Freshers struggle visibly more than work-ex candidates at new IIMs, with most unplaced students at these colleges being freshers. The OP confirmed this directly - "freshers struggle in SIP but those with good acads (especially in MBA) get placed easily however most unplaced folks are freshers only." Finance and consulting SIPs systematically prefer 1-2 year work-ex candidates since companies want recruits who can hit the ground running. Marketing and gen man roles are relatively fresher-friendly but still competitive. The problem compounds at new IIMs (Kashipur, Ranchi, Trichy, Udaipur with Rs 14-16L fees and Rs 17-18 LPA averages) where the fresher-to-workex ratio is higher than at BLACKI colleges. Fresher advantage at IIM Calcutta (Rs 27L fees, Rs 34.23 LPA avg) or IIM Bangalore (Rs 26.2L fees, Rs 34.88 LPA avg) is real because corporate MT programs at McKinsey, BCG, and bulge bracket IBs happen via those campuses. At new IIMs, fresher placements skew toward IT analyst roles (TCS Digital, Accenture Strategy backend) rather than premium finance/consulting. Mitigation strategies for freshers at new IIMs: