The Hindu Business Line : Global crisis: IIM-A says ‘no impact’ on opportunities

Ahmedabad, Sept. 17 The Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) today expressed “solidarity” with its old associates, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch, saying the status of a few firms is “unlikely to impact” the opportunities that the students of this business school can expect from its placement process.

“We have a long-standing relationship with these firms and they have featured among our prominent recruiters in the past. The combined number of Post-Graduate Programme (PGP) students hired by these two firms was 11 last year. The numbers for previous years are 28 (2007) and 20 (2006).We cannot comment on the status of alumni or interns with regard to these firms,” an Institute spokesperson said here.

Referring to the recent events on the Wall Street, the widespread media coverage and their possible impact on placements at various top institutes in the country, she said: “We, at the IIM-A, believe that given that the events of the past few days are ‘not conclusive in nature’ and their impact on the Wall Street and future hiring is ‘highly uncertain’ at this point, we are not currently in a position to make a strong statement on how we believe these events are likely to impact us.

“IIM-A has a large and diverse pool of recruiters and, therefore, the status of a few firms is unlikely to impact the opportunities that its students can expect from its placement process. Our student pool is also quite diverse and students looking for a long-term career in finance continue to have a preference for the sector as they are unlikely to base a long-term career decision on a short-term view of the market, she added.

“The placements in the banking sector will not be affected,” said Mr Mihir Lal, Coordinator, PGP Student Placement Committee. “It might be that a student who wanted to join Lehman will now have to opt for, perhaps, a second-rung company. But we have to take a long-term perspective, where these things wouldn’t matter,” he said.

The students are keeping their options open, as they are hopeful things might change a few months down the line. With Bank of America buying Merrill and Barclays taking a part in Lehman Merill, there still seems to be hopes of recovery of the placement scenario, he added.

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