Why People want to do EXPGP or PGPX?

Why MBA now? This is a typical question which is asked to almost all aspirants to EX PG courses across the world. We believe every aspirant is well versed to answer such questions.

Let’s see chronologically when the executive MBA has really made its mark in India. Last few years have seen phenomenal growth in executive MBA courses being offered by leading B-Schools in India. This trend of accelerated MBA targeting individuals with substantial work experience actually started by the arrival of Indian School of Business at Hyderabad, in India in the year 2001. In autumn of 2001, IIM Indore launched its EXPGP program, the US version of Ex-MBA in India, wherein working executives go to a B-School at regular intervals and then go back at their workplace and implement what they have learnt. Since then there is no looking back. IIM Ahmedabd launched its version of PGPX in 2005; followed by IIM Calcutta in 2006 .IIM Lucknow joined the bandwagon in 2007 by launching its own version of EX-MBA titled IPMX. The courses offered have different flavours but one thing that is common to all courses is that, they all target individuals with substantial work experience, ranging from 2 plus years at ISB, 5 plus years at IIM Indore to 7 plus years at IIM Ahmedabad. There is also an effort on the part of institutes to give these courses international flavour - all of the IIMs and ISB require GMAT score as one of the requirements for getting admission

But the question still remains to be answered, why there’s a spurt in such courses, offered by leading B-Schools in India. For us, who want to learn new skills to move to next level and to increase market value, an IIM degree was a must. We have observed the market scenario changing rapidly in last few years. It has become imperative for the working managers to change to this market needs drastically; lest they have a chance of being left out. This factor becomes more crucial for those in middle management positions. It’s no secret that in India and elsewhere, transition from lower level to middle level is smooth, but growing beyond this gets tougher at every step. The transformation from a Manager to a Leader takes place from this middle level onwards. This is what many participants we met felt. Says Mrinal Srivastava, an IIT Kanpur alumni and a admit at ISB, having learnt so much after spending considerable time in the Industry, I felt its time to revalidate my learning and equip myself with necessary skills so that my transformation to higher level becomes smooth and fast. Similar sentiments were echoed by Chandan Pal, an EXPGP participant at IIM Indore; he felt that this program helps him in honing his abilities to identify and seize opportunities, foster professional relationships across major industries and compete globally, may be even change his line of profession from IT to finance or consulting. The reasons are various but ultimate goal is the same. To learn, revalidate, equip and get ready to face the rigors of rapidly changing market dynamics, act as an agent of change and be a winner! Moreover, the accelerated MBA format not only makes one more competitive in the business world, but also gives one the confidence that comes from possessing a broad business background having excelled in a diverse team environment at work.


The other factor that propelled the growth is the rapidly growing Indian economy. The Indian economy has been growing at a consistent staggering rate of over 8 % per annum for the last five years. This has fuelled the demand for change managers. Managers who can act as instrument of change and lead by example. This demand has not only being generated by Indian companies but by many Multi National Corporations who are flocking to India in hordes and setting up their operations for various reasons. Inspite of all the hoopla of India having the largest trained manpower in the world, its no secret that quality of the workforce is a big question mark. Talk to any HR personnel and he can talk hours on how they are unable to find the right kind of talent in India. This reflects that there is growing market for management trainings, especially world class trainings and who else is equipped to train such people than the top B-Schools in India. Although the IIMs churn out excellent graduates but they are mostly freshers and there is time gap between where they are required and what there skill levels are at the time of graduation. This gap has fuelled the demand for PGPEX courses, wherein good managers go to the B school get trained in the world class facility and come back to work in about a year. Needless to the say, the managers who get admission to such courses have great potential to be world-class and have demonstrated their talent at work place and that’s the reason why they get chosen through a stringent admission process.

Another reason is that there is a class of Indians who always thought globally. We had many in our graduation class; bright people who did not wanted to write CAT but what wanted to write GMAT, do a MBA from abroad after 4-5 years of work experience. These courses have opened another window for such individuals. We have met some, who even after clocking 700+ in GMAT have chosen to do EPGP from IIM Indore foregoing the lure of international universities. For those who have contemplated coming back to India after MBA from foreign universities, this is a golden chance.

The rise of middle class in India also contributes to popularity of such courses. There are many in jobs who just wanted to do different and did not know how to do it. These courses also help such individuals and give them a chance of chosing their desired profession, which was not possible earlier in India. For example these courses also help in bringing out the cocooned entrepreneur sleeping within an individual and help him chase his dream.

There may be many more reasons, but one thing is for sure, the demand for such courses is growing exponentially. We are sure that other IIM’s and other institutes in India are also eager to jump into fray and design their own version of EXPGP courses to cater to this growing market of executives looking to go back to school!