The Hindu Business Line : At IIM-A, they saw shape of things to come

Ahmedabad, Sept. 19 In the aftermath of developments involving Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch, it is interesting to note that some of the students of the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) may have ‘foreseen’ the economic power-shift from the West to the East early this year.

In March 2008, IIM-A had sought to dispel anxieties and rumours about reduced hiring, due to the sub-prime crisis and global economic slowdown, when it declared that its students had raced ahead with offers of fat pay-packets in this year’s placement process.

But fewer of them were actually willing to go abroad; 76 per cent of the students preferred placement in India itself. Old favourites such as the US, Europe and West Asia had lost their sheen accounting for only 4 per cent, 7 per cent and 2 per cent placements respectively, whereas the Asia-Pacific accounted for 11 per cent.

The highest international offers this year ranged from $280,000 (Rs 1.12 crore) to $360,000 (Rs 1.44 crore), depending on minimum and average bonuses, although the actuals were expected to be 20 per cent higher. The highest domestic acceptance was in the range of Rs 50-70 lakh, the IIM-A Director Mr S. K. Barua, had informed.

Sectors such as real estate, media, hedge funds and industrial marketing had made their debut on the campus, with focus shifting from managing wealth in structured entities to creating wealth in unstructured enterprises, Prof P. K. Sinha, Chairperson (Placements), had said.

Many of the students had opted for India over offers in prominent investment banks abroad and many others chose the packages of Indian companies over the multinational corporations offering comparable salaries and roles. Some had even been offered non-entry level jobs.

In the final placement process, more than 90 firms participated, including 30 newcomers from different sectors. Altogether 161, out of a batch of 255, had been placed or opted out by the end of the slot zero of placements which saw 25 firms participating.

In a break from the past, the slot zero saw consulting firms emerge as the most-preferred destination for students. In all, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch had recruited a total of 11 students.

Interestingly, in the midst of economic power-shift to the East and many banks imposing a freeze on hiring, the financial sector, overall, was still the most preferred one, accounting for 45.95 per cent of the placements followed by consultancy (30.89 per cent). A total of 113 IIM-A students had joined the financial sector this year.

The major global banks to recruit the 2008 batch included Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank and Barclays. Twelve students opted for jobs in private equity, including Greater Pacific, Carlyle Group and Credit Suisse.

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