- Ekta Agrawal, a 22-year-old INSEAD graduate, took a Rs 40 lakh loan for her master‘s degree, arguing ROI isn’t just monetary.[reference:0]
- INSEAD tuition alone exceeds Rs 1 crore, so the 40 lakh loan most likely covered only part of the true cost, which changes the risk calculation.[reference:1]
- The viral debate reveals a hidden tension: measuring a global MBA‘s worth in salary versus opportunities that can’t be bought or prepaid.
Taking a Rs 40 lakh education loan at age 20 sounds terrifying. Most people spend their early twenties trying to avoid debt, not diving headfirst into it. But Ekta Agrawal, a 22-year-old INSEAD graduate, did exactly that. And now her viral video arguing that ROI is not just about money has split the internet.
She says the real return came from friends in 33 countries, an alumni network of over 20,000 professionals, and life experiences most people do not get until much later.[reference:2] On one side, supporters call it visionary. On the other, critics label it a privileged take on debt. But both sides are missing something bigger.
To understand the real equation, you need to see the full numbers. The tuition alone for INSEAD‘s MBA in 2025 is ₹1.07 crore to ₹1.11 crore, depending on the intake.[reference:3] A ₹40 lakh loan does not cover that. Not even close. It covers maybe a third of the total cost, which means the rest had to come from somewhere else: scholarships, family support, or other sources. Comparing the different loan comparison tools can help clarify actual repayment obligations. Many viewers assumed the loan funded the entire degree, which changes the risk profile entirely.
The hidden variable most people ignore
When we talk about MBA loans, the conversation almost always focuses on the salary bump. You take a loan of X, get a job paying Y, and calculate the years to break even. That math works fine for engineering or medicine. But for a global MBA, especially at a school like INSEAD, a massive portion of the value is access.
Access to people who will offer you jobs before they are advertised. Access to investors who fund startups based on a cold DM. Access to information about which industries are quietly hiring six months before the rest of the market finds out. This access is real, but it does not show up on any EMI statement.
INSEAD tuition (August 2025 intake)
Loan amount Ekta Agrawal took
Countries she now has friends in
Global alumni network reach
The mistake people make is treating this access as guaranteed. It is not. You can graduate from INSEAD with the same degree and zero usable network if you never showed up to events, never asked for help, and never offered value back. The loan buys the ticket. What you do inside the building determines whether the ticket was worth it.
For Indian students considering a similar path, the financing landscape has improved significantly. Options like GradRight offer INSEAD-specific loans of up to ₹60 lakhs at 9.35% with no collateral.[reference:4] Prodigy Finance, founded by INSEAD alumni, provides collateral-free loans based on future earnings.[reference:5] Public banks like SBI offer up to ₹1.5 crore under the Global Ed-Vantage scheme. The money is available. The real question is whether you have the discipline to turn a borrowed network into borrowed money repaid.
Where the risk actually sits
The uncomfortable truth that no viral video will tell you is this: the loan is not the risk. The risk is graduating without learning how to convert relationships into opportunities. Plenty of MBA graduates walk away with the same degree and a mountain of debt, wondering why their network did not magically transform their career. The network is not magic. It is a tool. And tools require skill to use.
None of this means Ekta Agrawal is wrong. She might be right. She might convert that ₹40 lakh loan into a career that repays it ten times over. But the debate misses the point. The real conversation should not be about whether network is valuable. Everyone agrees it is. The real conversation should be about whether you personally have the skills to extract that value. Because the loan is guaranteed. The network is not.
- Focuses on salary increase only
- Ignores network and access value
- Risk appears purely mathematical
- Values relationship-based opportunities
- Requires active extraction skills
- Risk is behavioral, not financial
So before you romanticize the viral story or dismiss it as out of touch, check your own numbers. Use a loan comparison tool to understand what your actual repayment looks like. Then ask the harder question: If you take the loan, will you also take the responsibility of learning how to turn strangers into opportunities? Because that is what the viral video does not show. That is the part only you can execute.
