The Hindu Business Line : IIM students await word on pre-placement offers

Bangalore, Sept.15 Students at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, are gearing up for a placement season bereft of marquee recruiters Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch this year.

Investment banks are generally Day Zero or Day One companies lapping up at least 9-10 per cent of the country’s dream talent from management institutes.

Both the companies have made a ‘few pre-placement offers’ (PPO) to students who had spent summer internships with them.

Students who have received these PPOs will have to consider sitting for the placement process now, says Mr Sourav Mukherjee, Chairman, Placements, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore,

Mr Siddarth Gupta, a second year student of the post-graduate programme at the IIM-B, says the collapse was not totally unexpected.

“We are not really worried about Merrill Lynch PPOs as Bank of America may be here after the takeover, but we will have to wait and watch what happens at Lehman Brothers.”

Both the companies are, however, yet to communicate to the institutes about the PPOs. A student placement committee representative told Business Line that there is caution among students and they are hoping that there will be a ‘bail-out for Lehman,’ which is a preferred recruiter at IIM-B every year.

Disquieting signals

It would, of course, be easier for junior level executives to move on and integrate with other global majors, says Mr K Sudarshan, Managing Partner, EMA Partners International, a global search firm.

EMA has been receiving signals of nervousness from top bankers across Asia in the last one week. Job cuts in the US would impact Lehman Brother’s back office in Mumbai, which employs close to 3,000 people.

“In fact, people in staff jobs (process excellence and quality) have already been sending messages to recruitment firms,” says Mr Sudarshan.

Mr Sunit Mehra, Country Manager, Hunt Partners, a global CEO and Board search firm, expects Indian financial service companies and corporate finance teams in companies such as Ernst & Young and KPMG to gain talent now.

Though a salary cut for executives moving into Indian banks is likely to be in the 20-30 per cent range, the axe would fall heavily on the bonus component which could be by about 60 per cent, says Mr Mehra.

But humbled by the collapse of the giants, the executives would be acceptable to all opportunities, he adds.