Life After MBA – A Different Analysis


I have seen various analysis and arguments about doing an MBA and Return on Investment (ROI) for the same. Different people have different perspective on doing and MBA and not just that, different people have different opinion on doing an MBA in India or abroad. This article aims at showcasing a different perspective all together, how comfortable will life be post MBA assuming that the student opts for a loan to fund his MBA.

As I am quite passionate about ISB I am trying to compare colleges ranked on par with ISB on Financial Times. Here are the set of assumptions I am considering.

1. MBA in ISB costs close to INR 30,00,000 per annum inclusive of all expenses.

2. MBA in a US university ranked on par with ISB costs close to USD 1,75,000 including all expenses.

3. You end up with an average pay package post MBA, which is INR 17,00,000 in ISB and around USD 1,10,000 in a US School.

4. You take a loan either in India or in US. ISB has a tie up with most banks in India to provide student loans at 10% interest per annum whereas a general education loan has an interest rate of 11.55% in India. Students who are able to avail a loan in US for their MBA in US can get a loan at around 6% interest rate (depends on various factors again).

5. I am assuming a pay hike of around 4% per annum in US and 5% per annum in India.


The first four columns are just copied on to each year, this does not mean that you are availing a new loan every year! I just placed those numbers in each year for easy reference. The first two rows in each year assume the currency to be US Dollars and the last row assumes the currency to be in Indian Rupees. You can download the complete excel sheet to mess around with the calculations for the B School of your choice. Link for document: ROI

The EMI amount has been calculated using the web tool provided by SBI.

The numbers are quite evident above. I feel that doing a US MBA by availing a loan in India will make life quite difficult till the loan is repaid to the bank. Living in the on USD 2500 – USD 3600 per month is no easy task and things will prove to be even more challenging if someone is married. On the other hand, one can live a good enough life in India with INR 35,000 to INR 56,000. Life does change a lot once the loan is completed, a luxurious life can be led in India as well as in US. For the kind of life I aspire to live an MBA from ISB makes more sense.