One of the popular perceptions in the B-School aspirant community is that XLRI is the best B-School in the country if one wishes to pursue a career in Human Resource Management – but the truth is that XLRI is one of the best B-Schools irrespective of which specialisation you wish to pursue. In this post, I have put together some information about the Xavier School of Management – popularly known as XLRI Jamshedpur – and clear any cobwebs you may have in your mind with regards to joining this B-School.

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Xavier School of Management, a premier private management institute, was founded in 1949 by Fr Quinn Enright, S.J. in the ‘steel city’ of Jamshedpur. Over the last six decades, the institute has grown into a top-ranking business management school of international repute with a wide portfolio of management programs and research publications. XLRI continually strives to contribute its mite to the professional growth and management of numerous organizations and institutions across industry sectors. The institute  has consistently been ranked amongst the Top 5 B-Schools alongside IIM A, IIM B and IIM C.

The institute has a sprawling campus with the scenic setting of the Dalma Hills in the North and the Tata Iron & Steel Company in the South. Hostel facilities at XLRI, are provided for students of the residential programs, consist of the four hostel blocks with more than 400 rooms in total. Every hostel room has access points linking it to the campus-wide network and the various network resources and services. Its alumni are spread around the globe and have demonstrated responsible business leadership in their organizations.

Programs Offered

Source: http://www.xlri.ac.in/about/about-admission-procedure.aspx

* XLRI also offers PGDM(GM) program for working professionals with more than 5 years of work experience.

Student Intake

The XLRI programs are characterised by a much smaller intake in comparison to the IIMs- this ensures that you know everyone else in the batch. The bonding between the XLRI student community is exemplary with seniors helping out juniors on a regular basis. The gender ratio is skewed towards the male population, and is especially high for the BM program.

A majority of the class belongs to the engineering community – this is in contrast with the efforts made by the XAT authorities to make the test more “non-engineering friendly”. Maybe the same will change over the years to come.

While almost 20-22 percent of the batch have no work experience, a major chunk of the cohort have 2 to 4 years of work experience. The HRM batch usually has a higher proportion of freshers. The number of students with more than 4 years of work experience is very low.

Quality of Education

Undoubtedly, XLRI scores high on most of the parameters that would define the quality of education as well as the learning experience of students who would join this B-School.

Source: https://www.nirfindia.org/mgmt

Placement Statistics

The batch of 2014-16, the largest batch to sit for final placements in the history of XLRI, achieved 100 percent placement.

Total Students: 361 
Total offers: 386 
# Recruiters: 132 (incl 36 First-time recruiters) 
Median salary: Rs 18.00 lakh per annum
Average Salary: Rs 18.5 lakh per annum 
# PPOs: 102 (84  accepted)

Recruiter List:

BFSI:  ICICI Bank (21 offers), Citibank, DBS, Goldman Sachs, Standard Chartered and Yes Bank. Kotak Mahindra and Karvy (first-time recruiters). Roles offered: Wealth management, PE, Investment banking etc.

FMCG: ITC, Asian Paints, Colgate Palmolive, GSK CH, Heinz, HCCB, ITC, Mondelez, Kellogg’s, Mondelez, Nestle, PepsiCo, Reckitt Benckiser,  Unilever and others. Roles offered: Sales and marketing, HR

Media sector:  Star TV (12 offers), Airtel, Ericsson, Vodafone and Telenor

Supply Chain and Procurement: Ola Cabs, Uber, Tata Steel, Reliance Industries and Zensar

General Management: Aditya Birla Group, Mahindra & Mahindra, Reliance Industries, RPG and TAS

Consulting: Accenture Strategy, Capgemini Consulting, Cognizant Business Consulting, Deloitte, EY, Everest Group, Gallup, KPMG, McKinsey and Company, People Business Group, PwC, The Boston Consulting Group, Vector Consulting and Zensar.

Tech & E-Commerce: Call Health, Flipkart, Microsoft, Ola Cabs, Paytm, Samsung, Tech Mahindra and Wipro. Roles offered: Programme management, sales & marketing, HR and operations.
Future Group and Lodha Group recruited students from the HR function.

Student Life @ XLRI

A typical day in XLRI is about mad 200 mile per hour adrenaline rush of case studies, group discussions, fairs, examinations and mythical sports meets. There are conferences, seminars, guest lectures and workshops where a student is exposed to diverse views, opinions and ideas of many of the greatest minds in the world of business.

XLRI has tie-ups with top international schools such as Darden, ESADE, EM Lyon, Muenster for its exchange programme. About 20 percent of the batch spends a term in one of the partner institution. Most of the seats are available to both HR and BM programs. Around 40 international students spend a term at XLRI every year and get a flavor of studying in the Indian environment.

A plethora of Student Societies like AXIOM, CRUX, DRACULA,  FINAX, FIRE@X, MAXI, SPORTSCOM and SPICMACAY add spice to the  student life in XLRI.

Ensemble, an annual Inter B-School fest, is the flagship event of XLRI that brings the best of the industry and the student community gets together on a common platform. A wide variety of events are organized during this mega fest, where games test the future managers in various functional areas of management and highlight their analytical skills, to nurture the spirit of innovation and competition.

The annual XL-IIMC sports meet is something that rouses passions in both the campuses. The meet is alternately conducted in the two campuses and consists of 21 games played in true “business spirit”. Over two days and nights, the campus is electrified with excitement and fun, on and off the field as the host and visitors, players and supporters slug it out.Who holds the trophy for the year is generally a matter of great pride and privilege for all concerned.

XLRI has a three-day team building programme, which is compulsory for all students. The objective of the programme is to develop leadership and teamwork through adventure activities. The programme includes overnight camping and other outdoor activities.

All the rich traditions of various parts of India are celebrated with much fan-fare in the campus. Faculty, Students and Staff come together to celebrate national festivals like Diwali, Holi, Dandiya (the traditional dance festival is celebrated during the Navratri celebrations) etc. Besides these, the institute regularly hosts XLRI Institution Dinner where the XLRI faculty-student family comes together for informal get-togethers.

So, should you join XLRI?

Absolutely yes – even if you do not wish to pursue a specialisation in HR! To make an exception, you should either have an admit from IIM A, IIM B, IIM C or ISB in India  or looking to pursue an International MBA from top ranking Global B-Schools. So, go ahead in your pursuit of joining one of the best B-Schools in India – and add an X-Factor to your resume:-)