture to gradually eat into the market share of the top three. Other leading IT consulting employers IBM in 36th, Cognizant in 40th, Capgemini in 54th and HCL Technologies in 87th. Oracle and SAP bring up the rear for MBA's in IT consulting in 96th and 99th respectively.
