If you get both XLRI and TISS, you should choose the latter. Both of these are widely reputed. These offer different value propositions and learnings. XLRI is a true blue B-school. It is competitive and placement-oriented.
TISS isn’t your typical B-school. It is a social sciences school, where placement follows knowledge. They have an opinionated, liberal knowledge-oriented approach towards academics. The pedagogy is research and fieldwork-oriented. You can choose any of the courses as optional irrespective of your course. This will help develop your perspective towards our country.
Placement isn’t an issue for these institutes. You will get good ROI from both. The XLRI vs TISS is a never-ending debate and there isn’t any clear winner. You won’t miss out on any opportunity if you choose one over the other.
NIRF has ranked XLRI in 9th and TISS in the 34th position for management studies in India, 2020.
It must be noted that XLRI is specifically dedicated to management studies and is popular for it whereas TISS offers a wide range of courses across various streams.
The tabulation below gives a short overview of both the B-Schools.
Category |
XLRI |
TISS |
Total seats offered |
120 |
120 |
Annual tuition fee |
23.6 lakhs |
1.05 lakhs |
Popular courses |
BM, HRM |
HRM |
Placement rate |
100% |
100% |
Highest package |
58.5 LPA |
32.79 LPA |
Average package |
26 LPA |
21.15 LPA |
Admission:
XLRI:
XLRI conducts the Xavier Aptitude Test (XAT) every year in the month of January which is followed by group discussion and personal interview rounds for admission.
95% is the cutoff for male candidates to join the BM program whereas 93% in the case of females for the same.
For the HRM courses, 93% and 91% are the cutoffs for male and female candidates respectively.
TISS:
Aspirants must clear the entrance exam of TISS for management courses i.e; TISSNET upon which they will be selected for the PI round.
Cutoff for HRM program for general and OBC categories are 74 and 67 respectively.
Placement statistics:
XLRI:
The batch of 2020 recorded 100% placement with 362 overall domestic and international offers.
The average CTC was recorded to be 26 LPA whereas the highest package was 58.5 LPA.
Sales & marketing and BFSI were the top sectors where students were placed. 17% of these roles constituted students from Business Management.
TISS:
IBM, Amazon, TCS, Reliance Jio, Accenture, Tech Mahindra were the top recruiters of 2020.
100% of the students were placed with the median CTC of 21.15 LPA. The best CTC offered this year was 32.79 LPA.
The majority of the students got placed under the FMCG sector.
All students of batch 2020 availed summer internship opportunity with an average stipend of 1.2 lakhs per month.
Both XLRI and TISS are top-notch B-schools in terms of exposure, crowd, curriculum. XLRI has slightly better placement records. Comparatively, TISS has a more economically affordable fee structure. Ultimately it's up to aspirants to decide what is best for them.