If you are a consultant or a finance manager with six years of experience, an offer from both ISB and IIM Bangalore in the same week, and a single question ("which one gets me into McKinsey, BCG or Bain?"), the numbers below will disappoint you slightly and help you a lot. The two one-year programmes post almost identical average packages. What differs is who sits next to you, how many of you there are, and how much of the consulting story either school will actually show you. This is the ISB vs IIM Bangalore EPGP comparison for people who care about consulting outcomes first.
The headline numbers side by side
ISB's PGP Class of 2026 reported 1,117 offers and an average CTC of INR 37.29 lakh, up 11 percent on the previous cohort, with a highest offer of INR 1.56 crore, per Business Today's report of 6 April 2026. The cohort is 808 students by the InsideIIM tally.
IIM Bangalore's EPGP for 2025-26 reports an average CTC of INR 37.10 lakh and a median of INR 36.50 lakh, according to InsideIIM's EPGP placement summary. The batch had 73 students, 61 of whom accepted offers through the process, with 22 recruiters participating.
The gap in averages is INR 0.19 lakh, or INR 19,000 a year. No applicant should choose a school on that. Note the caveat on our own data: the IIMB figures come from a third-party summary of the placement brochure, not from a page on iimb.ac.in, and ISB's median was not reported in the sources we could verify. Treat both as directional until you have read the official reports.
What the consulting data actually shows
This is where applicants over-read. The EPGP summary puts consulting at 50 percent of accepted offers and technology and products at 24 percent, so consulting plus tech is 74 percent of the batch. Of the three MBB firms, only McKinsey appears in the recruiter list of 22. EY-Parthenon, Accenture Strategy and Consulting, Alvarez & Marsal and Accordion are the other consulting-adjacent names.
ISB's side is broader but vaguer. Business Today names McKinsey, BCG, Bain and Deloitte among consulting recruiters and calls consulting, tech and BFSI the top hiring sectors, with no percentage split. We have made the same point before in our analysis of ISB's MBB share by cohort: ISB has never published an MBB seat count, so nobody outside the Placement Office can say how many of 808 students converted a Bain, BCG or McKinsey offer.
So the honest read is this. IIMB EPGP publishes a cleaner sector split on a tiny batch. ISB gives you three MBB firms on the recruiter list and a far larger pool of every kind of offer. Neither school lets you verify an MBB conversion rate.
Batch size, experience band and fees
The EPGP brochure for 2026-27 is specific on eligibility: graduation with at least 50 percent, a valid GMAT or GRE (at-home online scores are not accepted), and a minimum of five years of post-graduation work experience. The class runs from 5 to 13 years of experience, with GMAT scores between 640 and 760, per the official EPGP brochure. Total fees for 2025-26 were INR 33.71 lakh with hostel accommodation on campus.
ISB's published tuition is INR 25.62 lakh, but the realistic year-one bill with admission fee, GST, hostel and living costs lands at INR 43 to 47 lakh, as we break down in our ISB Hyderabad full cost guide. On sticker price the EPGP is cheaper. On the work-experience band, ISB's Class of 2026 averaged about four years of experience per the profile data in our class profile post, so you are the older, more senior person at ISB if you have six years and one of the younger people at IIMB.
That mismatch matters for consulting. MBB firms hire at different levels depending on prior experience. A nine-year veteran thinking about a similar trade-off should read our ISB PGP vs IIM Ahmedabad PGPX comparison, because the logic carries over.
If you are a consultant with five to eight years at a Big 4 or Tier-2 firm
You want an exit to MBB or a senior strategy role, and you are already used to client work. The EPGP cohort of 73 gives you a small, senior peer set and an unusually high consulting share at 50 percent. The risk is concentration: with one named MBB firm on the recruiting list, your outcome depends on a handful of seats. ISB gives you more recruiter variety but a younger cohort and more competition from people with fewer years behind them.
If you are an IT services engineer with six to nine years of experience
You are the profile ISB's 808-seat cohort absorbs in volume, and the profile for whom the technology and BFSI paths matter more than MBB. EPGP's 24 percent technology and products share is a real route, but 73 seats means 73 shots in total, whatever the sector. If MBB is your only goal and you have never worked in consulting, neither school makes it easy, and the profile evaluation is a better first step than either application.
If you are a finance professional at the 5-year mark
Finance and banking are 10 percent of the EPGP split, against a BFSI recruiter bench at ISB that includes Barclays, Kotak Mahindra Capital, DSP Asset Managers, Jefferies India and Nomura. If your goal is buy-side or investment banking, ISB's recruiter list is the wider net. If your goal is consulting from a finance base, either works and the EPGP's experience floor will suit you.
Common questions
Is IIM Bangalore EPGP better than ISB PGP for consulting? On published data it is not clearly better. The averages are INR 37.10 lakh versus INR 37.29 lakh, and EPGP shows a 50 percent consulting share while ISB publishes no split. EPGP has a cleaner sector number; ISB has more named MBB recruiters and far more seats.
Can I apply to both? Yes. EPGP needs GMAT or GRE and five years of experience; ISB accepts GMAT, GRE or its own accepted tests for PGP. Our ISB PGP admissions guide covers the ISB timeline and rounds.
Does EPGP have fewer seats than ISB? Substantially. The reported EPGP batch is 73 students, against 808 in ISB's Class of 2026.
Which is cheaper? EPGP's 2025-26 total fees were INR 33.71 lakh with hostel. ISB's all-in year-one cost is closer to INR 43 to 47 lakh once GST and living costs are counted.
What this means for Indian applicants
If you have five to six years of experience and want a small cohort with a published consulting share, shortlist the EPGP. If you have fewer than five years, you are not eligible, so the decision is made for you. If you want recruiter breadth, a larger alumni pool and the option of a non-consulting pivot, ISB's PGP has the wider net, as covered in our ISB vs IIM Bangalore decision framework. Start with the ISB PGP admissions guide to see whether your profile fits, then run your numbers through a profile evaluation before paying two application fees.
Related reading
- ISB vs IIM Bangalore 2026: An Indian Applicant Decision Framework
- ISB PGP Consulting Placements 2026: MBB Share by Cohort
- MBA and MiM admissions support
Sources verified 7 October 2026. Next review 1 January 2027. IIMB EPGP placement figures are drawn from a third-party summary of the school's placement brochure and should be confirmed against the official report.