PhD in management in Mumbai

Which Mumbai school fits a CAT scorer, a working manager or a labour researcher?

First see who gives the degree. In Mumbai you will find three types of awarding body. IIM Mumbai and IIT Bombay give their own degree. NMIMS and TISS are deemed universities. The other two schools come under a state or private university, JBIMS under the University of Mumbai and KJSIM under Somaiya Vidyavihar University.

If you have a good CAT or GMAT score and you want stipend while doing the PhD, look at the two Powai schools first. A mid-career manager who does not want to leave the job should compare IIM Mumbai’s Executive PhD with the External category at IIT Bombay. That route is explained in our guide to working while doing a PhD in Mumbai. Topics like labour, caste and work, or livelihoods are a different matter. For those, TISS will suit you more than any business school.

How do IIM Mumbai’s regular and Executive PhD programmes differ?

As per the 2026 admission policy, both programmes use the same three-stage selection. Screening is done first. After that you write the IIM Mumbai written test, called IMAT. The IMAT has verbal, data interpretation, quantitative and research-methodology questions, and there may be a writing section also. The last stage is a research presentation and an interview. In the merit list the written test carries 40%, the interview 25% and the research presentation 15%. The remaining 20% comes from your past academic record, and for executive candidates the experience is counted in this part too.

Regular PhD

The basic qualification is a master’s degree or a two-year PGDM with 55%. CA, CS or CMA with 50% is also accepted, along with a bachelor’s degree having 55%. A four-year bachelor’s degree with CGPA 6.5 is fine as well. Preferably the applicant should be below 35 years.

Every candidate writes the IMAT. But the stipend is given only to those holding a valid CAT, GMAT, GRE, GATE or UGC-JRF score. JRFs get ₹37,000 per month and SRFs get ₹42,000, as per the DST office memorandum of 30 January 2019. When the institute cannot give you campus housing, you get HRA at 30% of the stipend on top of it. The minimum scores for the stipend are on a separate IIM Mumbai eligibility page. They are the 90th percentile in CAT, 650 in GMAT, 300 in GRE or 650 in GATE. A CAT, GMAT or GRE score stays valid for five years. For GATE and UGC-JRF the validity is three years only. Take-home GMAT or GRE scores are not accepted.

Some scholars join without any of these scores. The 2026 policy allowed such a scholar to start getting the stipend for the balance years by qualifying before 30 September 2026. If you are joining in 2027, look in the 2027 policy for the matching date. As per the 2026 policy, with campus housing you pay ₹65,000 in the first year and ₹55,000 per year after that. Without housing it comes to ₹41,000 and ₹31,000.

Executive PhD

The Executive PhD is meant for officers of the All India Services, central and state governments, PSUs and autonomous bodies. Managers from private companies can also apply, but the company should be listed on a stock exchange with annual turnover of ₹500 crore or more. Academically you need 65% in a full-time master’s and 65% in the bachelor’s before it. Two years of experience after the master’s is also required. Two other routes are there. One is 75% in a four-year bachelor’s with four years of experience. The other is CA, CMA or CS with 60% and two years of experience. They prefer age 45 or below, but can relax it till 55. Before applying, you have to identify a faculty member at IIM Mumbai. Your research proposal must be approved by that faculty member, and only then you submit it.

You don’t have to stay on campus for this one. But every semester you must come and spend minimum one week at the institute with your supervisor. Coursework is 12, 18 or 24 credits based on your degree, and it has to be finished within the first year. Evaluation happens through project reports, seminars and end-semester exams written at IIM Mumbai. The Executive PhD does not carry any stipend. The first-year fee is ₹1,85,000, and that includes a refundable deposit of ₹25,000. From the second year it is ₹1,50,000 a year.

What does IIT Bombay’s SJMSOM ask of a management PhD applicant?

They want a research proposal first. Section B.21 of the IIT Bombay PhD brochure for 2026–27 asks management applicants to send a proposal of 1,000 to 1,500 words. The school takes this proposal in place of a statement of purpose. When the proposal is missing, the application is not considered. How to prepare one is explained in our research proposal guide.

Four types of qualification are accepted. For each of them the cut-off is 60%, or 55% for SC/ST candidates.

• a four-year bachelor’s degree in any discipline, with minimum two years of work experience,
• a master’s in any discipline, or a two-year PG diploma in management from a recognised body,
• an executive MBA from an IIT, an IIM or a recognised university, running one year or longer, or
• CA, CS, CFA or ICWA (CMA), provided you got 60% in the preceding degree.

Scholars coming with a four-year degree need a valid CAT, GMAT, GATE or GRE score for getting financial support. The support is same as the institute-wide categories. With a Teaching Assistantship you get ₹37,000 per month for two years and ₹42,000 after that, and you do eight hours of teaching duty in a week. A Research Assistantship pays ₹42,000 and later ₹47,000, for roughly twenty hours a week. Either one is paid for up to five years or till you submit the thesis. For the January 2027 session, IIT Bombay took applications from 16 September to 17 October 2026. Check the portal to see if SJMSOM is admitting in that session.

How do NMIMS, Somaiya and JBIMS choose PhD scholars?

NMIMS School of Business Management. There are 75 seats as per the 2026 information handout, across full-time and part-time mode. The areas offered are business policy, marketing, finance, HR and behavioural sciences, and operations and data sciences. Entrepreneurship and family business, and economics, are also in the list. The entrance test is for 100 marks and two hours, and it is held at the Mumbai campus only. Half the paper is research aptitude and the other half is domain knowledge. To get called for the interview you need 50%. Merit is 70% test and 30% interview. If you hold a valid NET, SET, GATE, GPAT or JRF, the test is waived, but you still have to attend the interview. The 2026 batch had two admission phases. Tests were on 11 April and 19 June, and classes started on 18 July 2026. Coursework runs for 270 hours in twelve months, and each course needs 80% attendance. After the coursework there is a qualifying examination with a written part and a viva. You get two attempts.

K J Somaiya Institute of Management. The 2025 admission manual for management from Somaiya Vidyavihar University asks for its own entrance test. NET or JRF holders are exempted from it. If you took GMAT between January 2022 and December 2024 and got 350 or above, you are exempted too. Same for you if you have five years of teaching or research experience with papers in Scopus or Web of Science journals, patents or government grants. Coursework is 19 credits spread over two semesters. Working people must plan their job around the first semester, which is full-time. The fee is ₹53,000 in the first year, of which ₹3,000 is refundable deposits, and ₹50,000 per year later. In 2025 the last date to apply was 8 June, and the entrance test was held on 2 July.

JBIMS. Jamnalal Bajaj Institute is an autonomous institute of the University of Mumbai. It works as a research centre for the university’s PhD in management studies, and its programme page shows an intake of 40. The 2025–26 admission notice asked for NET, SET, PET, JRF or M.Phil. results along with a research proposal. The last date given in it was 30 May 2026. Selection was by personal interview only.

Because JBIMS is a University of Mumbai centre, its scholars come under the university’s January 2026 regulations. Under R.PhD.2, CA, CS and ICWA along with a graduation are treated as equal to a master’s for Commerce and Management admissions. Be careful about the fee, because the two official figures are not matching. As per the university’s fee circular for 2026–27, a Management Studies PhD costs ₹34,777, and ₹10,000 out of that is refundable. JBIMS’s own programme page quotes the 2018 ordinance VCD/947 and gives ₹17,680 for the first year and ₹15,355 after that. So ask JBIMS and confirm the fee before you pay anything. For the thesis format, read how Mumbai University formats a PhD thesis.

Should an HR or labour researcher apply to TISS instead of a business school?

Mostly it comes down to what your research question is. The TISS PhD in Management and Labour Studies at Deonar gives a long list of themes. A few are close to business topics, like talent management, organisation development, leadership, employer branding and ESG. Then there are social and women’s entrepreneurship, tribe and livelihoods, financial inclusion and agricultural value chains. Caste and labour is also there, including anti-caste labour histories of Maharashtra. If you are studying workers and work in society, TISS is the right place. A topic on firm performance or HR analytics is better done in a business school. TISS has other schools in Mumbai too, from social work to habitat studies, and for those see where Mumbai’s social scientists do a PhD.

Compared to the business schools, admission is narrower here. Only UGC-NET candidates can apply, meaning JRF within three years or a NET result within one year. Shortlisting is on NET marks, five applicants for every seat. You also have to send a research proposal or concept note of 2,000 words or more. JRF holders are selected on the online interview alone. Others are ranked 70% on the NET score and 30% on the interview. In the 2025–26 cycle there were 10 seats, and applications closed on 5 January 2026. The interviews happened from 16 to 23 January, and by 10 February 2026 coursework had already started.

At TISS the PhD is full-time, and a daily attendance register is kept. Suppose you get a job later, you can request the Doctoral Students’ Office for converting you to part-time. The 2025–26 fee at the Mumbai campus was ₹66,500 for the first year, and this includes a ₹10,000 caution deposit which is refundable. The total course fee in the table was ₹1,77,000.