PGP Cirriculum
PGP
Curriculum
- Introduction
- Core Curriculum
- Flexi Core Curriculum
- Electives
- Block Week
- Experiential Learning Programme (ELP)
- Graduate Degree Requirements
- Pedagogies
- Entrepreneurship at ISB
Introduction
The PGP curriculum stands at the intersection of foundational wisdom and future-focused innovation. Through immersive, cross-functional learning experiences, you develop the analytical precision and strategic intuition required for moments when business complexity demands definitive decisions. Our curriculum continuously evolves, ensuring your journey begins with robust business fundamentals before diverging into customised pathways aligned with your aspirations. The diverse electives serve as crucibles for specialised expertise, while our distinctive 'learn-to-learn' philosophy transcends traditional education, preparing you not merely for the challenges visible on the horizon, but for those yet unnamed. By integrating cutting-edge research with transformative experiential opportunities, we shape leaders who do not simply navigate the global landscape but fundamentally reimagine it.
This course develops the essential verbal communication capabilities required for effective leadership in complex business environments. By combining theoretical frameworks with practical applications, students cultivate the verbal skills necessary to influence, persuade, and lead across diverse organisational contexts.
It provides an understanding of:
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The principles of compelling verbal communication and how masterful communicators effectively influence organisational outcomes
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The architecture of powerful business narratives and the critical role of storytelling in leadership
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Advanced techniques for audience engagement, including the strategic deployment of rhetorical devices to clarify complex concepts
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Methods for communicating numerical data effectively, recognising that presentation structure often determines impact
Students learn to craft and deliver high-impact presentations, organise thoughts coherently in high-stakes situations, build persuasive narrative structures, adapt communication approaches to diverse audiences, and develop a repertoire of essential business stories that drive strategic outcomes.
This course examines how financial statements serve as the primary channel for communicating information about a firm's economic performance and position. Students develop the analytical foundation to interpret and leverage financial information for strategic business decisions.
It provides an understanding of:
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The fundamental accounting principles that underpin corporate financial reporting
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How the three primary financial statements collectively represent a firm's economic activities
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The financial reporting process and methodologies used to construct statements according to generally accepted accounting principles
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Key relationships between financial statements and their role in comprehensive performance evaluation
Students master the vocabulary of financial statements, develop analytical skills to evaluate operational efficiency, learn to make informed resource allocation decisions based on financial data and gain the ability to communicate effectively about financial performance in managerial contexts.
This course focuses on how managers become effective leaders by addressing the human side of the enterprise. Students develop critical self-awareness and acquire essential skills for optimising team performance in complex organisational environments.
It provides an understanding of:
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The determinants of effective leadership at individual, team, and organisational levels
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How personal awareness - recognising one's strengths, limitations, and biases - forms the foundation for leadership development
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Methods for harnessing the diverse skills and perspectives of team members to address organisational challenges
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Principles for designing incentive systems and motivating employees across diverse organisational contexts
Students learn to diagnose their leadership tendencies, enhance interpersonal effectiveness in team environments, analyse group dynamics to predict behaviour, make decisions that influence key stakeholders, and lead ethically while managing diverse professional relationships.
This course introduces students to the economist's analytical framework for understanding markets and making business decisions. Students develop the economic reasoning skills essential for addressing managerial challenges across functional areas.
It provides an understanding of:
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How fundamental economic concepts apply to pricing, cost analysis, and market entry/exit decisions
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The principles of market equilibrium and their impact on business strategy formulation
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Economic frameworks for evaluating competitive dynamics and market efficiency
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Strategic implications of various market structures, from perfect competition to monopoly
Students learn to apply economic reasoning to business problems, make data-driven decisions about pricing and resource allocation, develop systematic approaches to market analysis, anticipate competitive responses to strategic moves, and cultivate economic intuition that enhances strategic thinking across business contexts.
This course equips students with the statistical foundations necessary for evidence-based management. By examining how quantitative methods transform data into actionable insights, students develop the analytical skills required for decision-making across business functions.
It provides an understanding of:
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How to collect relevant data and extract meaningful information that drives business decisions
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Exploratory analysis techniques and the probabilistic principles underlying sampling methods
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Statistical inference approaches including confidence intervals and hypothesis testing
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Regression analysis as a powerful tool for understanding relationships between variables
Students learn to apply statistical thinking to complex business problems, interpret data through visual and numerical summaries, make evidence-based inferences from sample data, evaluate relationships between variables using regression techniques, and communicate statistical findings effectively to drive organisational decisions.
This course examines how firms navigate and influence the political, legal, and social environment in which they operate. Students develop frameworks for understanding how non-market factors shape competitive landscapes and how strategic engagement with stakeholders beyond traditional market interactions drives sustainable value creation.
It provides an understanding of:
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The complex relationship between business and various societal institutions, including government bodies, regulatory agencies, and civil society organisations that establish the "rules of the game"
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How political dynamics, legal frameworks, and social expectations create both constraints and opportunities for strategic business decisions
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Tools and approaches for analysing non-market environments, including stakeholder mapping, issue analysis, and institutional assessment frameworks
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Strategic options for engaging with non-market actors, from compliance to proactive influence, and techniques for evaluating their effectiveness
Students learn to assess how political, legal and social factors impact business operations, develop integrated strategies that align market and non-market components, implement stakeholder engagement approaches that build social capital, and navigate institutional complexities across different regional and national contexts.
This course equips students to understand and leverage emerging technological paradigms that are fundamentally reshaping business landscapes across sectors. Through case studies and interactive discussions, students develop frameworks for strategic decision-making in environments characterised by technological disruption and digital transformation.
It provides an understanding of:
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How frontier technologies - including artificial intelligence, blockchain, Internet of Things, and others - are creating new market opportunities while disrupting established business models
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The economic principles underlying technology platform businesses and their distinctive competitive dynamics
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Methods for evaluating technological investments and innovations in high-uncertainty environments where traditional financial metrics may be insufficient
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Organisational capabilities and structures needed to harness technological change and drive digital innovation
Students learn to analyse how emerging technologies impact competitive landscapes, develop strategies that exploit technological capabilities for sustainable advantage, implement digital transformation initiatives that enhance customer value, and lead organisations through periods of technological disruption with confidence and vision.
This course equips students with essential frameworks for analysing and responding to complex macroeconomic challenges in a global business environment. Through an integrated approach combining economic theory and practical applications, students develop the strategic acumen to anticipate economic shifts, understand policy impacts, and make informed business decisions amid uncertainty.
It provides an understanding of:
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How critical macroeconomic variables - interest rates, inflation, exchange rates, and fiscal policies - directly influence firm-level decisions on investment, hiring, pricing, and international expansion
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The dynamics of economic growth, including factors that drive long-term convergence or divergence between economies and how government policies and institutional frameworks shape business environments
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International economic forces, including global trade patterns, supply chain integration, and currency movements that create both opportunities and threats for multinational enterprises
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Analytical frameworks to assess the economic impact of major disruptions, from global health crises to technological revolutions and geopolitical realignments
Students learn to interpret macroeconomic indicators to anticipate market shifts, develop strategic responses to economic policy changes, and implement risk management approaches that enhance organisational resilience in volatile environments.
This course examines how managers harness accounting information to drive effective business performance and strategic decision-making. Students develop an integrated analytical framework that transforms financial data into actionable insights for planning operations, evaluating performance, and creating sustainable competitive advantage across business functions.
It provides an understanding of:
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How managerial accounting serves as a critical decision support system that enhances management's ability to allocate resources efficiently and evaluate performance effectively across organisational units
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Cost behaviour patterns, relevance analysis, and opportunity cost concepts that empower managers to make optimal short-term and long-term decisions in resource-constrained environments
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Strategic cost management approaches that align accounting systems with organisational goals, enhance profitability through targeted interventions, and support continuous improvement initiatives
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Performance measurement systems designed to motivate desired behaviours, evaluate business units fairly, and drive organisational success in diverse business contexts
Students learn to apply decision-relevant cost analysis to business problems, design effective transfer pricing mechanisms for cross-unit coordination, evaluate business unit performance using appropriate financial metrics, and integrate accounting insights into strategic management processes.
This course explores the psychological foundations and analytical frameworks that shape effective managerial decision-making. By bridging behavioural insights with practical tools, students develop a sophisticated understanding of how individuals and teams make decisions and learn techniques to improve judgment quality in complex business environments.
It provides an understanding of:
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The cognitive processes underlying business decisions, including heuristics and biases that affect managerial judgment, particularly when evaluating risks, forecasting outcomes, or assessing probabilities
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Team decision dynamics, addressing how group composition, information-sharing patterns, and facilitation techniques influence decision quality and implementation success
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Frameworks for structuring complex decisions, balancing quantitative analysis with qualitative factors, and navigating environments characterised by ambiguity and incomplete information
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Behavioural economics principles that can be leveraged to design choice architecture, influence stakeholder behaviour, and implement nudges that drive optimal outcomes
Students learn to recognise judgment biases in business contexts and apply debiasing techniques, design decision processes that enhance collaborative problem-solving in teams, implement structured approaches to complex strategic decisions, and create environments that naturally lead to better choices.
Entrepreneurship electives equip students with essential knowledge and strategic skills to build, manage, and scale innovative ventures. Blending rigorous academic frameworks with practical applications, these courses prepare both entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs to drive sustainable innovation in dynamic business environments. These electives develop expertise in strategic innovation management, venture financing, digital transformation, entrepreneurial decision-making, market-driven product development, and social entrepreneurship principles. Through this comprehensive curriculum, students gain the strategic mindset and practical tools needed to confidently initiate and scale successful ventures across diverse sectors, creating both economic value and meaningful impact globally.
Finance electives equip students with analytical rigour and strategic insights essential for excelling in today's complex financial landscape. The curriculum seamlessly integrates advanced financial theory with practical applications, preparing graduates for leadership roles across investment banking, private equity, corporate finance, and asset management. These electives develop expertise in sophisticated financial modelling, macroeconomic analysis, business valuation methodologies, strategic financial management, capital markets, and emerging FinTech innovations. Through comprehensive training in both quantitative skills and strategic thinking, students graduate ready to lead financial strategy, execute complex transactions, and drive sustained organisational value across diverse industries and market conditions.
Healthcare electives provide students with the strategic knowledge and practical tools necessary to lead innovation in the rapidly evolving healthcare sector. These courses emphasize entrepreneurial thinking and strategic execution within real-world healthcare contexts. The curriculum develops expertise in healthcare entrepreneurship, business model creation, regulatory frameworks, strategic partnerships, health information technology integration, healthcare analytics, and sustainable growth management. By integrating industry perspectives with evidence-based approaches, students graduate prepared to drive digital transformation, optimise resource allocation, enhance patient outcomes, and create sustainable solutions that address complex challenges across the global healthcare landscape.
Information and Management electives prepare students to leverage digital technologies and analytics to drive strategic transformation. These courses position students at the cutting edge of digital innovation and data-driven leadership. The curriculum develops expertise in frontier technologies (AI, blockchain, IoT), advanced analytics, digital transformation strategies, product management, design thinking, and digital policy. Students master both technical and strategic dimensions - from data visualisation to experimental design, from project management to platform economics - graduating ready to lead digital evolution and create competitive advantage in rapidly changing business environments.
Infrastructure electives provide students with specialised knowledge and strategic capabilities essential for excelling in infrastructure development, real estate ventures, and complex project management within India's dynamic markets. The curriculum develops expertise in real estate development financing, forecasting analytics, project management methodologies, strategic investment analysis, data-driven experimentation, and market dynamics. Students learn to structure financial models, optimise resource allocation, implement risk mitigation strategies, and evaluate capital-intensive projects. Graduates emerge as insightful leaders capable of making strategic decisions in complex infrastructure environments, driving sustainable development and creating lasting value across urban landscapes, transportation networks, and energy systems.
Study Treks provide an immersive, field-based learning experience that transforms classroom knowledge into real-world business insights. These intensive, faculty-led programmes expose students to global business ecosystems, fostering direct engagement with industry leaders, innovative organisations, and emerging markets. By complementing the core curriculum, Study Treks allow students to witness business concepts in action across diverse sectors and geographies. Through curated site visits, interactive workshops, and in-depth discussions with executives and entrepreneurs, students gain exclusive access to industry operations and decision-making frameworks. Each trek includes pre-departure research, structured company interactions, reflective discussion, and post-trek synthesis projects to ensure deep learning and real-world application.
Study Treks explores key business themes such as digital transformation, emerging technologies, sustainability, market positioning, supply chain innovation, and strategic marketing across industries like technology, healthcare, financial services, and consumer goods. They align with students' career goals and industry interests:
- International Treks provide exposure to global business hubs, innovation centres, and emerging markets, enhancing cultural adaptability and global leadership skills.
- Domestic Treks offer insights into India's dynamic business landscape, spanning large enterprises and high-growth startups to explore regional market dynamics.
- Government/NGO Treks focus on public policy implementation, social entrepreneurship, and sustainable development, fostering an understanding of cross-sector collaboration and impact-driven leadership.
By engaging with senior business leaders and market innovators, students gain critical insights into emerging industry trends and innovative business models. The treks bridge theory with practice, refining strategic thinking, problem-solving, and adaptability in diverse business environments. Students also build meaningful professional connections with industry executives, alumni, and peers, strengthening their global business perspective. Through its structured, experiential approach, Study Treks exemplifies our commitment to real-world learning, ensuring students develop the expertise, confidence, and ethical awareness to lead in an increasingly complex global economy.
Students immerse themselves in unfamiliar environments where theory meets reality. Field-based courses transport participants beyond the classroom—from rural villages to corporate operations centres—where they collect data, engage with diverse stakeholders, and develop innovative solutions to real-world challenges while gaining perspectives impossible to acquire through traditional learning methods.
Simulation-based learning offers an immersive, hands-on approach to education by allowing students to engage in realistic, scenario-driven experiences. By stepping into decision-making roles across various domains, students navigate complex challenges, analyse data, and refine their problem-solving skills in a dynamic, risk-free environment. These simulations can span multiple disciplines, from business and finance to healthcare, technology, policy-making, and beyond.
Through guided debriefs and reflective discussions, participants deepen their understanding of real-world complexities, enhance their critical thinking, and develop strategic decision-making capabilities. By bridging theory with practical application, simulation-based learning equips students with the confidence, adaptability, and interdisciplinary insights needed to excel in today’s rapidly evolving world.
Experiential Learning Programme (ELP)
The Experiential Learning Programme (ELP) transforms academic concepts into tangible business impact, where classroom knowledge crystallises into professional capability. Structured as a live consulting engagement, ELP places you at the intersection of theory and practice, challenging you to navigate complex business challenges across leading organisations in technology, healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, consulting, e-commerce and more.
Students gain unparalleled exposure to high-impact projects in strategy, digital transformation, operational efficiency, and sustainability, amongst others. Under the guidance of world-class faculty mentors, you will analyse critical business problems, conduct rigorous research, and deliver actionable recommendations that drive real organisational change. This immersive journey not only refines your strategic thinking and problem-solving capabilities but often becomes a defining moment of self-discovery, revealing untapped strengths, clarifying career aspirations, and forging valuable industry connections, allowing students to build professional networks and gain insights from entrepreneurs and business leaders.
ELP transcends traditional education by creating a dynamic proving ground where leadership potential confronts business reality. You will emerge not simply with enhanced skills but with the confidence and adaptability to drive meaningful transformation in an ever-evolving global business landscape.
To successfully earn your Post Graduate Programme in Management degree, you will need to fulfil the following requirements:
Summary of Programme Graduation Requirements:
| Required core courses | 14 credits (10 mandatory + 4 flexi core) |
| Required elective courses | 18 credits (including 4 block weeks credits) |
| Experiential Learning Programme (ELP) Mandatory | 1 credit |
| Minimum attempted credits for graduation | 33 credits (Including 4 block week credits and ELP) |
| Minimum successful credits for graduation | 32 credits (Including 4 block week credits and ELP) |
| Optional credits (Over and above the minimum credits) | 2 flexi core credits + 4 elective credits or Pass/Fail |
Note: A successful credit is defined as receiving a 'D' grade or higher, or a Pass grade in a Pass/Fail course.
In addition to credit requirements, you must maintain satisfactory academic performance throughout the programme:
- Achieve a minimum cumulative GPA (CGPA) of 2.50 by the end of the programme
- Earn at least 32 successful credits, including any additional credits taken
- Not receive an 'F' grade in more than four credits
The PGP curriculum allows you to develop specialised expertise in areas aligned with your career goals:
- Students can graduate without completing any major or they can have one major, and at most two, of the following concentration areas across campuses (Hyderabad and Mohali).
- Each concentration area has specific course requirements (see Elective Courses and Concentrations section for details)
Your learning experience will include various instructional formats:
- In-class courses on campus
- Select hybrid courses connecting Hyderabad and Mohali campuses
- International exchange opportunities with 50+ leading global business schools
Your success is important to us. To ensure you're making appropriate progress:
- Students with a CGPA below 2.50 at the end of any term will receive additional support and counselling
- A CGPA below 2.00 at the end of core terms may result in dismissal from the programme
- A minimum final CGPA of 2.50 is required for graduation
- No more than four credits with an 'F' grade are permitted
Transform theoretical knowledge into actionable expertise through immersive experiences, including ELP consulting projects, Study Treks, and field-based courses that build real-world problem-solving capabilities within authentic business environments.
Develop strategic decision-making capacity by navigating real-world business scenarios through advanced simulation tools, allowing you to test frameworks, analyse outcomes, and refine approaches to strengthen lateral thinking.
Sharpen analytical thinking through immersion in business dilemmas faced by global organisations, developing the critical reasoning capabilities and judgment essential for leadership in ambiguous, high-stakes situations.
Cultivate crucial professional capabilities through role-playing exercises, live projects, and structured debates that transform classroom dynamics into training grounds for leadership, negotiation, and collaborative problem-solving.
Expand your professional perspective through direct engagement with industry pioneers and organisational site visits, building contextual understanding and valuable connections that illuminate emerging trends and practices.
*Pitch Book’s annual university compare schools by tallying up the number of alumni entrepreneurs who have raised venture capital in the last decade. The rankings are powered by Pitchbook data and are based on an analysis of more than 1,50,000 VC-backed founders.
ISB's Alumni Founders
