What SDA Bocconi Asia Center is
SDA Bocconi Asia Center is the Mumbai campus of SDA Bocconi School of Management, Milan. The India operation dates to 2012, and its postgraduate and executive programmes are designed and implemented by the Milan school.
Innovative and Technological Learning Services Private Limited (ITLS) is the licensee of the SDA Bocconi Asia Center brand, with CIN U80904MH2011PTC225034. This is a privately operated, licensed campus of a foreign business school — not an Indian university, a deemed university or an IIM.
The IMB qualification is awarded by the SDA school of management in Italy and carries 105 credits under the European Credit Transfer System.
Programmes offered:
- International Master in Business (IMB) — full-time, 22 months across six terms, Mumbai plus a compulsory four-month immersion at SDA Bocconi in Italy
- International Executive Master in Business (IEMB)
- Open executive programmes, including GEPI and the Executive Program in Luxury
- Custom and online executive programmes covering digital innovation and cybersecurity
SDA Bocconi holds triple-crown accreditation — EQUIS, AMBA and AACSB — and that accreditation belongs to the Milan school. Separately, the Asia Center does not appear in the NIRF 2025 Management participating-institutes list on nirfindia.org, so no NIRF rank and no NIRF median salary exists for it.
Admission route
There is one route in, and it is not the Maharashtra CAP route. The accepted tests are the Bocconi Test, CAT, GMAT, NMAT by GMAC and GRE.
Read the year wording on that page with care: it still specifies CAT and NMAT scores of 2022/2023 and GMAT and GRE taken after 1 January 2021, and counts work experience as of 31 March 2024 — an earlier cycle’s wording left standing. Confirm which scores are live for your intake with the admissions office before you rely on it. The Bocconi Test is the school’s own and carries no additional fee.
Applications open in November 2026, Round 1 closing 30 November 2026 and Round 2 25 January 2027; Rounds 3 and 4 are undated and run only if seats remain. A second date block on the same page still shows November 2023 and January 2024 — the current one is headed Key Dates. If you hold more than one score, the best score is considered.
MAH MBA-CET does not appear on that list. Neither the admission page nor the fees page mentions a state CAP seat, a category quota or a CAP fee structure. Treat this as a direct-application institute and budget accordingly.
Published eligibility, from the official IMB admission page:
- Bachelor's degree in any discipline, or final year at the time of applying
- Minimum 55% in each of Class 10, Class 12 and the undergraduate degree
- Minimum 70% aggregate across Class 10 + Class 12 + undergraduate
- Up to five years of work experience — the programme is aimed at freshers and young professionals
- Only full-time paid employment after graduation counts; internships and pre-graduation work do not
The published selection sequence runs: online application with a ₹3,500 application fee, submission of test score, CV, transcripts and essays, the Bocconi Test where applicable, an AI interview followed by a personal interview, admissions committee review, then the offer letter.
Rounds published for the 2026-28 intake, the 15th IMB edition: Round 1 closed 21 November 2025, Round 2 on 22 January 2026, Round 3 on 23 March 2026, and Round 4 to be announced subject to seat availability.
Fee structure
The officially published IMB programme fee totals ₹20,75,000, and the institute's fee page does not attach a batch year to it — so confirm it against your own offer letter before you plan around it.
| Component | Amount (INR) |
|---|---|
| Admission fee | ₹2,75,000 |
| Tuition and academic fee (includes the Milan semester tuition) | ₹18,00,000 |
| Total programme fee | ₹20,75,000 |
| Application fee (paid at the time of applying) | ₹3,500 |
IMB runs 22 months rather than two academic years, and only this one programme total is published — there is no per-year or per-semester figure to give. The total is paid in instalments and that the schedule is shared with the offer letter for selected candidates. It also states the Milan semester carries no additional tuition charge. Not included in ₹20,75,000: hostel, food, and your personal costs during the Milan immersion.
Financial aid published on the same page:
- Merit-based tuition waivers of up to 80% for eligible IMB candidates
- Women in Leadership scholarship
- Extra-curricular Talent scholarship
- Dean's Scholarship, redeemed against first-year academic performance
No per-category waiver percentage is published beyond that 80% ceiling. The awarded amount arrives with the offer. Education loan partners named officially: Credila, Axis Bank, Eduvanz, IDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and TATA Capital.
Cutoffs and shortlisting
There is no cutoff to find — SDA Bocconi states it does not set one.
SDA Bocconi Asia Center sets no cutoff for the IMB. Its own words are that it “does not indicate any cut-off or restriction”, and its official admission page describes a whole-profile assessment instead.
If you are searching for the CAT percentile needed, there is no published one. The official admission page sets out the assessment as academic ability, test score, work experience, extra-curricular activities and soft skills, and interview performance, weighed together. No numerical weightage split between those components is published either, so any percentage breakdown you see quoted elsewhere is somebody's reconstruction.
What does function like a hard gate is the academic record, because those thresholds are published and absolute:
- Below 55% in any one of Class 10, Class 12 or your degree, you fall outside the stated eligibility regardless of how good the test score is
- Below a 70% aggregate across all three, the same applies
Two practical consequences follow. First, the Bocconi Test is a real alternative if you have no CAT, GMAT, GRE or NMAT score in hand — it carries no additional fee, which removes the usual reason to skip an extra test. Second, applying in an early round is worth more here than at a CAP institute: hostel places are limited and allotted first come, first served, so a late-round offer can arrive without accommodation attached.
Anyone quoting you a definitive SDA Bocconi cutoff percentile is quoting an aggregator's estimate, not the institute. Ask the admissions office directly what profile their recent intake looked like.
Placements
For the IMB Class of 2025 the institute's own placement report publishes a median CTC of ₹13.51 LPA against an average of ₹14.10 LPA — and the distance between those two numbers is the story worth reading.
| Metric | IMB Class of 2025 | IMB Class of 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Median CTC | ₹13.51 LPA | ₹13.51 LPA |
| Average CTC | ₹14.10 LPA | ₹15.01 LPA |
| Top 25% average CTC | ₹18.21 LPA | ₹21.88 LPA |
| Highest CTC | ₹36.50 LPA | ₹36.50 LPA |
| Recruiters participating | 70+ | Not published |
Read the median, not the average. In the Class of 2024 the average sat ₹1.50 lakh above the median because a top quartile averaging ₹21.88 LPA pulled it upward; the typical graduate earned the median, not the average. In the Class of 2025 the top-quartile average fell to ₹18.21 LPA and the overall average came down with it — while the median held at ₹13.51 LPA in both years. The middle of the class was stable; the top end compressed.
Sector mix from the official reports: IT/ITES took 30% of Class of 2025 offers and BFSI/financial services 25%, against 32% and 26% respectively for Class of 2024.
An overall placement percentage is Not published. Ask the admissions office for it in writing, and ask what proportion of the batch sits inside the salary base, because that is what decides whether a median means anything.
Campus and hostel
The campus is a single vertical facility rather than a sprawling one: 9th Floor, Hiranandani Knowledge Park, Hiranandani Gardens, Powai, Mumbai 400076. The campus has classrooms, e-learning and video-conferencing facilities, digital media and library resources, and dedicated areas for group and individual study. Powai places you beside Hiranandani Gardens and a dense cluster of multinational offices, which is genuinely relevant for internships and weekday networking.
Hostel accommodation is offered and is optional. Rooms are double or triple occupancy with modern amenities, sited a short distance from the teaching area, and allotted on a first come, first served basis because space is limited.
SDA Bocconi publishes no hostel or mess tariff — it asks candidates to email the admissions office for the figures. No amount is published on the Mumbai campus page or on the Fees and Scholarships page, and hostel is not part of the ₹20,75,000 programme fee. That figure lives with the admissions office and, for selected candidates, with the offer letter. Get it in writing before you accept a seat, along with what mess and utilities cost on top.
For the compulsory four-month Milan immersion, there is no additional tuition, but the school publishes its own student cost estimates: airfare of €850-1,000, housing at €500-650 per month, a meal box at €12, a public transport pass at €22-37 per month, and €250 for the visa and stay permit. Those are the institute's published estimates, not arithmetic of ours. Convert them at the rate you can actually get, and treat housing as the line most likely to run over.
How SDA Bocconi compares
Compare on decision axes, not on brand feel.
Against SPJIMR Mumbai and Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, the axis is recognition and cost. Both award Indian qualifications through the AICTE or university route, JBIMS admits largely through MAH MBA-CET and the Maharashtra CAP process at a state-regulated fee, and both carry decades of Mumbai corporate recall. SDA Bocconi Asia Center trades that domestic recognition for a Milan-awarded master and a compulsory European semester.
Against NMIMS Mumbai, the axis is scale and entry route. NMIMS is a deemed university admitting through NMAT into a substantially larger cohort. SDA Bocconi Asia Center runs a small cohort but accepts a wider set of tests — CAT, GMAT, GRE, NMAT or its own Bocconi Test — which genuinely matters if your CAT attempt did not go to plan and you do not want to lose a year.
Against ISB Hyderabad, the axis is work experience and duration. ISB's flagship is a one-year programme built for candidates with meaningful experience and a GMAT or GRE score; the IMB runs 22 months and caps eligibility at five years, so it sits considerably earlier in a career.
Against SIBM Pune, the axis is location and internationalisation. SIBM Pune admits through SNAP into an Indian postgraduate qualification on a residential campus; the IMB puts you inside Mumbai's corporate belt with a mandatory stint in Milan attached.
Contact & address
9th Floor, Hiranandani Knowledge Park, Hiranandani Gardens, Powai, Mumbai 400076, Maharashtra, India
Frequently asked questions
Which entrance exams does SDA Bocconi Asia Center accept for the IMB?
The IMB accepts CAT 2024/2025, GMAT taken after 1 January 2023, NMAT by GMAC 2024/2025, GRE taken after 1 January 2023, and the school's own Bocconi Test, which carries no additional fee. If you submit more than one valid score, the page states the best score is considered. MAH MBA-CET is not on the accepted list.
How much work experience do I need to apply?
None is mandatory. The published eligibility allows up to five years of work experience and the programme is aimed at freshers and young professionals, so extensive experience works against fit rather than for it. Only full-time paid employment after graduation counts; internships and pre-graduation work are excluded. Self-employment requires income tax returns plus supporting registration or audit documents.
Is there a published cutoff percentile, and how is the shortlist decided?
No percentile or score cutoff is published by the institute. The official admission page describes an overall profile assessment covering academic ability, test score, work experience, extra-curricular activities and soft skills, and interview performance, with no numerical weightage disclosed. The published academic thresholds do act as gates: 55% minimum in Class 10, Class 12 and your degree, plus a 70% aggregate across all three.
Is hostel accommodation available, and what does it cost?
Yes, and it is optional. Double and triple occupancy rooms with modern amenities are available a short distance from the teaching area, allotted first come, first served because space is limited. No hostel or mess fee amount is published anywhere on the official site, and hostel is not included in the programme fee. Request the current figure in writing from the admissions office.
How do scholarships and education loans work here?
The official fees page publishes merit-based tuition waivers of up to 80% for eligible IMB candidates, plus Women in Leadership and Extra-curricular Talent scholarships and a Dean's Scholarship redeemed against first-year academic performance. Individual waiver percentages are not published; the awarded amount comes with the offer letter. Named loan partners are Credila, Axis Bank, Eduvanz, IDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and TATA Capital.
Is the IMB an Indian MBA, and does that matter?
It is a master awarded by SDA Bocconi in Milan, not an Indian MBA. There is no AICTE approval, no deemed-university status and no University Grants Commission recognition, because none of those apply to a licensed foreign campus — the operating entity named on the school’s own privacy policy is Innovative and Technological Learning Services Private Limited. It matters in two concrete places. Most Indian public-sector and government roles, and most Indian PhD admissions, ask for a degree recognised by an Indian body, and this one is not. Private-sector recruiters in India and abroad generally read the Bocconi name rather than the accreditation line. If your plan involves a government job, a public-sector bank, an Indian doctorate or an eventual academic career, check the specific eligibility rule before you pay. If it involves corporate work in India or Europe, this is much less likely to bind.
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