S P Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR)

S P Jain Institute of Management and Research — SPJIMR — is the autonomous Mumbai institute whose two-year PGDM is the direct answer to a question we hear every season: “is there any way in besides the merit list?” There is not, and unlike most schools SPJIMR puts that in writing on its own admissions page. The PGDM is AICTE-approved and NBA and AMBA accredited, runs from the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan campus in Andheri West, and starts in June 2027 for the incoming batch.

What should an applicant plan for?

Three things: a bachelor’s degree at 50% marks or equivalent CGPA, a qualifying CAT or GMAT score, and a profile that survives reading. SPJIMR’s shortlist is famously profile-led — applicants are sorted into profile-based and profile-cum-score-based groups after the institute reads your academic consistency across 10th, 12th and every year of graduation, the relevance of your work experience to your chosen specialisation, your entrance score, and your versatility and achievements. Both fresh graduates and candidates with up to five years of experience are eligible, which is unusual among the top merit schools.

The money: an indicative Rs 24,86,000 for Indian participants including tuition and basic hostel, plus a Rs 2,000 application fee. The official fees page marks the figure as subject to revision and excludes Global Fast Track and International Exchange expenses, so read your offer letter for the final number.

How does the 2027-intake calendar run?

Applications open mid-September and close at the end of November on SPJIMR’s portal. In-person interviews for the 2027 intake are tentatively scheduled across January 2027 (Mumbai phase 1, Kolkata) and February 2027 (Bengaluru, Delhi phases 1 and 2, Mumbai phase 2). As of 24 August 2026 the window had not yet opened — if an agent tells you “SPJIMR admissions are closing soon” in August, they are selling urgency the official calendar does not support.

Where does SPJIMR fit in a Mumbai shortlist?

At the top of the city’s autonomous-institute layer, alongside the CAT-only public options (IIM Mumbai and SJMSOM at IIT Bombay) and above the own-process private names on fee-to-outcome ratio: the official page reports an average CTC of INR 32.10 lakh against a sub-Rs 25 lakh fee. The trade-off versus FMS Delhi is fee (FMS is a tenth the cost) versus shortlist style — SPJIMR will read a strong profile with a merely qualifying score, FMS will not. Our Mumbai city guide maps all three layers.

How Udaan helps with SPJIMR

We help you judge whether your profile is genuinely competitive for a profile-based shortlist — before you spend the application fee — and we build the parallel shortlist (the Delhi PGDM schools, the Mumbai own-process institutes) so a near-miss does not cost you a year. Applications and payments stay on SPJIMR’s own portal; if anyone offers you a seat through us or anyone else, the institute’s own disclaimer tells you what that offer is worth.

Official sources: SPJIMR PGDM course page · PGDM admissions page · PGDM fees and scholarships page