Three Indian business schools – MDI-Gurgaon, IIM-Calcutta and IIM-Kozhikode – have got into the Financial Times (FT) Executive Education Custom Ranking for the first time this year. The rankings for bespoke courses for 2025 also witnessed Indian School of Business (ISB) Hyderabad taking the top spot in Asia, pipping China-based Ceibs.
Overall, Indian institutes have performed better than last year. For instance, ISB has been ranked at 23 in 2025, up three notches from the 2024 slot. Similarly, IIM Bangalore is ranked at 46, moving two places up.
As against four business schools from India making it to the list last year, the 2025 rankings featured seven from the country. France-based EMLyon Business School (57), which has a campus in Mumbai, is also on this year’s list.
The FT rankings, which features a total of 95 institutes this year, assess institutes on four broad parameters, and 14 sub-parameters such as programme design, faculty, value for money, new skills & learning, future use, etc.
ISB has secured high global rankings across several key parameters, including 2 in ‘future use’, indicating the client satisfaction; 12 in ‘value for money’; 22 in ‘programme design’; 23 in ‘international clients’.
Sunill Sood, executive director (executive education) at ISB said that the latest rankings reinforce the institute’s commitment to developing and delivering programmes that address the evolving and urgent needs of today’s industry. “This recognition encourages us to continue designing world-class programmes that empower our participants to become catalysts of meaningful change,” he said.
Globally, the Switzerland-based IMD is ranked the top institute for executive education this year. The institute jumped two positions to secure the top rank, dethroning the France-based Insead which topped last year.
London Business School too registered a sharp jump from 7 in 2024 to 2 in 2025.
France has the most number of MBA institutes (16) on the list this year followed by the UK.
Executive MBA programmes suit the diverse needs of working professionals who are already pursuing a full-time career but want to combine it with management education. During the programmes, the participants get to learn from faculty on the theoretical aspects of management, and blend it with their practical understanding of the business environment.