One of my cousins has a long list of recommendations since he is about to pursue the same. Here is a list of all the recommended books you can try opting from to help prepare for the DSE/ISI/JNU entrance examinations. 

• Mathematics for Economic Analysis by Sydsaeter Hammond
• Mathematical Statistics by Gupta Kapoor
• Basic Econometrics by Gujarati
• Microeconomics by Nicholson and Synder
• Macroeconomics by Dornbusch and Fischer
• Development Economics by Debraj Ray
• Indian Economy by Sundaram and Dutt
• An Introduction to Game Theory by Osborne

Apart from these, you should know the basic curriculum of the B.A Economics. 

Let us take a look at the scope, fees, placements, etc. for economics honors in these two universities.

Jadavpur University (JU):

Jadavpur University is a public state university in Kolkata, West Bengal. It is one of the best universities in the city of Kolkata. According to NIRF rankings 2020, it is ranked fifth than other universities.

• Admission Fees: Jadavpur University has the lowest university fees. The approximate costs for economics honors are INR 2855 per year where no loan is necessary.
• Cutoff: The cutoff for the Bachelor of Economics at JU is much higher. It is generally 90% with a particular focus on Maths and Economics.
• Placements and Scope: The faculties of JU are very impressive and supportive. As far as the placements, there are no placements for a Bachelor in Economics. Most of the students opt for higher education. They do not want a job and get hired.

The curriculum and professors train you to do better in academics. They will help you to become a thinker, economist, etc. The culture at JU is more academics oriented than less corporate based.

Symbiosis School of Economics (SSE):

Symbiosis School of Economics (SSE) is located in the Senapati Bapat Road campus. The campus has air conditioning rooms and a fun place for the students.
SSE provides an incredible environment for excellence in education. As a result, it helps to evolve into a major research center. The well-equipped computer labs and good hostels make it a second home for students.

• Admission Fees: SSE has a high fee structure as compared with other universities. The institute charges separate fees for Indian (INR 2.20 LPA) and International students (INR 3.65 LPA)
• Cutoff: The cutoff for the bachelor of economics at SSE is not much high. It is generally 50% in 10+2 in any stream.
• Placements and Scope: SSE has an excellent placement committee that invites many firms, banks, etc. Every final year, the BSc and MSc students attend a career counseling session. These help them to make choices from the various available opportunities. The students also get encouraged to attend these sessions.

There are also internship opportunities in which the placement cell assists. Selection is being based on written tests and personal interviews. All BSc and MSc are required to complete an internship for their course.

Thus both these colleges are outstanding in their standard. They provide excellent building platforms for the career. It's up to the students which college they want to opt for among these two.

Both colleges offer the best education in economics. Education World Organization has ranked Ashoka University in the 2nd place in the year 2019-2020. While the NMIMS is ranked in the 7th position by Business Today. Also, NMIMS is one of the top 100 lists of B-schools. 

However, one should not decide the best college based on rankings and branding. So, here are a few facts about the economics course at both colleges.

NMIMS 

Admissions:

• The college accepts students purely based on academic merits and other entrance exams. 
• The students who wish to join in economics have to complete their 10+2 with good grades. 
• The fee for this course at the college is 1.27 lakhs in the first year.

Placements:

• The highest and average salary packages of the students are 21.38 LPA and 10.5 LPA respectively. 
• Over 90 companies visit the campus each year and almost all the students get recruited with the best packages. 
• Some of the top companies that visit the campus frequently are Nivea, OYO, Kantar, Bata, Honeywell, Dell, Oracle, Genpact, Infosys, Indegene, NIIT, Trent, IBM, Wipro, CCD, CenturyLink, Kotak, Firstsource, Indaimart, Kazo, Volvo, H&M, and many more. 

Additional Information:

• The college has the best faculty holding specialization degrees in various fields such as Marketing, Human Resource, Finance, Economics, Communication, etc. 
• Also, the library is a hub for several collections of books. The college has over 6300 books, e-books, e-journals, etc. 

Ashoka University

Admissions:

• The college accepts students merely based on academic excellence. 
• The students have to meet minimum eligibility of 10+2 with good grades.
• The fee for this course is 8.85 lakhs. 

Placements:

• The average salaries of the students range from 7 to 10 lakhs per annum. 
• Some of the top companies that visit the campus are Toshiba, American Express, Genpact, McKinsey & Co, Microsoft, Dell, Samsung, and other reputed companies. 

Additional Information:

• The college has a good library facility with several collections of books, journals, and magazines. 
• The faculty guide the students with the utmost care. Also, the faculty members hold the highest degree in their respective fields. So, students can access the maximum knowledge. 

This is all about economics at both colleges. Choose the best college that suits you based on the various aspects and your interests.

Economics undergraduates at Azim Premji University are engaged in roles like Accounting, Audit, Management, Education, and Research, for which the minimum salary offered is ? 25000-30000 whereas the median salary offered is 3.6 lakhs per annum. The maximum salary received by the student is 4.85 lakhs per annum. More than 300 organization visits the campus for placements which are of various sizes starting from a small NGO space to research institutions, quasi-government institutions, school, etc. Around 90% of the students are actively working in social sectors which provide various exciting opportunities that contribute to the betterment of the country and which requires various specific competencies. The placement cell actively takes care of the whole recruitment process and where the student is free to choose from various options available to them.

Overall, the undergraduates receive a good salary after completing their studies and are often hired by reputed organizations. SBI Fellowship, The Bridge Schools, India School Leadership Institute, Cipla Foundation, Teach For India are few companies that visit the University frequently for economics undergraduates.

Ashoka University’s B.Sc Economics program offers a major in Economics and interdisciplinary majors in Economics and Finance, Economics & History, and in Politics, Philosophy and Economics(PPE). NMIMS offers Economics courses which include core subjects as well as subjects like Psychology, Sociology, Political Science, IT, etc.

Both the universities offer decent placement. Top recruiters at Ashoka University are 4 MC, Kenzie Banks, and other social sectors and the average package offered was around 6-7 LPA. In NMIMS 77% of the BSc Economics students got placement from 2016-19 batch with an average package of 4.6 LPA. Top recruiters in NMIMS are Ernst & Young, Deloitte, KPMG, PwC, etc. Ashoka University also offers good internship facilities and summer exchange programs.

Compared to NMIMS, Ashoka University facilities are much better. Most of the faculties of Ashoka University are alumni of Harvard, Stanford, Oxford, etc. The course fees for Economics for the first year at NMIMS is Rs 2.75 lakhs while at Ashoka University the course fee is Rs 8.18 Lakhs. Both the universities provide scholarship facilities to meritorious students and those who need financial aid.

Both Narsee Monjee (NMIMS) and Ashoka University offer decent Economics programs which makes it difficult to pick one university over the other. So, choose according to your convenience.