How consulting hiring works in India
Campus placements, the firms, lateral hiring, and the formats you may see.
Firm processes and online tests change from year to year and differ by office. Use this to prepare, and confirm the exact current steps on the firm's own careers page.
Key takeaways
- Lateral placements, for students with substantial work experience, ran from 5 to 15 January 2026 in the 2025-26 cycle.
- Summer internships run in April, May, and June of the first year, for eight to ten weeks.
- IIM Ahmedabad (the institute's own placement report): BCG made 33 offers in the management consulting cohort, McKinsey 21, and Bain 20.
- IIM Calcutta: BCG was the top recruiter in the management consulting cohort, and Accenture Strategy was the leading recruiter in the strategy consulting cohort.
This lesson was checked against the sources listed at the end, official pages first. Firm processes change between offices, roles, and years, so use it as a guide and confirm the details in your invitation and with your recruiter.
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Campus placements
For MBA graduates, most MBB hiring in India happens through final placement processes at a small group of business schools, such as the IIMs and ISB (reported). Firms visit on scheduled placement days, and a candidate may interview with several firms on the same day.
An example campus calendar: IIM Ahmedabad (institute pages, checked 2026-09-28)
- Final placements run in January and February: company presentations from early January to mid-February, CV submission from mid-January to mid-February, shortlists from early to late February, and pre-processes and interviews from mid-February to mid-March. IIM Ahmedabad now uses a cohort-based system rather than placement days.
- Lateral placements, for students with substantial work experience, ran from 5 to 15 January 2026 in the 2025-26 cycle.
- Summer internships run in April, May, and June of the first year, for eight to ten weeks. The institute page does not give the dates of the summer placement process itself, so ask your placement committee.
- Other schools set their own calendars. Your placement committee's dates are the ones that count.
Reported 2026 placement results
- IIM Ahmedabad (the institute's own placement report): BCG made 33 offers in the management consulting cohort, McKinsey 21, and Bain 20.
- IIM Calcutta: BCG was the top recruiter in the management consulting cohort, and Accenture Strategy was the leading recruiter in the strategy consulting cohort.
Firms that hire in India
- McKinsey, BCG, and Bain, with offices in several Indian cities.
- Accenture Strategy and Kearney, both large campus recruiters (reported).
- Deloitte, EY-Parthenon, KPMG, and PwC, which hire large consulting classes (reported).
- Indian strategy firms such as Redseer and Praxis Global Alliance. See the Indian strategy firms module.
- MBB capability centres, such as the Bain Capability Network and McKinsey's Global Capabilities and Services in Gurugram. These are research, data, and analytics roles that support client teams.
Lateral and undergraduate hiring
- Experienced candidates usually apply online to a specific office (reported).
- Undergraduates are more often hired into analyst, research, or capability centre roles than into MBB client-facing roles (reported). Check each posting.
Formats you may see
- Guesstimates (market sizing) are very common, especially at Indian firms and in early rounds (reported).
- Several case rounds in one day during placements, so stamina matters (reported).
- Interviews are in English.
| Firm | Bachelor's or master's entry | MBA entry | Where we checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| McKinsey & Company | Business Analyst (fellow and intern roles also exist) | Associate | mckinsey.com student career pages |
| BCG | Associate (Senior Associate for many PhD students) | Consultant | careers.bcg.com early-career and job pages |
| Bain & Company | Associate Consultant | Consultant | bain.com hiring-process pages |
| Roland Berger | Junior Consultant | Read the job posting | rolandberger.com job postings |
| EY-Parthenon (US) | Associate Program | Consultant Program (check eligibility) | ey.com US EY-Parthenon career pages |
| KPMG (UK) | Strategy Graduate Programme (per a 2019 KPMG brochure; check the current posting) | Read the job posting | kpmgcareers.co.uk |
| All other firms here | Varies by country and team | Varies by country and team | Read the job posting for your office |
So-what
Titles differ by office and country, so always read the posting for the office you apply to.
Last reviewed: 2026-09-28. Sources, official pages first. "Reported" means a secondary source, not the firm or government itself.
- BCG: Offices in India (official): https://www.bcg.com/india/offices
- Bain: Bain Capability Network (BCN) (official): https://www.bain.com/careers/work-with-us/integrated-teams/bain-capability-network-bcn/
- McKinsey: Global Capabilities and Services in India, Gurugram (official): https://www.mckinsey.com/in/our-work/mckinsey-global-capabilities-and-services-in-india-gurugram
- Redseer: About us (official): https://redseer.com/about-us/
- Praxis Global Alliance: Careers (official): https://www.praxisga.com/career
- IIM Ahmedabad: PGP final placements 2025-26 (official): https://www.iima.ac.in/inmediapgp-final-placements-2025-26
- IIM Ahmedabad: MBA career and placement (placement calendar) (official): https://www.iima.ac.in/academics/mba/career-and-placement
- Reported: Shiksha, IIM Ahmedabad placements 2026: https://www.shiksha.com/mba/articles/iim-ahmedabad-placements-blogId-20099
- Reported: Careers360, IIM Calcutta consulting placements 2026: https://www.careers360.com/mba/articles/iim-calcutta-consulting-placements-2026-top-consulting-recruiters-bcg-accenture
- Reported: RoadToOffer, Consulting firms in India: https://www.roadtooffer.com/blog/consulting-firms-in-india
Sources for this lesson (10)
- BCG: Offices in India (official)
- Bain: Bain Capability Network (BCN) (official)
- McKinsey: Global Capabilities and Services in India, Gurugram (official)
- Redseer: About us (official)
- Praxis Global Alliance: Careers (official)
- IIM Ahmedabad: PGP final placements 2025-26 (official)
- IIM Ahmedabad: MBA career and placement (placement calendar) (official)
- Reported: Shiksha, IIM Ahmedabad placements 2026
- Reported: Careers360, IIM Calcutta consulting placements 2026
- Reported: RoadToOffer, Consulting firms in India
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