IIM-Ahmedabad

PLACEMENTS AT IIM-Ahmedabad

Final Placements 2006 at IIM Ahmedabad: Increased Global Recognition
[2006-03-16]
The Final Placements at IIMA this year were held from 8th March -13th March 2006.
235 students of the Batch of 2004-06 were placed across 5 days of recruiting.

A total 510 job offers were made to 235 students who participated in placements, with 83 students placed in Slot 0. This is a 41% increase over last year’s 58. Of the total job offers, 72 students (30%) accepted overseas placements. Over 33% of students placed in India were offered pay packages over INR 10 lakh per annum, with the domestic average at INR 9.72 lakh per annum. Also, of the total students placed overseas, 50 were offered packages over USD 100000. The number of companies also increased from 83 to 110 this year.

The highlight of the placements was the domestic offer of Country Head to a student from the batch, by RPG Enterprises with a compensation of INR 34 lakh per annum.

The highest international package was the Associate level offer by Barclays at an unprecedented USD 185000 (Singapore $300000). Further more, three such International Associate offers were made to students this year at IIMA.

Increased Global Recognition and Job Diversity
IIMA seems to have truly arrived when it comes to recognition by major recruiters worldwide. Not only did existing recruiters recruit in large numbers with IIMA, but many new recruiters also came down to recruit based on the growing global recognition of IIMA graduates. Table 3 gives exclusive details of acceptances by students to positions in companies that participated in Slot 0.
The number of companies offering overseas jobs was as high as 20 in 2006. International offers were made in Slot 1 as well with DBS, TAS, ICICI, TransIndus, etc. choosing to place students overseas.

Major investment banks such as Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley continued their association with the institute. Barclays was the top recruiter across slots, with 16 students accepting the offer. That a single top investment bank could make 22 offers at one campus alone is a reflection on the depth of quality available at IIMA. Apart from this, Lehman Brothers (12 acceptances), Merrill Lynch (8 acceptances) and first time recruiter ABN Amro Hong Kong (7 acceptances) at IIMA total up to more than the corresponding numbers at other institutes combined. Other investment banks participating in the process this year included Citigroup, CSFB, HSBC and JP Morgan.

Top consulting majors participated in a big way too, with McKinsey, Bain, Booz Allen Hamilton, Accenture, KPMG, AT Kearney and BCG all making several offers. McKinsey and Company, making 2 Singapore offers for the first time, received a total 8 acceptances for its 8 offers.
Adding versatility to the consulting sector were niche firms such as supply chain specialists ECS-Limited and infrastructure consultants Feedback Ventures. Global eProcure, leading supply chain consultant participated for the first time and recruited 3 students exclusively for their Global programme. Overall, 27 new companies came to the campus this year. Table 4 provides details of some of the new recruiters.

There was greater choice available to the graduating batch both in terms of jobs being offered in new sectors and also greater diversity within a sector.
The sectors with fresh and growing presence in the process this year were BPO, KPO, travel and tourism, supply chain consulting, amongst others. Financial services, banking, marketing, IT, operations and consulting were the other sectors that continued to recruit. Overall, jobs were offered in various sectors, reflecting the all-round strength of the Institute’s curriculum. Table 5 gives the jobs accepted by sector.
(Some comments on location-wise distribution). Table 6 provides a location-wise distribution of jobs.

Growing Preference for Indian Locations
In what seems to be a growing trend, an increased number of students chose domestic placements over foreign offers this year. With growing preference for locations closer to home (18 students gave up foreign offers to take up domestic roles this year), it seems that the Indian success story has certainly led students comprising the cream of management talent to stay back, in order to play pivotal roles in organizations here.

Shraddha Vohra, a student who rejected a pre-placement offer from a leading investment bank for a marketing job from an FMCG major, says:
“I was not enjoying my work in finance as much as I had hoped to. Somehow, it could never match the thrill I would feel solving marketing cases or working on my independent project in branding. I also realized that I would rather take up a job that would make me get up in the morning and want to go to work, than one that would essentially offer me only money or glamour. Some of my peers have expressed surprise at my choice, but I believe firmly that life is too short to be spent living other peoples’ convictions. I would like to spend my life pursuing my own sense of joy.”

Rise in salaries
The salaries offered to IIMA graduates have steadily increased over the past few years, and this year was no exception. Both domestic and international salaries increased substantially.

The highest Indian pay package was at INR 34 lakhs per annum, for a student placed as Country Head, with a leading Indian firm. The highest International package was $185000 offered to three students for Associate level positions with a leading investment bank.

The average entry level domestic salary increased by 23% to INR 9.72 lakhs per annum from INR 7.9 lakhs last year, while the international average stands at USD 92500, a rise of over 16%. The average lateral domestic salary increased to a high INR 10.6 lakh per annum.

Lateral Placements at IIM-A hit the roof
The Lateral Placements at IIMA for the 2004-‘06 batch were held in the months January-March 2006. This year the lateral placements were characterised by an unprecedented rise in number of offers, and the sheer diversity of jobs on offer. Apart from the highest domestic salary by RPG, over INR 16 lakh per annum offer was also made by Genpact.

The diversity of job offerings for middle-management positions this time around has been a significant gain for students. Apart from the dominant IT sector, this year saw increased involvement from the BPO and KPO sectors as well. Among the leading recruiters in these sectors were Genpact (with an offer of 16 lakh per annum amongst others), Fractal Analytics and Dell Analytics, which came for the first time. IT was well represented by Microsoft, HP, first time recruiters US technologies and Adobe, Trilogy, Cognizant, HCL technologies, Covansys, Wipro, Infosys and many others. Consulting firms made a beeline for the process as well, with BCG, TSMG and ECS-Limited all participating. Other sectors were equally involved with big names including JP Morgan, LN Mittal and others picking up students for non-entry level positions. IT consult major, Booz Allen Hamilton and Bain and Company were here during slot 0 for lateral hires as well.

In the recently concluded process, as many as 133 offers were made to the eligible candidates, and 38 of them were accepted. The average domestic salary among offers accepted was Rs. 10.6 lakh per annum. The offers made also included 5 overseas offers, with the highest offer being GBP 47000 per annum.

Overall, the laterals process this year has reaffirmed the fact that IIM Ahmedabad is regarded by recruiters as a breeding ground for not just entry-level, but middle-level talent as well.