Second ISB may come up in North

After Hyderabad, it could be Sonepat's turn.

Another Indian School of Business (ISB) is taking shape. Rajat Gupta, the former CEO of McKinsey & Company and now a senior partner in the professional services firm, along with his team is planning to set up a second ISB, this time in the North.

The existing ISB in Hyderabad was Gupta's brainchild and is among India's most coveted business schools. It is spread over 260 acres of land and was set up in December 1999 at a cost of around Rs 100 crore.

A possible site could be Sonepat in Haryana, which is a less than two hours' drive from Delhi. The Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) is planning an education city there. When contacted, an official of the state's technical education department confirmed the HUDA move, but declined to comment on whether ISB had approached the state for land. However, HUDA has no plans to allot land at subsidised rates or free to any education body, the official added.

The new school could be an extension of ISB or could have a new name altogether. Gupta and his team are also said to be in talks with the London Business School, The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University for an academic partnership with the new school. These schools are existing academic partners of the Hyderabad-based ISB.

"Funds for the new school are already pouring in and are not a problem. Donors who funded the existing ISB are ready to give money for the new school as well," the sources said.

Besides, new partners are also being looked at," the sources added.

ISB runs postgraduate programmes in management, leading to a Master of Business Administration degree, post doctoral programmes as well as an executive education programme for serving executives. The average domestic salary offered to ISB payouts this year was Rs 15 lakh with the highest domestic offer being Rs 43 lakh. The average international salary was $135,000, the highest being $269,000.

The ISB board comprises top names from the world of business like Anil Ambani, Rahul Bajaj, Yogi Deveshwar, Adi Godrej, KV Kamath and Uday Kotak.