IBM top recruiter at IIM-A placements

Defying negative market sentiments, the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) saw all the major firms from sectors like finance, investment banking and consulting recruiting students from the 2010-12 batch of the flagship post graduate program (PGP) in large numbers.

More than 120 firms participated in the recently concluded final placement process in 2012 including the laterals process. In terms of volume, IBM was the top recruiter across clusters having picked 21 students from the campus while global consulting firms, Boston Consulting Group and McKinsey & Company recruited 17 and nine students, respectively.

"This year, a lot of apprehension had been expressed in the media about the impact of recessionary conditions on Final Placements. We have not witnessed any decrease in the demand for high quality management graduates," said Saral Mukherjee, chairman of the placement committee at IIM-A in an official statement.

The institute will be issuing further details about the placement process including details about compensation as per the Indian Placement Reporting Standards (IPRS), after an audit process by the external agency CRISIL in near future.

While Barclays Capital, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citibank, Nomura, RBI, Yes Bank, DBS, Axis Bank were some of the investment banks, other banks and financial institutions, the consulting space saw other recruiters like Bain & Company, Oliver Wyman, Opera Consulting, AT Kearney, Booz and Company, Accenture and Deloitte.

In terms of roles, a large number of students took up sales and marketing in various companies such as HUL, P&G, Kraft, Nestle, Airtel and Supermax.

Moreover, general management profiles were offered TAS, Aditya Birla Group, RPG Group and Ingersoll Rand among others. Earlier, during the lateral placements, more than 40 per cent of the 368 batch was eligible for the process and saw firms like Amazon, Deloitte, Aditya Birla Group, Siemens and Microsoft recruiting.

Moreover, about six students opted out of the placement process to start their own ventures including a a social venture to make elderly people financially self sufficient, a service to provide doctors and medicines at one’s doorstep, and an information security consulting firm.

While the placement process for PGP was concluded recently, the same is still on for IIM-A agri-business management programme (PGP-ABM) and post graduate programme for executives (PGPX).

The PGP-ABM placements saw a variety of roles offered across sub-sectors including seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, global supply chain management, retail, corporate banking, food and agribusiness research and advisory, FMCG, logistics and warehousing management, agricultural machinery, rural banking, agricultural research, education, rural development, and consulting. A total of 31 companies participated in the placement process this year, making 52 offers to the 37 students among a batch of 40.

One student opted out of the placement process to start an entrepreneurial venture, and two others accepted placements off campus.

The PGP-ABM batch attracted a diverse pool of recruiters, ranging from MNCs to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as well as start-ups.

Meanwhile, the 101 PGPX batch of 2012 have accepted roles like Chief Technology Officer, Vice President, General Manager, Director, Assistant Vice President, Principal Consultant and several other senior managerial position offered on campus.

Recruiters including multinationals, Indian business houses and start-ups offered roles and positions both in India and abroad. Among them included Boston Consulting Group, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Microsoft, Oracle, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Google, Infosys, Accenture, Wipro, Cognizant, Mindtree, Amazon, Yes Bank, Tata Motors, Ericsson, Deloitte and others.

However, placements for the PGPX are still in process, with 26 students looking for the right fit in terms of role, location and designation desired. Apart from few students opting out of placing or finding jobs outside the process, about 92 participated in the process wherein 87 offers were made on campus till date.

PGP tuition fees hiked by 7%

The Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) has hiked its tuition fee for its flagship post graduate programme (PGP) batch 2012-14 by seven per cent. The premier B-school is planning to raise funds for the first time through corporates through direct contributions, said Samir Barua, director of IIM-A on the sidelines of its 47th Annual Convocation. IIM-A is also planning to market its thesis and case studies and hopes to raise 5-8 per cent of its total requirement of Rs 140 crore in 2012, Barua added.