ISB Launches Inaugural PGP for Young Leaders; Women Constitute 50% of Batch

By: WE Staff | Saturday, 12 July 2025

• The first cohort of the Indian School of Business's (ISB) recently launched 20-month Post Graduate Programme in Management for Young Leaders (PGP YL)
• course aimed at professionals in their early careers
• By providing tuition waivers to 36% of the original cohort, ISB has shown its dedication to promoting merit and inclusivity

The Indian School of Business (ISB) has commenced the first batch of its newly introduced 20-month Post Graduate Programme in Management for Young Leaders (PGP YL) with 130 students. Reflecting on its commitment to merit and inclusiveness, ISB has given free waivers to 36 percent of the founding batch—37 have been given full waivers, and 9 partial waivers.

The first class, with a mean age of 23 years, consists of students from a vast range of academic backgrounds. 32 percent are new graduates, and the rest have a work experience of up to two years in varied sectors. Half the class is women, and the students represent all major regions of India, which solidifies the programme's emphasis on diversity and inclusion.

ISB also noted the cohort's good academic performance, with mean standardized test scores of 99.1 percentile in CAT, 731 on GMAT Classic, 677 on GMAT Focus, and 327 on the GRE. Welcoming the new batch, ISB Dean Professor Madan Pillutla said:

"We are excited to welcome the inaugural PGP YL class. This programme is designed for recent graduates and early career professionals with very high potential in business, technology, and leadership. This class over the period of 20 months will go through an intense leadership accelerator with ISB's world-class faculty and industry experts."

While that is happening, ISB Hyderabad remains at the top among Indian business schools in the world. In the Financial Times (FT) Global MBA Rankings 2025, ISB placed 27th globally, becoming the top-ranked Indian management school. That is a consistent climb for ISB, which was ranked 31 in 2024 and 39 in 2023, with a three-year average position of 32. ISB also received a whopping 4th globally for alumni network.

Overall, eight Indian business schools made it to the FT list this year, up from six last year. Some other Indian business schools on the list are IIM Ahmedabad (31), IIM Bangalore (57), IIM Calcutta (61), IIM Lucknow (71), IIM Indore (69, first-time entry), IIM Kozhikode (86, first-time entry)

Interestingly, IIM Kozhikode's Post Graduate Programme in Business Leadership is also making an entry into the FT Global MBA Rankings 2025.