9 of these 20 are non-indian background from USA,spain,brazil, canada etc. 11 are Indians who were born outside India(Most of them in US).
Both ISB and IIMs are great management institutes but they are targeted towards different set of mba applicants. While IIMs typically attract people with 0-2 years of work experience, average work experience at ISB is around 5 years, which is the standard at the top notch international Bschools. So at ISB you would find peers who have worked in diverse set of industries in a variety of roles. For instance in our current batch we have students who were IAS officers, international level sportsmen, phd holders, investment bankers, strategy consultants , CAs, engineers, doctors etc. The amount of learning we have from working on case discussions with such peer group is one of the best take aways we have at ISB.
Additionally ISB’s program is a one year program, so that means its more intense than a 2 year program since the course content and faculty contact hours are same as that of a 2 years program. But because of the one year program, you just loose one year of your work and go back to industry quickly with your post MBA salary one year before than a 2 year program.
Additionally ISB has a huge research focus which is absent in any other Indian bschools. ISB has dedicated research centers of excellence which do cutting edge research on finance, leadership, entrepreneurship etc from the perspective of emerging markets (
http://www.isb.edu/intermediatepages/Centres_of_Excellence.shtml) .
Finally, India is a trillion dollar plus economy and certainly there is a need for several more world class management institutes like ISB and IIMs. And that fact that both ISB and IIMs are opening more campuses is an evidence of that.