If you believe it will give you an advantage over someone with work experience in the core industry, IT sector, or any other sector, then yes but it will not be easy.

Your work experience will be beneficial to you because marketing profiles have historically been offered to a smaller number of students at NITIE.

Typically, three scenarios exist which are as follows:

• Students complete a marketing internship before obtaining a PPO.
• Students compete in marketing-related competitions to be considered for a placement interview.
• During placements, freshers frequently choose marketing positions.

A professor at NITIE while evaluating you would like to know your learnings and contributions that you were able to make during your work experience. It may give you an advantage if you want to pursue a career in Sales and Marketing only after graduating from NITIE. Everyone with work experience is evaluated using the same criteria.

Work experience is nowhere mentioned, but most companies choose candidates who have good experience in required fields.

One of my friends cracked it last year. So I might be able to give you some information about it.

• NITIE has successfully attracted the best talents and has always been in a student's top choices.
• During the admissions process, NITIE questions candidates on a variety of parameters.
• In my friend's case, he was asked a slew of questions about his engineering knowledge, summer internships, extracurricular activities, and hobbies, as well as the standard ones about why he wanted to attend NITIE.
• Like in any other B-School, there is a stipend for every achievement of a candidate. The winner achieves a set score level.
• I would say that excelling in one field is unlikely to get you through; knowledge of all fields is required to pass the test.
• In order to pass the exams, you should be good in analytical and problem-solving skills, which typically come from good mathematics skills. 
• Communication skills are also an added advantage.

For your current studies, if you are using high-quality reading materials from top publishers, that should be sufficient. Aim high and you will succeed. Just keep working hard.

A friend of mine worked with a PSU for some time and then appeared for the GATE exam and joined NITIE PGDIE. Leaving the PSU and choosing something else is a personal decision. It depends on your perspective.

In your case, joining after 7 years seems like a long-term plan. You can end up not joining any course after 7 years. So, make sure why you want to join a course after seven years, is it for the degree or salary hike. 

If you are going for it for the degree then it can be done by joining any institute. There’s no need to join NITIE specifically. If you are doing it for the salary hike then too, you can join any institute. There is no differentiation based on which institute you are from, in PSUs. All the students having a Master’s degree are treated equally. Then there are options for joining private institutions such as NITIE which is a good option too.

My brother is a student of NITIE and during his time at the institute, I got to know about the admission procedure there. NITIE does not differentiate between different branches of engineering. Even an instrumentation engineer has the same opportunity for getting admission as others.

However, multiple factors can affect your selection other than your engineering branch. There are different weights allocated for SSC marks, HSC marks, graduation, GATE/ CAT score, and GD-PI score, respectively. The sum of all these scores is used to evaluate candidates for the final selection.

Overall, NITIE encourages and maintains student diversity on its campus.

According to my friends studying at NITIE Mumbai, there are many important points regarding academics and summer placements:

• Many companies come for placements and summer internships. 
• Your marks or skills are determined by the company.
• There are several companies that fix a cutoff criterion to take part in their placement process. The candidates above the cut-off need not worry about the marks.
• Some companies have strict HR policies in which academics are given more preference. The more your grades are the better chance you have of making it through. 
• Academics and personality are given more leverage.
• Some companies don’t have any HR policies at all. They just give a guideline regarding the placement process to be kept short. 
• They also use a cutoff method (2 points) at least.

The candidates having low grades or academic performance can try for their placement with the Student Placement Committee. This helps to push your CV through the cutoff.

You should enroll in NITIE PGDIM because with an SCM background, you will benefit from learning core management. PGDIM at NITIE will focus on marketing, finance, and HR in a more comprehensive manner, giving you a boost due to your SCM background.

Check the following table for a comparative analysis of both programs:

As per the brochure for the IIML-SM course, you will be taught sustainability management, which focuses more on Macro and Microeconomics to sustain business environments. It will not cover core areas of Marketing, Finance, and HR. However, SM is an emerging field in management.

NITIE admits students in two ways: through GATE and CAT. Any engineering branch is eligible for admission via Gate. 

Branches open through GATE score: 

• Post Graduate Diploma in Project Management program (PGDPM)
• Post Graduate Manufacturing Management Program (PGDMM)
• Post Graduate Diploma in Industrial Engineering (PGDIE)

Branches open through CAT score: 

• Post Graduate Diploma in Industrial Management (PGDIM)
• Post Graduate Diploma in Industrial Safety and Environmental Management (PGDISEM)

Clearing GATE and CAT in one attempt is not easy but also not impossible. So keep working hard until you achieve it.

One of my friends is studying at NITIE, and as per his insights, both the programs are excellent. The final choice depends upon the area of your interest. Consider the following points before making the final choice.

• PGDPM concentrates on teaching project management along with functional areas like Finance, HR, and others. It is a strategic level course that creates professionals for every sector or industry.
• PGDMM is a course focusing on the manufacturing and operational part of a business. It builds skilled professional that is well-equipped with the latest technologies.
• As per the past placement statistics, the average package for PGDPM is INR 11.5 LPA, and for PGDMM is INR 10.8 LPA.

Apart from the above points, detailed information about the two programs is available on the institute webpage. You can compare the programs and make your final choice. Overall, the scope of both programs is high.

One of my friends faced a similar situation as you and here are some tips for you regarding your question. My friend was placed in Maruti Suzuki after his graduation and then got selected in NITIE. He went with NITIE.

If you have a good academic profile i.e., good scores from 10th, 12th, B. Tech, and extracurriculars then you can directly go with NITIE.

If not then having one or two years of work experience may also help you in getting shortlists from the company on-campus placements.

One more thing you should be confident enough about is that you can convert to NITIE, Mumbai again if you want to have some work experience.