Online MBA in Marketing: Subjects, Fees and Universities in India (2026)

Quick Answer

An online MBA in marketing is a two-year MBA in which the second year focuses on marketing: consumer behaviour, brand management, sales, advertising, services marketing and, increasingly, one or two digital subjects. Amity, NMIMS, Chandigarh University, LPU, UPES, GLA, ARKA JAIN and Sikkim Manipal offer a marketing track online. Official fees we checked on 6 November 2026 run from about ₹1 lakh to ₹2.33 lakh.

Key Highlights

• An online MBA marketing track is a full MBA: the first year is the common management core, and five to seven marketing subjects arrive in semesters three and four.
• The name varies: Marketing and Sales Management (Amity), Marketing Management (UPES, GLA), Marketing (NMIMS, CU, LPU, ARKA JAIN), and separate Brand Management and Retail Management tracks at CU and Amity.
• UPES has the most sales-heavy list we found, with Sales and Channel Management and Customer Relationship Management in semester three, while Amity adds Pricing Strategies and Bottom of the Pyramid Marketing.
• ARKA JAIN’s marketing track is the lowest-cost one we checked at ₹25,000 per semester and includes B2B Marketing and Omni Channel Marketing; it is UGC-DEB recognised rather than entitled.
• Every university we checked accepts a bachelor’s degree in any discipline, so you do not need a commerce or marketing background to apply.

What is an online MBA in marketing?

It is a standard Master of Business Administration, taught and examined online, in which you choose marketing as your specialization. The degree is the university’s MBA; the specialization decides which electives you take in the second year and usually how it is described on your mark sheets.

Under the UGC Specification of Degrees, the MBA is a master’s degree with a minimum duration of two years. Every programme in this article follows that two-year, four-semester pattern. Semesters one and two cover accounting, economics, finance, HR, statistics, operations and an introductory Marketing Management subject. Semesters three and four are where the marketing depth comes in.

Think of the marketing track as training for people who will decide what to sell, to whom, at what price, through which channels and with what message. That means understanding buyers (consumer behaviour, market research), building brands (product and brand management, advertising), selling (sales management, channel management, CRM) and, in most current syllabi, running at least some of that online.

Is an online MBA in marketing the same as a distance MBA in marketing?

No. The UGC’s 2020 regulations treat online and open and distance learning (ODL) as separate modes. Online programmes run on a learning platform with technology-enabled or proctored exams. ODL relies on self-learning material, with exams held at physical centres. If you searched for an MBA in marketing through distance learning, our comparison of online MBA vs distance MBA explains which mode suits which learner. This article covers online programmes only.

Is it the same as an online MBA in digital marketing?

Not quite. A marketing track covers the whole marketing function and usually carries one or two digital subjects. A digital marketing track replaces most of the brand and sales electives with search, social, performance marketing and analytics. We cover that track separately in our guide to the online MBA in digital marketing, and the decision table further down helps you choose between them.

Which universities offer an online MBA in marketing?

Eight of the nine partner universities we track show a marketing specialization on an official page we could open on 6 November 2026, and two of them also run separate brand or retail tracks. The table gives the exact name each university uses.

The onlinemanipal.com pages for Manipal University Jaipur and Sikkim Manipal University did not load for our automated check on 6 November 2026. The SMU marketing electives below come from our review of its page on 27 October 2026. For MUJ, we confirmed a digital marketing specialization in October but could not confirm a general marketing track this time, so ask MUJ directly. You can compare both on our Sikkim Manipal University and Manipal University Jaipur profiles.

What subjects will you study in an online MBA in marketing?

Expect five to seven marketing subjects across semesters three and four, plus a project. The common ground is consumer behaviour, brand management, integrated marketing communications and services marketing; the differences sit in how much sales, pricing, retail, analytics and digital work each university adds. Here is what each official page lists.

Amity University Online: Marketing and Sales Management

Amity publishes a full semester list. The marketing subjects are:

• Semester 3: Consumer Behaviour, Product and Brand Management, Direct Marketing, Pricing Strategies, and Bottom of The Pyramid Marketing.
• Semester 4: Digital Marketing, AI Tools and Applications, Advertising And Sales Promotion, Customer Relationship Management, and Marketing of Services.

Semester three also carries Strategic Management, Professional Ethics and Social Responsibility for Sustainability, and a Minor Project; semester four has a Major Project. Two subjects are unusual in this comparison. Pricing Strategies is a full subject at Amity, while most universities fold pricing into Marketing Management. Bottom of the Pyramid Marketing deals with selling to low-income, high-volume markets, which is directly useful in Indian FMCG, rural distribution and financial inclusion work. More on Amity’s programmes is on our Amity University Online profile.

NMIMS: MBA (Marketing)

NMIMS gives you seven elective slots: four in semester three and three in semester four. The named marketing electives are Brand Management, Consumer Behaviour, Integrated Marketing Communications, Sales Management, International Marketing, Services Marketing and Digital Marketing.

The core around them is strong on analysis. Every NMIMS MBA student takes Business Analytics and Strategic Management in semester two, Corporate Finance and Research Methodology in semester three, and Corporate Sustainability, Indian Ethos and Ethics, International Business and a six-credit Project in semester four. Seven electives for seven slots means you study the full list; the page does not show which four fall in semester three, so ask.

Chandigarh University: Marketing

CU publishes a 108-credit structure that includes 20 credits of Harvard ManageMentor short courses. Consumer Behaviour sits in the semester two core, and Digital Marketing is a core subject in semester three for every CU MBA student. The marketing electives are:

• Semester 3: Marketing Analytics, Advertising and Brand Management, Marketing of Services, and Digital and D2C Marketing.
• Semester 4: Integrated Marketing Communication, and AI-Powered Performance Marketing and Growth.

That makes CU’s marketing track the most digital and data-leaning of the general marketing tracks here: analytics, D2C and performance marketing all appear. Exams are listed as “On Demand Examination”, which lets you schedule a paper when you are ready.

LPU Online: Marketing

LPU’s marketing page does not publish a semester-wise subject list. It names Consumer Behaviour, Digital and Social Media Marketing, and Customer Relationship Management as areas, and lists tools including Google Analytics, email marketing, SEO, marketing automation, and graphic design and multimedia, with LinkedIn Learning access. It recommends 8 to 10 hours of study a week, with live and recorded classes. Ask LPU for the official syllabus before you enrol. LPU’s wider range is on our LPU Online profile.

UPES: Marketing Management

UPES publishes a clear list:

• Semester III: Consumer Behaviour in Digital World, Sales and Channel Management, Digital Brand Management, Customer Relationship Management, and Services Marketing.
• Semester IV: Strategic Management, Digital Marketing, Integrated Marketing Communication, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and a Dissertation.

Sales and Channel Management and CRM together make this the best fit among the general tracks for someone in field sales, distribution or key accounts. Project Management and Business Analytics for Managers sit in the semester two core.

GLA University: Marketing Management

GLA has a dedicated specialization page, but it describes learning areas rather than subjects: consumer psychology, advertising, brand strategy, sales management and marketing analytics. GLA’s main MBA page lists Marketing Management among its electives. Ask GLA for the semester-wise syllabus. More on the university is on our GLA University profile.

ARKA JAIN University: Marketing

ARKA JAIN puts Marketing Management in semester two, then:

• Semester 3: Consumer Behavior and Insights, Integrated Marketing Communications, Omni Channel Marketing, and Market Research Tools, alongside Business Research Methods, Operations Management and an Open Elective Course.
• Semester 4: B2B Marketing, Retail Marketing and Service Management, Digital Marketing and Brand Management, and Global Marketing, with Strategic Management and a Master Thesis or Project.

ARKA JAIN is the only university here with a full B2B Marketing subject in the specialization, which matters if you sell to businesses rather than consumers. See our ARKA JAIN University profile for its other programmes.

Sikkim Manipal University: Marketing

When we reviewed SMU’s marketing page on 27 October 2026, its electives covered consumer behaviour, advertisement and brand management, retail and distribution, market research, and services and global marketing, with no separate digital marketing elective. SMU’s MBA is built around dual specializations, so marketing can be paired with a second area. Confirm the current list with SMU, since we could not reload the page today.

How the marketing curricula compare at a glance

“Not named separately” means the official page did not list a subject with that focus; the topic may still be taught inside another subject. LPU, GLA, SMU and MUJ are left out of this table because their pages did not give a full subject list we could check today.

Marketing, digital marketing, or sales and retail: which track fits you?

Choose a general marketing track if you want to manage brands, products or a whole marketing function. Choose digital marketing if your work will be mainly online channels and campaigns. Choose a sales, retail or brand track if your next role is in field sales, store and category management, or brand building. This is the decision most competitor pages skip.

What do the retail and brand tracks actually cover?

Amity’s Retail Management track lists Principles of Retailing, Merchandising and Category Management, Sourcing and Vendor Management, Mall Management, and Retail Supply Chain and Logistic Management in semester three, then Retail Branding and CRM, E retailing and Luxury Retail in semester four, alongside Digital Marketing and AI Tools and Applications. See the Amity Retail Management MBA page.

CU’s Retail Management MBA lists Retail Marketing, Buying Merchandising, AI-Driven Pricing, Personalisation and CX, and D2C Brand Building and Omnichannel Strategy in semester three, then Retail Management Perspective and Retail Operations Management in semester four.

CU’s Brand Management MBA lists Brand Strategy and Positioning, Luxury and Retail Brand Management, Digital and Social Media Branding, and an elective called AI-Enabled Project Analytics and Risk Forecasting in semester three, then New Product Development and Innovation in Product Branding in semester four. That third elective reads like a project management subject rather than a branding one, so ask CU to confirm it belongs to this track.

Is there an online MBA in sales and marketing?

Amity’s track is the only one named Marketing and Sales Management among the partners we checked. UPES, NMIMS and ARKA JAIN place sales or channel subjects inside a marketing track instead. If sales is your main interest, compare the actual sales subjects rather than the track name: UPES’s Sales and Channel Management, NMIMS’s Sales Management, and Amity’s Direct Marketing plus Advertising And Sales Promotion each cover different ground.

If you sell to buyers abroad, our guide to the online MBA in International Business covers trade and international marketing subjects in more depth.

How much does an online MBA in marketing cost?

At every partner we checked, the marketing specialization costs the same as the university’s standard online MBA. On 6 November 2026, official pages showed totals from about ₹1 lakh at GLA and ARKA JAIN to ₹2,33,500 list price at Chandigarh University.

What does the full programme really cost?

Add the extras before you compare. Each line below is our calculation from the official figures above.

• GLA: ₹97,000 tuition plus ₹6,000 exams plus ₹2,000 registration comes to ₹1,05,000, matching GLA’s “all inclusive” headline.
• ARKA JAIN: four semesters at ₹25,000 is ₹1,00,000; adding ₹2,500 registration and two years of exam fees (₹6,000) gives ₹1,08,500.
• LPU: four semesters at ₹40,400 is ₹1,61,600, plus ₹1,000 registration. At the ₹50,000 actual fee, four semesters would be ₹2,00,000. Confirm in writing whether the grant covers all four semesters, especially as the deadline on the page falls on 7 November 2026.
• NMIMS: paying per semester is ₹2,20,000 over four semesters, paying yearly is ₹2,10,000, and paying upfront is ₹1,96,000. The upfront route saves ₹24,000 against per-semester payment, before exam fees of ₹800 per subject.
• Amity: four semesters at ₹56,300 is ₹2,25,200, close to the ₹2,25,000 effective fee on the page; the one-time option saves ₹18,000 against ₹2,25,000.
• CU: the 25% scholarship is worth ₹58,375 on the ₹2,33,500 list fee. Because no end date was shown, treat it as a snapshot and ask whether it applies to every semester.

NMIMS notes that its fee structure can change at the university’s discretion, and every offer above can be withdrawn. For a wider comparison of every partner’s MBA fees, payment plans and extras, see our breakdown of online MBA fees.

Who should choose an online MBA in marketing?

It suits people already working in sales, marketing, retail or customer-facing roles who want to move into management, and graduates who want a broad business degree with a commercial focus. It suits you less if you want a purely technical digital role, where a digital marketing track or a short certification may be a better match.

People who tend to get the most from it:

• Sales executives and area managers who want the brand, pricing and channel thinking that leads to regional or national roles.
• Marketing executives and coordinators in FMCG, consumer durables, pharma, banking, insurance or real estate who want to manage a brand or product line.
• Retail staff and store managers aiming for category, merchandising or regional roles; the retail tracks at Amity and CU fit best here.
• Business development staff in B2B firms, for whom ARKA JAIN’s B2B Marketing subject is directly relevant.
• Founders and family business members who want to build a brand and a sales team for their own business.

A quick test: read the semester three and four list of the university you prefer and ask whether you would use at least half of those subjects in your work over the next two years. If most of your answer is “only the digital ones”, look at a digital marketing track instead.

Most learners in these programmes study alongside a full-time job. Our guide to the online MBA for working professionals covers how classes, exams and study time fit around work.

Can you do it without a commerce or marketing background?

Yes. Every university in this comparison accepts a bachelor’s degree in any discipline. Minimum marks differ:

If you have not finished your first degree yet, the undergraduate route is an online BBA in marketing, which covers similar foundations over three years.

What roles does an online MBA in marketing prepare you for?

It prepares you for roles that decide and manage how a business finds, wins and keeps customers: brand and product marketing, sales management, market research, communications, CRM and retail management. We do not quote salary or placement figures, because no official dataset covers online MBA graduates in this specialization, and the figures we saw on ranking pages were unsourced and inconsistent with each other.

The universities themselves list these roles on their marketing pages:

• Amity: Marketing Executive, Sales Executive, Digital Marketing Executive, Brand Associate and Business Development Executive at entry level; Marketing Manager, Sales Manager, Brand Manager, Digital Marketing Manager and Business Development Manager at mid level; Head of Marketing, Sales Director, Marketing Director, Chief Marketing Officer and Business Head at the advanced level.
• UPES: Marketing Coordinator, Marketing Analyst, Marketing Assistant, Digital Marketing Specialist and Market Researcher at entry level; Brand Manager, Marketing Manager, Product Manager, Social Media Manager and Digital Marketing Manager at mid level; and Director of Marketing, CMO and Vice President of Marketing for experienced professionals.
• GLA: Marketing Manager, Brand Manager, Digital Marketing Manager, Product Manager, Market Research Analyst, Advertising Manager and Business Development Manager.
• NMIMS: Senior Marketing Analyst, Marketing Manager and Senior Project Manager.

Read the senior titles as long-term directions, not outcomes of the degree. A sales officer with six years in the field is far better placed to use this MBA for a move into regional sales management than a fresher is to walk into a brand manager role. What you can realistically move into depends on your experience, your employer and the work you show during the programme.

Which subjects fit which role?

Is an online MBA in marketing valid in India?

Yes, if the university is permitted to offer its online MBA for your admission session. The specialization does not affect validity; the university’s UGC-DEB listing does. Regulation 22 of the UGC online regulations treats degrees earned online from recognised institutions as equivalent to conventional degrees.

On the 2026-27 entitled list, Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Manipal University Jaipur, Sikkim Manipal University, LPU, Chandigarh University, NMIMS and UPES appear with an MBA, and GLA University’s row also includes an MBA. ARKA JAIN University appears on the 2026-27 recognised list for its MBA (General), from the February 2025 session to July and August 2029. “Entitled” and “recognised” are different routes under the regulations, but both lists name institutions allowed to offer the programme for the stated period.

Two more checks matter. Every online learner needs a DEB-ID, created through the UGC-DEB student portal using your ABC ID. And under Regulation 16(2), the mode of delivery must be printed on the degree and mark sheets, so expect “online” to appear. Our guide to the UGC approved online MBA shows how to read the lists step by step.

Do rankings help you choose a marketing MBA?

They help a little, as a signal about the university rather than the online marketing track. In the NIRF 2025 Management ranking, NMIMS ranked 24, Chandigarh University 32, UPES 36, LPU 44, Amity 49 and Manipal University Jaipur 81. NIRF ranks the institution’s management school as a whole, not its online programmes, so weigh the subject list and total cost at least as heavily.

How should you judge a marketing curriculum before you enrol?

Score the semester three and four subjects against the work you want to do, then ask for the details the public pages leave out. A balanced marketing curriculum for most learners covers six areas: consumer insight, brand and communication, sales and channels, pricing and markets, services or retail, and digital and analytics.

1. List the second-year marketing subjects for each university on your shortlist.
2. Mark which of the six areas each subject covers. Most tracks are thin on one area: CU on sales, NMIMS on pricing, UPES on international markets.
3. Ask how the project or dissertation works, and whether it can be based on your own company or a real brand. Amity lists a Minor and Major Project, NMIMS a six-credit Project, UPES a Dissertation and ARKA JAIN a Master Thesis or Project.
4. Ask how marketing subjects are assessed: case analyses, campaign plans, market research assignments or written exams only.
5. Ask which tools are taught. LPU’s page names Google Analytics, SEO and marketing automation; most others name none.
6. Check how exams are run. Under the UGC regulations, online exams are technology-enabled or proctored, so confirm the device and internet set-up you will need.

On published detail alone, Amity, NMIMS, CU, UPES and ARKA JAIN give a clear picture of their marketing tracks. LPU, GLA, MUJ and SMU need a syllabus request before you can compare them fairly.

What should you check before paying any fee?

Check the listing, the syllabus and the money, in that order.

1. UGC-DEB status. Find the university’s row on the current entitled or recognised list for your session.
2. Exact specialization name. Ask how it will appear on your mark sheets: “Marketing”, “Marketing Management” and “Marketing and Sales Management” are all in use.
3. Full syllabus. Especially at LPU, GLA, MUJ and SMU.
4. Elective placement. NMIMS lists electives without semester slots, and CU’s Brand Management list includes an elective that looks out of place.
5. Total cost in writing. Including registration, exam, project and resit fees, and whether any grant or scholarship covers all four semesters.
6. Offer dates. LPU’s application deadline was 7 November 2026 and CU’s scholarship showed no end date when we checked. Treat both as a snapshot.

Our step-by-step guide to online MBA admission covers documents, DEB-ID creation and the order of steps.

Not sure whether a general marketing, sales, retail or digital track fits you better? Share your graduation marks, your current role and the job you want next, and an admission advisor can help you shortlist universities whose subjects fit that goal and request their current written fee schedules and syllabi.

How GetOnlineDegree.in Helps

We compare online programmes from UGC-DEB listed partner universities using their official pages, so you can see subject lists, fees and eligibility side by side rather than piecing them together from brochures. For a marketing specialization, we can help you separate general marketing, sales, retail, brand and digital tracks, request the syllabus where it is not published, and confirm the DEB listing for your session. The decision stays with you; our role is to make sure it rests on official information.

Conclusion

An online MBA in marketing is a standard two-year MBA with a marketing-focused second year. Eight partner universities show a marketing track on pages we could check, and the subject lists differ in useful ways: Amity adds pricing and bottom of the pyramid marketing, UPES leans towards sales, channels and CRM, CU towards analytics and performance marketing, NMIMS towards a classic brand and communications mix, and ARKA JAIN towards B2B and omnichannel at the lowest fee. Official fees on 6 November 2026 ran from about ₹1 lakh to ₹2.33 lakh list price.

Pick the track whose subjects you would use in your next role. If your work is mostly online campaigns, compare a digital marketing track; if it is stores or categories, a retail track. Whatever you choose, confirm the UGC-DEB listing and get the full fee schedule in writing before you pay.

FAQs

Which universities offer an online MBA in marketing in India?

Among the partners we checked on 6 November 2026, Amity (Marketing and Sales Management), NMIMS, Chandigarh University, LPU, UPES, GLA and ARKA JAIN show a marketing specialization on their official pages, and Sikkim Manipal offered marketing within its dual specialization MBA when we checked in October. Amity and CU also run separate Retail Management tracks, and CU a Brand Management track.

What subjects are taught in an online MBA in marketing?

The second year usually covers consumer behaviour, brand management, integrated marketing communications, sales or channel management, services marketing and at least one digital marketing subject. Some universities add more: Amity teaches Pricing Strategies and Bottom of the Pyramid Marketing, ARKA JAIN B2B Marketing, and CU Marketing Analytics and AI-Powered Performance Marketing and Growth.

How much does an online MBA in marketing cost?

On 6 November 2026, official pages showed ₹97,000 tuition at GLA, ₹25,000 per semester at ARKA JAIN, ₹40,400 per semester at LPU after its grant, ₹1,96,000 one-time at NMIMS, ₹2,25,000 at Amity and ₹2,33,500 list price at CU before its scholarship. Registration and exam fees are usually extra, so ask for the total in writing.

Should I choose marketing or digital marketing for an online MBA?

Choose marketing if you want to manage brands, products, sales teams or a whole marketing function, since it covers consumer behaviour, brand, sales and services. Choose digital marketing if your work will centre on SEO, social media, performance campaigns and analytics. If you want both, look for a dual specialization or a marketing track with several digital subjects, such as CU’s.

Is an online MBA in marketing worth it without work experience?

It can be, but it works best with some experience. None of the standard MBA tracks here require work experience. A fresher gains a broad business qualification, yet roles such as brand manager or sales manager usually expect field experience. If you are starting out, use the projects to build real work samples, such as a market study or a campaign plan for a local business.