India’s business analytics sector faces a pressing need for skilled professionals who blend AI, machine learning, and data-driven decision-making to navigate Industry 4.0 complexities. With recruiters demanding hands-on expertise amid rapid digital shifts, forward-thinking B-schools must prioritize practical skills, industry immersion, and emerging tech integration over traditional degrees.
Great Lakes Institute of Management, Gurgaon leads this transformation as India’s Most Promising Business Analytics Institute 2025, pioneering analytics education since 2013 through skills-focused curricula and ACBSP accreditation pursuits. By fostering repeat recruiter partnerships and community initiatives like SCORE Index and Karma Yoga, the institute equips leaders who drive analytics excellence and societal impact.
Skills Revolution
Great Lakes Institute of Management, Gurgaon was established in 2010 in Delhi NCR’s corporate hub to address the dynamic needs of India’s rapidly evolving economy. Its strategic location near startups, consulting firms, and MNCs provides students with unparalleled industry proximity.
On its world-class, fully residential 7.5-acre campus, Great Lakes Gurgaon nurtures future business leaders, earning consistent recognition from top recruiters who return annually for graduates.Recently, the institute achieved a major milestone by completing its US AACSB accreditation visit with a green signal in just 4.5 years, positioning it as potentially India’s youngest or fastest management school to secure this honor. It has introduced extensive industry sessions leveraging the Delhi NCR ecosystem, particularly in analytics, operations, finance, and marketing, while shifting to a skills-based teaching methodology two years ago for hands-on MBA classes in marketing, finance, and operations beyond traditional lectures and case studies.
Its digital strategy specialization, launched three years ago, now ranks as the most subscribed specialization alongside analytics, pioneered by Great Lakes since 2013, with recent additions of deep learning, NLP-based management, and machine learning courses aligned to generative and agentic AI requirements of industry.
Faculty Powerhouse
The institute boasts exceptional faculty blending strong academic credentials with deep industry expertise, particularly having prioritized industry-proficient faculty with PhDs and strong research capabilities over the last five years. The institute emphasizes prior work experience, particularly recent roles involving Gen Z, moderate AI knowledge, and AI deployment in professional settings, while balancing hiring criteria at 60% industry exposure and 40% high-quality research output, beyond mere publication volume. Sustainability and SDG-related experience now form core selection criteria, underscoring the school’s thought leadership focus.
Impact in Action
Great Lakes Institute of Management, Gurgaon measures its analytics program success through strong recruiter validation, with domain averages of ₹16.4 LPA (2026 batch) for the one-year program and ₹15.3 LPA (2025 batch) for the two-year program. Repeat hires from firms like ZS Associates, Silicon, Rx Logics, Tiger Analytics, ProdDNA, Axtria, Accenture, OPS, and Spotify highlight sustained industry demand, alongside surging interest in workshops and masterclasses that inform curriculum updates.
Alumni demonstrate rapid progress, reaching mid/upper-mid career levels within 15 years, with 2014-2016 batches delivering full high-tech courses, such as advanced digital marketing, product management, and AI-era consulting. The institute fosters entrepreneurship voluntarily through the student-led “Prayas” club, featuring entrepreneur sessions and panels at its annual Sapience event, while providing flexible support (space, funding, attendance) for ventures like an MBA prep website. Though past incubation efforts faced challenges from students’ loan priorities, alumni successes like the 2014-15 student-launched Enerture (a ₹1000 crore renewable energy firm) validate this approach, with a dedicated budget awaiting a critical mass of 10 committed participants.
Future Awaits
When asked about Great Lakes Institute of Management, Gurgaon’s short-term and long-term plans, Dr. Jones Mathew, Principal & Head of Institution, outlined ambitious initiatives blending cutting-edge technology, sustainability, and global outreach.
“In the short term, we are launching India’s first Metaverse Lab for XR-based consumer behavior research, already yielding one completed PhD and three ABDC-A papers, alongside an NLP Lab, a free Data Lab curating NSSO/RBI/public datasets, and our SCORE Index tracking weekly sustainability media conversations,” stated Dr. Mathew.
He highlighted community impact through expanding the seven-year Karma Yoga program, impacting 25 villages with planned NGO partnerships, and the ongoing 4th Winter Conference on Sustainable Business, where a Gurgaon sustainability survey under ‘I Love Gurgaon’ will debut, all headed by rigorous faculty hiring.
For the long term, Dr. Mathew emphasized globalization: “We’ve signed 10 MOUs with triple-crown accredited schools (AMBA/AACSB/EQUIS) to enable robust student/faculty exchanges, immersion programs and research collaborations” These plans position Great Lakes, Gurgaon as a forward-thinking leader, seamlessly integrating academia with industry and societal needs to shape analytics professionals for India’s dynamic future.
