International consulting firm McKinsey and Co. is the No.1 dream employer for business school students polled in an online survey by Indian MBA community portal MBAUniverse.com and market research firm Synovate.

The company is followed by India’s biggest maker of home and personal care products, Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), and Tata Administrative Service, which hires for all Tata group companies, according to the survey that polled 113 students from business schools.

Those who responded to the survey will graduate from the Indian Institutes of Management; Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University; Mumbai’s Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies and SP Jain Institute of Management and Research; and Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, among others.

Last year’s survey had McKinsey, HUL and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in the top three positions among dream employers.

This year, BCG ranked No. 5. Procter and Gamble Co. held the No. 4 position in both the years. Wall Street bank Goldman Sachs weighed in at No. 6 this year, up from No. 11 a year ago.

Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd raised its dream employer status from No. 20 last year, to No. 8 now.

aparna.k@livemint.com