MBA or not, you are not an ‘idiot’

Representational pic/iStock

On a recent episode of the Startup Pedia podcast, Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath leaned back in his chair and casually delivered a line that blew up the Internet. "If you're 25 and doing an MBA today, you must be some kind of an idiot," he said. The timing couldn't have been worse. In less than a week, lakhs of students across the country will sit for CAT and other MBA entrance exams, beginning an annual ritual built on years of coaching classes, and family expectations, and the aspiration of a better life. Kamath's line may have got lost if not for a sharp, steady rebuttal from MBA student Anaheez Patel, who is studying at NYU Stern. Filming a response reel, Patel pushed back saying, "Not everyone wants to be a hustler or entrepreneur. For every outlier who made it without a degree, there are thousands whose careers jumped because of one." Her video quickly gathered its own momentum, creating a split-screen debate that begged the question - is the MBA degree heading to extinction?

When we speak to her, Patel is even more precise. "The classroom knowledge is honestly the least transformative part of the MBA," she says. "What matters is the density of opportunities around you - alumni networks that span decades, recruiting pipelines that are exclusive to MBA cohorts, exposure to global internships." For students without corporate family connections or inherited social capital, she calls the degree "a democratising agent," one that "legitimises your presence in elite professional circles and accelerates upward mobility in ways that raw skill alone often cannot."

Even the industries that claim to be evolving, she argues, remain conservative at the top. "Firms like McKinsey, Bain, Goldman, Blackstone - these still treat the MBA as a standardised filtration mechanism," she says. "There are alternative pathways, but they're exceptions, not the norm." Education remains one of the few scalable ladders available to those who didn't inherit one. In a country where opportunity is unevenly distributed, telling everyone to ‘just hustle' flattens inequalities that shape every rung of the climb.

The debate didn't blow up simply because of one founder's provocation. The hyper-visible startup ecosystem comprises unicorn founders who dropped out, YouTubers preaching hustle, and influencers insisting that degrees are out-dated. Despite the noise online, demand for MBAs remains enormous. Each year, more than two lakh candidates sit for CAT, chasing seats in a handful of top institutes. And at the leadership level, degrees still matter. A Mint analysis from 2016 found that 144 CEOs of BSE 500 companies hold an MBA, a reminder of how deeply the credential is woven into India's corporate architecture. Though there are some aspirants that feel that an MBA is not required unless you get into a top college. Furthermore, the fees are high, and there is with no guarantee of a good placement.

Coming from an engineering track, Vipul Sharma felt technically strong but unfamiliar with business which is why he pursued MBA. Pic/Kirti Surve Parade

If the online debate felt abstract, Vipul Sharma, 25, hears it differently from inside an actual MBA classroom at IIM Mumbai. "It's not the first time I heard a high profile person like Kamath say what he said," he says. "People reach a certain stage and start believing only one path leads to success. But success means different things to everyone." For him, the idea that all young people can simply "startup" ignores basic realities. "Not everyone has the mental bandwidth, family support or networks to do that," he explains. Coming from an engineering track, he felt technically strong but unfamiliar with the business world. "People like me who didn't have insight about the business world - we can't really startup. MBA is the one degree that provides ample opportunities to pivot, and upgrade compensation and position."

Sharma's own reasons were quite practical. "I didn't want a job that was only technical. I wanted to create an impact," he says. Managerial and strategic roles were out of reach with just a BTech. And the market, he insists, hasn't caught up with the rhetoric. "Founders say degrees don't matter, but when they visit campuses, they go only to Tier-1 colleges. That's hypocritical."

A very different energy comes from Akshaara Lalwani, founder and CEO of Communicate (India), who sits on the opposite end of the table from the nervous twenty-somethings clutching their CVs. As the final interviewer for every hire, even at the most junior level, she has a ringside view of what actually matters in the job market. And for her, an MBA degree barely nudges the needle. "I don't give more than ten to twenty per cent weightage to the degree, not more," she says. "An MBA from any institute for the sake of a tick mark holds zero value." What does get her attention is the rare pedigree programme. "If you've been able to get into a tough, well-organised university, it tells me you've followed a disciplined approach. That discipline usually percolates into the employee life cycle."

She rejects jargon-filled candidates who "can't get the job done," arguing that 80 per cent of her decision rests on who the person is and their clarity, adaptability and willingness to figure things out.

Anaheez Patel, Karan Raghani, Shreya Das and Akshaara Lalwani

On the other hand, Shreya Das represents something more restless as a co-founder who learned everything the scrappy, bruised, slightly improvised way. At 29, and six years into running Publepad, her PR agency, she points out that her journey didn't begin in a B-school classroom but in a computer science lab. "I firmly believe no one needs to have an MBA degree to have a successful business," she says. Character, accountability, and the appetite to grow - those were the only real currencies she had in the early years.

Her hiring lens reflects the same ethos. "Degrees are always welcome… but I'm not into that thing ‘ki MBA hi chahiye mujhe' (I only want an MBA)." She's watched friends spend lakhs on a degree only to enter jobs paying '2 to 3 lakh a year. For her, the return on investment came from diving straight into client work, learning on the move, and making small, sometimes painful mistakes.

However for Sharma, the financial stakes sharpen everything. His two-year MBA costs around '21 lakh. "It's a big amount," he says. "You feel the pressure, not just to clear loans but to justify your parents' belief in you." Yet the trade-off is clear to him. "It is an investment in yourself and once you get that placement, it finally pays off. The compounding benefits are much more."

Das' biggest gripe with the current debate is the mythologising of hustle. "New hustlers want results immediately," she says. In her world, patience, not a credential, is the real test of whether someone can survive entrepreneurship.

Karan Raghani sits comfortably in the opposite camp. At 27, the Pocket Compass founder is unabashed about preferring MBA-trained hires, and he doesn't hedge his reasoning. The unnecessary pitter-patter to him is an operating system. "The degree signals foundational and theoretical clarity," he says. "It shows me someone has gone through rigorous processes and pressures that make them professionally ready for a 9-to-5." In a climate obsessed with dropouts-turned-founders, his stance almost sounds rebellious.

For him, structured business education becomes even more crucial inside a startup, not less. "Startups need more foundational clarity for all departments," he says, adding that networks are the underrated currency of the MBA world. His own first clients came not from cold emails but from alumni circles. Even inside his team, he's noticed the difference. "Someone with an MBA had a deeper understanding of the subject and their decisions were more inclusive and unbiased. Others made decisions based on just one sub-domain," he states.

Raghani's advice to the anxious 25-year-old is more spreadsheet than sermon. "Do a cost-benefit analysis," he advises. "If your career path already has momentum, then stay. But if you come from an academic background that promises very slow growth and isn't fulfilling, prepare for an MBA. But my advice always would be to do it either from the top 125 institutions in India." MBA graduates from premier institutes still see some of the country's strongest placement outcomes, a reminder that pedigree can shift the salary arc in ways hustle alone rarely can.

This fight over MBA isn't really about a piece of paper but about how young Indians imagine their futures. Inside IIM Mumbai, Sharma puts it simply, "Not everyone has the support or the bandwidth to gamble on a startup. For many of us, this degree is the only door-opener we have." Outside the campus walls, founders like Das argue the opposite - the world rewards those who learn by doing, not by waiting. Lalwani's advice to the confused 25-year-old is blunt. "Go work for four or five years. You might do an MBA and then realise you want to be a ballet teacher. First figure out what you want to do, then figure out the best degree. It's subjective."

India's economy, restless and uneven, rewards both chaos and credential. The hard part is choosing which path to trust.