Hi
I am from India (aged 24)
Please suggest the best alternatives for me:
Profile:
Decent acads in High school (93 % 10th and 85 % 12th.)
Graduated from IIT Kharagpur (Mining Engg)- CGPA 7.78/10.

Got admission offer for PGP IIM Indore in 2011 but rejected it.

Work exp: Total 2.5 yrs till date and counting
1 year in Coal India Limited (as Management trainee)

Quit Coal India And co founded 2 startups in 2011 :
1) Kickice (A retail chain of frozen yogurt stores). We have currently 1 store and planning to open 1 more in the coming 1-2 weeks. Revenues generated by the first store are quite less (it was mainly estd for gauging the market) Our second store is expected to fetch a monhtly revenue of INR 1.8- 2 Lakh.

2) A waste tyre recycling unit (tyre pyrolysis). We established 4 units in 2011 end. Due to a series of accidents and machinery issues (blame China completely), we are planning to sell it off soon. But generated over INR 70 Lakh in revenues and around 20 Lakh INR in profits.

So that leads to a cumulative work experience of 3 years by the time I give GMAT in june.

Intern Experience: Did 2 internships during undergrad (one in Australia and the other in Paris= Total 5 months).

Have decent extra academics throughout schooling:
Was head of inter collegiate fest at IIT, one of the largest in India. Was involved in several student activities. Good volley ball player.

Also Founding member of a nature conservation NGO. (family founded). Very actively involved in several projects since 2001, current one being development of bio diversity park in Vizag.

Won several scholarships throughout schooling.
So that is about the profile.

Confident of scoring 700+ in GMAT.
I want to pursue MBA from one of the top 20 institutes, preferably in marketing / operations (not sure- but definitely not finance). I want to land a good job after MBA (personal resources are quite tight presently) .

Please suggest what chances of I have, with the profile i hold.

I think the odds are against it. Top 20 schools are successful because they recruit the sort of students who fit well into top 20 recruiters' workforces easily. You have less work experience, a lower GMAT and a less corporate background than most of the other Indian applicants to top 20 schools.

Looking at the US top 20 (I'll focus there first, since most of the European MBAs are in general management rather than in marketing or operations), there are a few schools which might consider you at a stretch:
University of Texas--Dallas (TX)
Duke University (Fuqua) (NC)
Cornell University (Johnson) (NY)
University of North Carolina--Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler) (NC)

PS Take a look at http://www.find-mba.com/board/27082 As a rule of thumb, a male Indian with minimal work experience should be looking at schools with average GMATs that are around 50 or 60 points below his score.

Thank you sir for the inputs.
I have not given GMAT yet but am confident of landing a good score.

How much do I have to score I have to make it to few of the tier 1 schools? Will 740 + make my chances any better?
Also my experience is mainly into entrepreneurship. Doesn't that count as a + compared to typical IT experience profiles?

Please suggest.

The GMAT score is the single most important thing, so 740 or 750 certainly helps, but you have to understand the level of academic excellence that is expected from Indians. At the IIMA the average is 767 and at the IIMB 780. That's the caliber of your competition.

There are so many Indian applicants to Western MBA programmes, and they typically [but not always] come with minimal work experience, and really weak soft skills and just aren't that attractive to the firms that hire from top schools.

That's why the real key is to apply early. The vast majority of Indians in top ten schools, I would imagine, come in the first round.

It's a good rule of thumb to expect to need a premium of 50 points if you have minimal work experience, none of which is with the sort of firms that hire from that MBA. At HBS, for example, the average is 724. At Stanford, it's 730. So, getting 740 just isn't a high enough premium to get you to the top of the pile.

Of course the GMAT isn't the only thing. There's your application packet as well, and you might be lucky to impress them.

The reality about business schools is that many people go into entrepreneurship later on. MBAs graduate with a huge pile of debt. Taking a top ten MBA is not exactly a risk-taking strategy: it's more like a route into finance and consulting. So, while entrepreneurship is a growing part of the curriculum, there's also a limited number of seats for entrepreneurs in the class.

So, boost your GMAT, apply very early, network into the alumni base of the schools to try to get a recommendation, prepare a powerful application --- and find a fall-back plan.

Look at other strong schools for entrepreneurship too. Babson, USC and Tulane are awesome schools for that. In Europe, there are lots of schools with a strong entrepreneurship capacity, including Cambridge, EM Lyon, IE, Imperial and London Business School.