A live project is a short-duration 4-12 week paid or unpaid consulting assignment with a real company done alongside your MBA coursework, designed to build domain expertise and CV credibility. The OP described it simply - "It's basically online part time internship, it helps give experience/direction to CV." Live projects come from three sources:
- College-floated opportunities (your placement committee shares corporate requirements),
- Platforms like Unstop, Internshala, LinkedIn, Naukri,
- Direct outreach to startups/VCs/research firms. Typical live project examples: marketing research for a D2C startup, writing financial reports for a research firm, building a go-to-market strategy for a SaaS company, equity research reports for a boutique broker. For new IIMs (Kashipur, Ranchi, Trichy, Udaipur with Rs 14-16L fees), live projects are critical because:
- Fresher profiles need corporate exposure before SIP,
- Domain pivot candidates need relevant CV points,
- Companies often offer PPI/PPO based on live project performance. A well-executed live project generates 2 bullet points on CV + 1 strong interview story + potential referral. Bad live project = glorified data entry work with no learning. Screen projects by asking: Will I interact with senior stakeholders? Will I build a measurable deliverable? Is the company's brand decent? Aim for 2-3 live projects in your first year of MBA spread across SIP prep and post-SIP periods. If you are in the OP's position (new IIM, targeting finance), equity research live projects at small brokerages + a marketing research project at a consumer startup = stronger SIP conversion. Check your eligibility at collvera.com/eligibility