Is an MBA still worth ₹40 lakh and two years off your career? A blunt cost-benefit breakdown by Meenal Goel, a chartered accountant, is drawing fresh attention online, just as a viral comment by Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath stirs debate over the value of elite business degrees.

Goel’s post, which lays bare her personal ROI from an MBA pursued between 2019 and 2021, calculates the total cost at ₹39.5 lakh. That includes tuition, living expenses, miscellaneous academic costs, and the opportunity cost of forgoing a ₹8 lakh-per-year job for two years. Advertisement

The returns? From a pre-MBA salary of ₹8 lakh in 2019, Goel doubled her pay post-graduation to ₹16 lakh, now earning ₹21 lakh in 2025. Over four years, she earned ₹74 lakh — ₹14 lakh more than what she would have made without

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