What is Product Management?: Course Fees 2025, Subjects, Top Colleges, Admissions

An MBA in Product Management is a specialised business degree that focuses on the strategy, development, marketing, and life cycle of products especially in tech, consumer goods, and services. It trains you to become a Product Manager (PM) which is the person who decides what gets built, why, and how.

You will get to learn the following:

• Product development strategy
• Customer discovery and UX
• Business model innovation
• Agile, Scrum, and Kanban
• Go-to-market (GTM) strategies
• Cross-functional leadership

In short: it is the CEO of the product role with both strategic and execution responsibilities.

MBA in Product Management is perfect for you if you check all the pointers below:

• You are passionate about technology or innovation
• You want to build and launch meaningful products
• You enjoy solving customer problems
• You love working at the intersection of business, design, and tech
• You dream of working in startups, tech giants, or building your own venture

It is ideal for engineers, designers, marketers, or business graduates who want to step into product leadership roles.

The Duration of MBA in Product Management is 2 years for full-time Course and 1 year for executive/online MBAs. The Eligibility criteria is mentioned below:

• Bachelor's degree (any stream, 50%–60% marks)
• CAT / XAT / GMAT / NMAT / SNAP / MAT scores
• Some institutes require work experience or coding knowledge
• Group discussion + Personal Interview rounds

MBA in Product Management is perfect for you if you check all the below mentioned pointers:

• You're passionate about technology or innovation
• You want to build and launch meaningful products
• You enjoy solving customer problems
• You love working at the intersection of business, design, and tech
• You dream of working in startups, tech giants or building your own venture

It's ideal for engineers, designers, marketers or business graduates who want to step into product leadership roles.

Yes, CAT syllabus is difficult to crack if you do not have enough time. There are three subjects in CAT- VARC, DILR and Quantitative Aptitude. Most of the candidates find RC passages tough to crack. In Quants, Arithmetic, Algebra and Geometry pose significant challenge during preparation. In DILR, Reasoning questions often turnout to be tricky and confusion.

The ideal preparation time for the Xavier Aptitude Test exam is 6 to 9 months with complete dedication. Some students take lesser time in completing the Xavier Aptitude Test preparation. Students need to make their own Xavier Aptitude Test exam preparation strategy according to their own strengths and weaknesses.

XAT exam pattern:-

Exam Mode: Online Exam

Duration: 180 minutes

Sectional Time Limit:

• For Part 1: 170 minutes
• For Part 2: 10 minutes

XAT Syllabus: Decision Making, Verbal & Logical Ability, Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation, General Knowledge, and Essay Writing. Question Paper Break Up

Part 1: Decision Making, Verbal & Logical Ability, And Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation 

Part 2: GK

Sectional Breakup:

• Decision Making: 21 Questions 
• Verbal & Logical Ability: 26 Questions
• Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation: 28 Questions 
• General Knowledge: 20 Questions

Marking Scheme you will get 1 mark for every correct answer. 1/4th mark will be deducted for every incorrect answer. 0.10 marks will be deducted for more than 8 un-attempted questions No negative marking in the General Knowledge section.

Sectional Weightage:

• Decision Making: 21 marks
• Verbal & Logical Ability: 26 marks
• Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation: 28 marks
• General Knowledge: 20 marks 

Preparation Tips:

Know exam pattern and the syllabus.

• Make a short note.
• Practice the Previous year's question paper.
• Attempt Mock tests.
• Revision is necessary

For more information, you may visit the Shiksha XAT exam page.

 (https://www.shiksha.com/mba/xat-exam). .

A Product Portfolio is a showcase of your work, case studies or product thinking which is  crucial for cracking PM roles and interviews, especially as a fresher.

Your portfolio may include:

• Case study on improving a known app (e.g., Uber, Zomato)
• A product you built (app, website, or feature mockup)
• Go to market (GTM) strategy for a fictional product
• Product teardown of a competitor
• A deck explaining how you'd solve a real world user problem

Below are the examples of some tools to build it:

1. Notion (best for organized portfolios)
2. Google Slides / Docs
3. Figma (for product mockups)

Pro tip: Link your portfolio in your resume and LinkedIn!

You will study a mix of business, technology, and design focused subjects that are mentioned below. You will study about Core Business subjects such as:

• Marketing Strategy
• Financial Management
• Operations
• Leadership and Innovation

You will be also taught Product-Specific subjects which are mentioned below:

• Product Lifecycle Management
• Agile Project Management
• Market Research & User Insights
• UX Design Principles
• Product-Market Fit & MVP
• Technology for Managers
• Digital Transformation

You will also learn the following tools:

• Jira, Asana, Trello (project management)
• Figma (design)
• SQL, Excel, Tableau (data)
• Google Analytics, Mixpanel, A/B testing tools

Yes, there are great online or hybrid options for working professionals:

Some of the top Online Programs are mentioned below:

• Duke / upGrad Global MBA (Product stream)
• Great Learning's PGPM in Product Management
• Udacity – Product Manager Nanodegree
• Coursera (UVA, Boston Univ, IESE) Product Strategy specializations
• Institute of Product Leadership (IPL) – Executive format

These online MBAs are flexible, but don't offer campus placements, so great for people with some industry experience.

India is seeing a rapid rise in product focused MBA programs. Top institutes include:

• ISB Hyderabad / Mohali – Product Management specialization
• IIM Bangalore / IIM Ahmedabad – Electives in Product Strategy & Innovation
• SPJIMR, Mumbai – Digital Product Management focus
• IMT Ghaziabad – Marketing + Product electives
• IIT Delhi (DoMS), IIT Kharagpur – Tech and product strategy
• Great Lakes, Chennai – One-year PGPM with product focus
• upGrad x Duke / Deakin / NMIMS – Online Product Management MBA/PGPM
• Institute of Product Leadership (IPL), Bengaluru – India's 1st product-focused B-school

Great question! Here is how you can future proof your career after MBA in Product Management:

• Never stop learning about new tools, frameworks, tech trends
• Document your wins and keep a track of product launches, metrics, user feedback
• Network constantly that means build a tribe of product peers
• Experiment with side projects such as build, test, fail, repeat
• Mentor juniors or write blogs so that you grow more by teaching

Product Management is dynamic but so is your growth. Just keep building your mindset like you would build a great product: step by step.

Product managers provide the product's direction and success. Their responsibilities are broad, but they typically include the following, irrespective of the size of the company. 

1. Defining Product Vision and Strategy: They set the long-term vision and strategy for the product, aligning it with company goals.
2. Prioritising Features: Deciding which features to build and the order of development based on customer needs and business priorities. 
3. Product Roadmapping: Creating and maintaining a product roadmap, outlining the planned progression of the product over time.
4. Stakeholder Management: Collaborating with various stakeholders, including customers, team members, and executives, to ensure alignment and buy-in. Read in-depth about managing stakeholders. 
5. Market Analysis: Conducting market research to understand trends, analyse competitors, and market needs.  

In different industries and company sizes, these responsibilities can vary. In startups, a product manager might handle a broader range of tasks, while in larger companies, they might specialize more, focusing on specific aspects like user experience or market analysis.

When breaking into product management, it is important to differentiate this discipline from similar concepts, including project management and product management. 

You can see the difference between Product Management & Project Management in the table below:

A career in product management is most relevant with bachelor's or master's degrees in business management, business administration, economics, finance, computer science, and marketing. It makes it easier to find the best job opportunities.

Eligibility -

Bachelor's degree (or equivalent) in product design or engineering.

Previous experience in software and web development.

Absolutely! and women are excelling in PM roles globally. It is not about coding! it's about strategy, empathy, vision and leadership
Women often excel at cross functional communication and user empathy core PM strengths
Remote/flexible product roles are increasing which helps balance career + personal life
Communities like Women in Product, She Loves Data, and Leap Club support women PMs in networking, mentorship, and leadership.