If you’ve searched for “TISS Mumbai MBA,” here’s the first thing worth knowing: TISS doesn’t officially run a course called MBA. Its flagship management programme is the M.A. in Human Resource Management & Labour Relations (MA HRM & LR) — a two-year, CAT-based postgraduate course that works like an MBA in outcomes, especially for HR careers. Aspirants call it “TISS Mumbai MBA” because that’s how people search, and this guide covers exactly what that search is really about — fees, the 2026 cutoff, admission steps, eligibility, and the latest placement report including the average package. By the end, you’ll know whether it fits your goals and budget.
If CAT is on your own radar this admission cycle, it’s worth building a practice routine early — free CAT mock tests are a good way to gauge where you currently stand before you commit to a full prep plan.
TISS Mumbai MBA 2026: Quick Overview
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Institute | Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai |
| Official programme name | M.A. in Human Resource Management & Labour Relations (MA HRM & LR) |
| Location | Deonar, Mumbai |
| Programme duration | 2 years, full-time |
| Entrance exam | CAT (CAT 2025 scores used for the 2026-27 cycle) |
| Eligibility | Bachelor’s degree, min. 50% marks (45% for SC/ST); final-year students eligible |
| Fees (approx., 2 years) | ₹1.85 Lakh (tuition and academic charges; excludes hostel) |
| Average package (2026 batch) | ₹28.69 LPA |
| Median package (2026 batch) | ₹28 LPA |
| Highest package (2026 batch) | ₹66 LPA |
| Placement highlights | 34 recruiting companies, 11 new recruiters, 20 PPOs |
| Admission route | CAT score (70% weightage) + Online Personal Interview (30% weightage) |
Figures above are the latest publicly reported numbers for the 2026 cycle. Confirm current fees and dates on the official TISS admissions portal before applying.
What Is TISS Mumbai MBA?
People mean MA HRM & LR when they say “TISS Mumbai MBA.” It isn’t an MBA by name, but it delivers similar outcomes for a specific career path — Human Resources.
TISS is a century-old, UGC-recognised deemed university with deep roots in social sciences and applied management. Within that setup, MA HRM & LR has earned a strong reputation as one of India’s most respected HR-focused postgraduate programmes.
The strength here is the mix of rigorous HR and labour-relations coursework with TISS’s traditional focus on fieldwork and people-centric management. That’s why recruiters come here specifically for HR business partner, talent management, and organisational development roles, rather than for generalist consulting or marketing hires.
TISS Mumbai MBA Fees 2026
The total tuition and academic fee for the two-year MA HRM & LR programme is approximately ₹1.85 Lakh, spread across four semesters. It typically covers:
- Tuition fee
- Examination fee
- Fieldwork and internship charges
- IT and library fees
- Development fund and caution deposit (partly refundable)
| Fee Head | Approx. Amount (2 years) |
|---|---|
| Tuition fee | ~₹1.28 Lakh |
| Examination fee | ~₹4,000 |
| Fieldwork/internship charges | ~₹24,000 |
| Other academic fees | ~₹23,000 |
| Caution deposit (refundable) | ~₹10,000 |
| Approximate total | ~₹1.85 Lakh |
Semester-wise splits vary slightly year to year — confirm the current breakup from the official fee notification before paying.
This is considerably lower than most private management programmes, largely because TISS is a government-funded deemed university rather than a self-financed institute. For a sense of how this stacks up against a traditional IIM budget, see our breakdown of IIM fees versus placement outcomes. That cost gap is a big part of why the “is it worth it” question keeps coming up for TISS — the fee-to-salary ratio looks favourable, though real ROI still depends on whether HR is genuinely your target career.
TISS Mumbai MBA Placement 2026
TISS released its latest placement report for the MA HRM & LR batch in April 2026, with clear year-on-year growth.
| Particulars | 2026 Batch |
|---|---|
| Students participated | 65 |
| Companies visited | 34 |
| New recruiters | 11 |
| Highest package | ₹66 LPA |
| Average package | ₹28.69 LPA |
| Median package | ₹28 LPA |
| Top 10% average package | ₹49.75 LPA |
| Top 25% average package | ₹40.84 LPA |
| Pre-placement offers (PPOs) | 20 |
By sector, BFSI/NBFC led hiring at around 20.6% of offers, followed by consulting (17.6%) and FMCG/manufacturing (14.7%). Recruiters in recent years have included large BFSI, consulting, and FMCG firms.
The batch before it (2025) posted an average of ₹28.20 LPA and a highest package around ₹36.25 LPA — so the 2026 jump in the highest package came from a handful of outlier offers rather than a broad shift. Placement percentage for 2025 has been reported inconsistently across sources, ranging from around 86% (60 of 70 students placed) to figures closer to 100%. If the exact number matters for your decision, check TISS’s own placement report directly.
The average and median sitting close together across both years suggests outcomes are fairly evenly spread, rather than being pulled up by one or two extreme offers. The gap opens up only at the top — the top 10% averaged ₹49.75 LPA, well above the median, showing that candidates with prior experience or niche skills pull ahead meaningfully. Salary outcomes here are shaped mainly by:
- Prior work experience — 1–3 years of relevant HR or corporate experience usually means a higher starting CTC
- Specialisation choice — compensation & benefits and HR analytics roles tend to pay more than generalist HRBP roles
- Sector — BFSI and consulting offers generally run higher than FMCG or manufacturing
- Summer internship performance — the 20 PPOs in 2026 often carried competitive packages
TISS Mumbai MBA Cutoff 2026
Admission for the 2026-27 batch runs on CAT 2025 scores, since TISS discontinued its own entrance test (TISS-NET) for this programme.
The official minimum overall CAT percentile for Online Assessment (OA) shortlisting is 70 for the General category, with a minimum sectional cutoff around 60 percentile. This is only the eligibility floor — clearing it doesn’t guarantee shortlisting.
In practice, the effective cutoff for actual shortlisting runs much higher. With roughly 60–70 seats and a large applicant pool clearing the 70-percentile floor, shortlisted General-category candidates have historically needed CAT percentiles in the 90s. Treat this as a trend-based estimate, not an official published cutoff, since TISS doesn’t release an exact last-shortlisted percentile.
Category-wise floors are relaxed for OBC, SC, and ST candidates under standard reservation norms — check the official TISS admission notification for the exact current figures. If you’d rather benchmark yourself against actual exam-day difficulty than percentile estimates alone, working through CAT previous year question papers is a more reliable gauge of where you stand.
TISS Mumbai MBA CAT Cutoff
Yes, CAT is the accepted entrance exam for MA HRM & LR (and for the two other CAT-based Mumbai programmes). TISS-NET has been discontinued here.
For 2026-27, CAT 2025 scores are used, applied as follows:
- Shortlisting for Online Assessment: CAT score carries 97% weightage, plus 3% extra for gender diversity (female and transgender candidates)
- Final Merit List: CAT score carries 70% weightage, and the Online Personal Interview carries the remaining 30%
One notable shift from earlier cycles is TISS relying almost entirely on CAT for shortlisting rather than a separate written test, which simplifies preparation for anyone already targeting CAT — a structured CAT test series covering full-length mocks and sectionals can help you track that percentile movement over time. CUET-PG is not used for MA HRM & LR — it applies only to TISS’s non-management MA programmes, so the two admission routes shouldn’t be confused.
TISS Mumbai MBA Admission Process 2026
- Check eligibility — confirm your bachelor’s degree and marks meet the criteria, or that you’re in your final year.
- Appear for CAT — register for and take CAT, conducted by the IIMs each November.
- Apply to TISS — submit the application on the official TISS admissions portal, selecting MA HRM & LR, and pay the application fee (₹1,750 + bank charges; lower for reserved categories).
- OA shortlisting — based mainly on CAT percentile (97% weightage), plus gender diversity weightage where applicable.
- Detailed Application Form (DAF) — shortlisted candidates submit academic and work-experience details.
- Online Personal Interview — conducted online, carrying 30% weightage in the final merit list.
- Final merit list — prepared from CAT score (70%) and interview performance (30%).
- Fee payment and admission confirmation — selected candidates pay the seat-confirmation fee.
For the 2026-27 cycle, the reported timeline was: CAT 2025 held on November 30, 2025; TISS application window closed January 11, 2026; OA shortlists announced February 13, 2026; DAF window February 23–28, 2026; interviews March 9–27, 2026; final merit list released April 20, 2026. Expect a broadly similar schedule for future cycles, tied to that year’s CAT exam date — confirm exact dates from the official notification once released.
TISS Mumbai MBA Eligibility Criteria
- A bachelor’s degree of at least three years’ duration (or equivalent) from a recognised university
- Minimum 50% aggregate marks for General/OBC, 45% for SC/ST candidates
- Final-year students can apply provisionally, subject to completing the degree and marks requirement before registration
- A valid CAT score from the relevant exam year
- No restriction on undergraduate stream — commerce, engineering, arts, and science graduates are all eligible
TISS Mumbai MBA Fees with Hostel
On-campus hostel accommodation is available but not guaranteed to every student. Priority usually goes to outstation candidates, first-year postgraduates, and students from reserved or lower-income categories. Those already residing in or near Mumbai (including areas like Karjat, Kasara, Virar, and Panvel) are generally not allotted seats, since they’re expected to commute.
Reported hostel charges vary by source and block, generally falling between ₹15,000 and ₹30,000 per semester for room and electricity, plus a separate mess/dining advance (often around ₹20,000 per semester, adjusted against actual use) and a refundable caution deposit of roughly ₹10,000. Since figures differ across TISS’s own notifications, treat this as an approximate range and confirm exact charges from the current hostel fee circular.
Students without a hostel seat typically rely on nearby PG accommodation, costing roughly ₹4,000–₹15,000 per month depending on sharing — a real cost worth budgeting for if you’re relocating to Mumbai.
TISS Mumbai MBA Courses & Specialisations
TISS Mumbai runs three CAT-based, management-adjacent postgraduate programmes:
- MA in Human Resource Management & Labour Relations (MA HRM & LR) — the flagship and most-searched programme, focused on HR and people management
- MA in Organisation Development, Change and Leadership (MA ODCL) — a smaller, more niche programme on organisational change and leadership, typically expecting some work experience
- Master of Hospital Administration (MHA) — a specialised programme for healthcare and hospital management careers, distinct from HR
Apart from these, TISS Mumbai also runs several other MA programmes (Social Work, Development Studies, Public Policy, and more) admitted through CUET-PG rather than CAT. These aren’t management or MBA-equivalent programmes and shouldn’t be compared on fees or placements with MA HRM & LR.
TISS Mumbai MBA ROI
On paper, the ROI looks attractive — an average salary well over 15 times the total two-year programme fee, made possible because a deemed, government-funded university keeps costs low compared to self-financed institutes. Placement support has also grown, with 34+ recruiters on campus in 2026 and a structured career path from HRBP roles into HR leadership over time.
But ROI here is specialist ROI, not generalist ROI. If your goal is a career spanning marketing, finance, operations, and strategy, an HR-focused programme narrows your options rather than widening them, however strong the salary numbers look. If you’re still weighing a focused programme like this against a broader general-management route, our comparison of IIM versus IIT management programmes walks through that generalist-vs-specialist trade-off in more detail.
Is TISS Mumbai Good for MBA?
For a serious HR career, yes. The programme’s strengths are clear:
- A curriculum built on decades of TISS expertise in labour relations and organisational behaviour
- Rising average and median packages across the last few placement cycles
- A wide alumni network in HR leadership roles
- A Mumbai location close to corporate HR functions and financial-sector recruiters
- Fees far lower than most self-financed management programmes
The limitations matter too. It isn’t a general management programme — you won’t get broad exposure to finance, marketing, or operations. Admission is genuinely competitive despite the low official cutoff floor, since effective shortlisting runs much higher. And Mumbai’s cost of living, without a guaranteed hostel seat, adds a real expense the low tuition fee doesn’t capture.
Is TISS Mumbai Worth It in 2026?
Choose it if:
- You’re certain about a long-term career in HR, talent management, or organisational development
- You want strong placement outcomes without a high private-institute fee
- You’re comfortable with a smaller, specialised cohort
Look elsewhere if:
- You want a generalist management career and haven’t settled on a functional specialisation
- You’re targeting consulting, product management, or finance-heavy roles needing broader curriculum exposure
- International mobility depends heavily on a specific brand name
TISS Mumbai MBA Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Low total programme fee (~₹1.85 Lakh) relative to placement outcomes
- Rising ROI, with median and average packages close together — less skewed by outliers than many programmes
- Strong reputation specifically for HR and labour-relations careers
- Prime Mumbai location, close to corporate HR functions and recruiters
- Growing recruiter base with new additions each placement cycle
Cons:
- Narrow specialisation — not a fit for a generalist management career
- Admission is far more competitive in practice than the official 70-percentile floor suggests
- Hostel accommodation isn’t guaranteed, adding uncertain living costs
- Smaller batch size and recruiter pool compared to larger management programmes
TISS Mumbai MBA vs Other Management Programmes
TISS Mumbai’s MA HRM & LR occupies a specific niche — it isn’t built to compete with broad, generalist management programmes on curriculum width, and it isn’t priced like a large self-financed institute either. If HR is your target function, it stands up well against other HR-focused programmes at a fraction of typical private fees.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the fee for TISS Mumbai MBA?
The MA HRM & LR programme’s total tuition and academic fee is approximately ₹1.85 Lakh for two years, excluding hostel and living costs.
2. What is the cutoff for TISS Mumbai MBA?
The official minimum CAT percentile for OA shortlisting in the 2026 cycle is 70 for the General category. Actual shortlisting has historically needed percentiles in the 90s, though that figure isn’t officially published.
3. Does TISS Mumbai accept CAT?
Yes. CAT is the accepted entrance exam for MA HRM & LR, MA ODCL, and MHA. TISS-NET has been discontinued for these programmes.
4. What is the average package at TISS Mumbai?
The 2026 batch recorded an average package of ₹28.69 LPA, a median of ₹28 LPA, and a highest package of ₹66 LPA.
5. What is the eligibility for TISS Mumbai MBA?
A bachelor’s degree with at least 50% marks (45% for SC/ST), a valid CAT score, and provisional eligibility for final-year students.
6. How can I get admission to TISS Mumbai?
Clear CAT, apply through the TISS admissions portal, get shortlisted mainly on your CAT percentile, clear the Online Personal Interview, and make it to the final merit list.
7. Is TISS Mumbai worth it? For those set on an HR career, yes — the low fee combined with a rising average package makes the ROI strong. For a generalist management career, other options may fit better.
8. Is TISS Mumbai good for MBA? It’s excellent for HR and people-management careers specifically, with strong placements and low fees, but it isn’t a substitute for a broad general-management programme.
Conclusion
TISS Mumbai’s MA HRM & LR — what most people mean by “TISS Mumbai MBA” — combines a total fee of around ₹1.85 Lakh with a 2026 average package of ₹28.69 LPA. Admission runs through CAT, with an official cutoff floor of 70 percentile but much tougher real-world competition, followed by an Online Assessment and interview. It’s a strong choice if HR is your target career, though not a substitute for a generalist MBA. If HR fits your goals, it’s worth a serious look in your 2026 applications — and if you’re still building your CAT percentile to get there, you can start with a free CAT mock test to see where you currently stand.
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