GMAT loses edge in India

16% decline in the number of Indian students taking GMAT in 2003-04.

Even though many continue to see GMAT as a must-cross hurdle to gain a career edge, a recent study conducted by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) has made a startling revelation "" the number of Indian students taking the test has fallen rather alarmingly.

The admission council, which conducts GMAT in partnership with the Executive MBA Council of the US, has revealed a 16 per cent decline in the number of Indian students appearing for the test in 2003-2004 compared with 2002-2003.

The study also indicates that the number may fall by as much as 25 per cent in the next year.

The report is based on feedback from representatives of 352 graduate business programmes and 238 programmes from 143 leading B-schools across the world, mainly from the US, which participated in the survey called 'Application Trends Survey-2004'.

"Around 16 per cent of the schools surveyed received fewer applications from India, while 25 per cent received less applications from China in 2004 than in 2003. While China tops the list of countries reporting a decline in the number of students taking the GMAT, India comes second followed by South Korea, reporting a 6 per cent decline, much lower than that of India while the US and UK report only a 3 per cent fall," says the study.

Although the total number of GMAT applicants declined by 4 per cent in 2003-04 compared with 2002-03, it was 16 per cent in India's case.

The study also reveals that 57,670 non-US students appeared for GMAT in 2003, while in 2004, only 50,629 opted for the test. In 2002, 69,314 non-US students had opted for GMAT.

Interestingly, while the number of Indian students appearing for the test has fallen, the trend is exactly the reverse in the case of the common admission test (CAT) conducted by the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs).

To find a berth in six IIMs and few other leading B-schools in India, the number of students appearing for the CAT has seen a steep rise in the past few years. In 1999, around 70,000 students took the test, while 1,24,500 took the test in 2003 and the number rose to 1,46,000 in 2004.

A source close to the IIM-A, reacting to the GMAC report, said: "One of the main reasons why Indian students are aspiring more for studying in the IIMs or other such schools in India is the cost factor as US B-schools charge much higher fees than the IIMs, and some of them charge even 100 per cent more than the fees charged by B-schools in the European countries. Then there is the case of IIM graduates bagging international jobs with phenomenal salaries and overseas postings. Salaries offered to IIM grads and grads from US B-schools hardly have any difference."