Management consulting accounted for 46% of all offers, up from 38% last year at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore. That’s a “record high” at the 51-year-old institute.
“We would also like to highlight the record number of offers that Accenture Strategy has made this year,” Tapas Ranjan Pati, head of career development services at IIM-Bangalore, said in an October 18 statement. Accenture Strategy made 132 offers, up from 96 last year. His peers, who also submitted bids, include, among others, Boston Consulting Group (24), Bain & Co. (18) and McKinsey & Co. (13).
Accenture’s executive talent hunt reflects growing client demands for strategy and scaling with AI. It also marks a turnaround since consulting firms slowed their hiring plans about two years ago as wars and an uncertain global economy forced clients to tighten their purse strings.
Summer internships at IIMs start in September/October and students intern at companies for several months during the summer. These placements often point to the job market and offer students the chance to get pre-placement offers (PPOs). This is the preferred route because the employer tests the candidate during a two-month placement, while a student who gets a PPO can skip the final placements, which take place more than two quarters later.
Accenture talent hunt
IIM-Ahmedabad, which will start summer placements for its 2025-2027 batch next week, is also expecting a similar rush from consulting firms.
“Based on my discussions, I expect that consulting firms will increasingly combine artificial intelligence with significant human intervention in the coming days to enhance the quality of their offerings,” said Viswanath Pingali, position chairman of the 64-year-old institute of management. “There is also plenty of academic research showing that human intervention combined with artificial intelligence produces significantly better results compared to artificial intelligence interventions alone.”
During last year’s summer internships (for the 2024-2026 batch) in the management consulting cohort, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) was the top recruiter with 22 offers, followed by McKinsey and Bain with 15 and 14 offers respectively. In the transformation and operations consulting sector, Accenture submitted the highest 39 bids.
“Accenture is doubling down on AI-led consulting talent because businesses now want strategy and scale, not just software…Accenture is signaling confidence in the next wave of enterprise demand for applied AI and digital transformation,” said Phil Fersht, founder and CEO of HFS Research, a US outsourcing research firm. “These internships aren’t just about filling entry-level positions; they’re about building the next generation of consulting talent who can translate AI concepts into real business results.”
Accenture has become “the bridge between boardroom ambition and technology implementation,” Fersht said. Its consulting arm helps clients “define AI-first operating models, assess organizational readiness, and prioritize investments that align with measurable business value.”
In early October, Mint reported on the widening gap between Accenture and its IT rivals in AI. In the 12 months to August 2025, Accenture achieved $4.78 billion in new business – a figure that exceeds the combined incremental revenue ($3.92 billion) generated by India’s top 15 IT services companies in 2024-25.
The 40-year-old IIM-Lucknow also saw an increase in consultancy offers during the summer placement process for the 2027 batch, said Prem Prakash Dewani, chairman of placements at IIM-Lucknow. Bain, BCG, Kearney and McKinsey were some of the recruiters. Accenture Strategy was again one of the top recruiters at IIM-Lucknow, extending 47 offers.
“Transformation mandates driven by AI and analytics are changing advisory engagements globally,” Dewani said in an emailed response to Mint. “Companies are increasingly looking for talent with cross-functional understanding…”
The mint’s emailed queries to Accenture went unanswered on Wednesday. BCG did not immediately respond to questions emailed Thursday.
“At McKinsey & Company’s India office, our annual recruitment is in line with our growth trajectory and the evolving needs of our clients. As we see an increase in the number and complexity of the client problems we help solve, we continue to strengthen our consulting pool accordingly,” the company said in a statement.
“At IIMs, we generally hire junior associates who join as general consultants and develop expertise over time in the various practices they work in,” McKinsey said. “Technology and artificial intelligence continue to be areas in which we invest alongside strengthening our core practices.”
Other IIMs where the placements are also saw more offers from the consulting giants. However, they caution that there is always a difference between summer internships and final internships, and students may receive offers from other firms and companies may end up choosing a different candidate.
“Demand from consulting firms will always increase when there are fluctuations in the economy, and right now they are expecting growth,” said Debashis Chatterjee, director of summer internships at IIM-Kozhikode. “They are testing the bright spots in the market, but the final recruitment may not always reflect the increase in numbers.”
