Pre-MBA PE hiring (India)

I am currently a pre-MBA 2nd year front end analyst at an elite boutique bank in Mumbai (for context: Indian front office IB pool is quite small because of low deal activity, and most global banks only hire post MBA candidates). I recently started to explore buyside options but face two major roadblocks:

  1. Most global funds (Bx, Bain Cap, WP, Apax etc.) only prefer MBB consultants and rarely short list IB analysts for interviews (seems contrary to the global trend).

  2. Headhunters run the process for most global funds and are very selective and arbitrary about disclosing opportunities to candidates, thereby creating massive information asymmetry.

Because of these, my current options are fairly restricted (tier-2 and domestic funds or Corp Dev roles at well funded startups).

Has anyone else also faced these issues? Any suggestions on bypassing these roadblocks?

Thanks,

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