Global meltdown panic echoes in the corridors of IIM-Lucknow

Lucknow, October 11 The students of the country’s B-schools are keeping a close watch on the global financial crisis that was triggered by the problems in the US housing mortgage. Their interest, however, doesn’t end here for they are aware of the repurcurssions such a meltdown can have on their placements.

When the discussion moves on to the topic of placements, the management students of IIM-Lucknow seem to be speaking with a desperation in their tones.

This year, five major investment banks will not arrive at the gates of the B-school. “We are not expecting global investment banks, which earlier offered exotic job profiles at international locations, to come for recruitment this time,” said Sumit Garg, a second-year student of IIM-L specialising in finance.

Debojyoti Chakraborty, who interned at Lehman Brothers, was expecting a pre-placement offer. But with the firm declaring solvency in the US, he is now looking for other options. “I will look for job opportunities in Indian investment banks such as Edelweiss and Kotak,” he said.

The future of the Finance subject, which till this year has been the most coveted specialisation at the B-school with 40 to 50 per cent students of IIM-L’s final year opting for it, seems to be bleak. “Now many students may switch over to other specialisations,” said Vipul, a professor at IIM-L.

Sharat Chander, a first year student at the institute has decided to choose general management or strategy as his specialisation instead of finance, which was his initial choice. “The current financial crisis made me change my mind about specialising in finance as jobs are going to be scarce in the sector,” he said.

Though this may affect the graduates in the coming year, they might not suffer as much as their working counterparts, according to professors. “They will be able to flexibly reorient their career paths,” Vipul added.

For those who had set their sights on a career in investment banking, the expert opined that the situation would get better with the passage of time.

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