NEW DELHI, March 5 -- India's premier business schools are leaning heavily on pre‑placement offers and a surge in consulting‑sector hiring to secure near‑100% placement rates for their 2026 batches, even as the overall job market remains selective.

Consulting heavyweights such as Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Bain & Co., PwC, Accenture, and Deloitte emerged as key recruiters, according to placement data from IIM Bangalore and press releases from IIM Ahmedabad, Calcutta, and Lucknow. These are four of the oldest IIMs that compete with each other to secure top offers during placements.

A pre‑placement offer (PPO) is a full‑time job offer extended by a company to a student based on their performance during a ...