The placements season in various B-schools, including the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), is witnessing a new trend. With a dip salary packages offered, the placement process is taking longer to complete. However, according to faculty members and students, some changes are for the better.
The Department of Management Studies (DMS) at IIT-Delhi has completed placing its entire batch of 49 students, but not without difficulty. “Some recruiters backed out at the last moment; placements that earlier took three to four days now took over two months, and; there was a dip in the highest salary offered (Rs 15 lakh) as compared to the amount offered last year (Rs 20.7 lakh),” informed Chetan Kapoor, student placement co-ordinator at DMS.
However, student priorities have changed as well. “Earlier, salary was a top criterion for most students but now they are more focussed. They are taking their time in choosing a profile that will stand them in good stead,” said Munish Bhargava, corporate and placement advisor, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), Delhi. Bhargava added that with the highest salary offered this year being Rs 15 lakh, IIFT has experienced a 10% dip against last year. Also, about 8% students are yet to be placed.
There has also been a change in the profile of companies visiting the campus, with the number of PSUs and logistics companies increasing. Bhargava added, “Students are readily joining PSUs since they get to experience work life outside the corporate set-up. Besides, the increase in salaries in the Sixth Pay Commission, has helped this decision.”
At the Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), Delhi University, placement started in the last week of February. “Placements are almost over and most students have got jobs. However, the number of companies visiting the campus and the number of jobs offered per-company has reduced. There is also a dip in the highest salary offered. This year, the highest salary offered is Rs 20 lakh,” said Arvind Narasimhan, placement secretary, FMS. He added that many students have joined PSUs, choosing stability over brand, location and salary.
IIM-Kozhikode has also finished placements for the 11th batch of its flagship postgraduate programme in management. The institute ended placements with an average annual salary of 10.56 lakh, a highest international offer of $1,20,000 and highest domestic offer of Rs 24 lakh. The highest number of offers was made in the area of finance, while many students also went for opportunities in NGOs and media companies. Further, two students from the graduating batch decided to opt out of this year’s placement process and start their entrepreneurial ventures.
Around 267 students of the batch of 2009 at IIM-Lucknow received their post-graduate diplomas in management. Unlike previous years, the final placement process at IIM-L was also extended over two weeks. By the end of placements, 105 companies had made a total of 284 offers. Students also managed to secure international offers from reputed firms such as Barclays Capital, Frost & Sullivan, Ernst & Young and Alshaya, among others. Summarising the season, Sushil Kumar, chairman, placements, IIM-L, said: “Despite the market scenario, the campus succeeded in securing job offers for the entire batch, while strengthening its relationship with regular recruiters and establishing new associations.”
Subir Verma, chairman, placements, Management Development Institute (MDI), Gurgaon, said, “Usually we complete our placements in what we call in B-school parlance ‘Day-0.’ This is the first time that we are doing our placement in four phases, which started in end-January. We are now looking at a larger set of recruiters for two reasons. First, the number of offers made by a single company has gone down. Secondly, we have increased batch strength from 169 students to 269 students.”
Arindam Chaudhuri, dean, Centre for Economic Research and Advanced Studies, IIPM, said, “Nearly 1,520 students have been placed so far this year, which is marginally lower than last year. Also, last year’s average package was 5.2 lakh which is now 4.2 lakh; international placements were 165 and this year it’s 44. Many companies like Reliance ADAG and ICICI, which recruited over 100 students have reduced their hiring to only a small fraction of that number. As a result, we have opted to bring in more companies this year. Many of these companies are from the SME and manufacturing sector and are visiting the campus for the first time. Further, even though the financial sector has slowed down compared to previous years, insurance and IT are still big recruiters.”
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