If you thought that your good old MBA (Master of Business Administration) degree was losing relevance, think again! According to Deloitte India’s Campus Workforce Trends 2026 report, MBA degrees continue to command a premium over engineering positions.In fact, an MBA is emerging as more than just an additional qualification for students entering the campus placement process, with management positions attracting a significantly higher salary premium than engineering roles.Deloitte’s survey covers the 505 leading campuses identified through the National Institutional Ranking Framework. Within each category, including MBA, BTech, BBA and BCom, the firm places the 40 institutes immediately after the top 10 in its tier-1 group.In engineering, this includes NIRF-ranked institutions from 11 to 40, among them BITS Pilani, IIT Indore, NIT Rourkela, IIT Dhanbad, Jadavpur and NIT Calicut, as well as other IITs and NITs. The tier-1 MBA category includes newer IIMs such as Raipur, Trichy, Kashipur and Nagpur, management schools at IIT Bombay, IIT Madras and IIT Kharagpur, and private institutions including SP Jain and IMI Delhi.
MBAs command higher salaries that engineers
According to Deloitte, MBA roles for the class of 2026 offered average salaries that were 52% higher than those for engineering positions. The gap is expected to grow further, with MBA roles for students appearing for placements in 2026, or the class of 2027, projected to offer 59% higher pay than engineering roles.For the class of 2025, the average salary offered for MBA roles was 47% above that for engineering positions.The findings suggest a clear change in the skills campus recruiters are prepared to pay more for, with all 250 organisations surveyed by Deloitte putting greater emphasis on talent capable of connecting technology with business.
Hiring Trends: MBAs vs engineers
“This year, according to our report, all 250 firms (recruiters) are placing greater value on management-oriented roles/leadership-oriented talent relative to only technical roles,” said Neelesh Gupta, partner at Deloitte.Gupta said the shift reflects growing demand for professionals who can pair digital and analytical capabilities with commercial understanding and strategic decision-making. “The recruiters are emphasising on professionals who can translate technology into business outcomes,” he said.The campus survey follows the annual placement cycle. For the 2026-27 placement season, for example, Deloitte has used projections from placements that are currently underway for the class of 2027, which is due to graduate next year.Top management institutes continue to command the strongest compensation packages. According to Gupta, the average annual pay at the top 10 B-schools stood at 27.4 lakh, more than 3.3 times the 8.4 lakh average recorded at tier-3 B-schools.The report also found that companies are allocating larger budgets for campus recruitment, making greater use of AI in the hiring process and expanding internship-to-hire programmes as they compete for candidates with critical digital and analytical capabilities.
Campus hiring trends
According to the Deloitte report, India’s campus recruitment landscape is shifting towards a more selective, skills-focused approach, with companies putting greater resources into early-career hiring, specialised recruitment teams and pathways that can take interns into full-time jobs.Deloitte India’s Campus Workforce Trends 2026 report found that 80% of organisations now have dedicated campus hiring teams, while pre-placement offer (PPO) conversions have increased across degree categories.Artificial intelligence is also changing the way companies recruit entry-level talent. About 35% of organisations reported new roles or skill requirements arising from AI, up from 21% in FY25. Overall, 86% said AI or Agentic AI is changing recruitment, particularly in areas such as resume screening, assessments and candidate evaluation.Campus pay is increasingly being influenced by factors such as the institute a candidate comes from, the role that is being offered and the skills the candidate brings.While the median MBA compensation is around Rs 27.4 lakh at Top 10 institutes, it is just around Rs 8.4 lakh at Tier 3 institutes.For B.Tech graduates, the figures are Rs 18.7 lakh and Rs 5.75 lakh.Candidates that are showing AI and data skills can actually command premiums of 20-25%.Analytical thinking and problem-solving skills are attracting premiums of 10-15%.Employers are also looking beyond academic qualifications, giving more weight to behavioural abilities, the capacity to learn, diversity and employee retention.One-year attrition among hires from Top 10 and Tier 1 institutes has declined from 23% to 19%.
