Accenture, BCG, Amazon top recruiters as IIM-A wraps up final placements

Placements Highlights at IIM-A:

• At 18, Accenture Strategy makes most offers
• BCG, Amazon make second highest offers of 14 each
• 125 firms participated for placements
• 'Dream job' applications rise from 110 last year to 176 out of over 400 batch
• As against 7 last year, this year 6 students opted out of placements for own ventures

Placements for the 2018 batch of the postgraduate programme in management (PGP) at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) concluded, with consulting and e-commerce majors emerging as top recruiters.

Accenture Strategy made 18 offers, followed by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Amazon with 14 each. Last year, Amazon was the top recruiter, with 18 offers.

IIM-A now follows a cluster-based placement process. Companies across sectors are invited in 'cohorts', spread into different days during the weeks. This year, entities from multiple domains participated across the three clusters in final placements, with students being placed across 23 cohorts.

The institute also follows the Indian Placement Reporting Standards, under which placement data is audited by a third-party agency. Releasing the preliminary unaudited placement report, IIM-A stated about 125 companies participated, with 150 different roles. Among these, around 40 were recruiting for the first time from here.

Apart from the top three recruiters mentioned earlier, large hirers included HSBC and JP Morgan from among global banks, taking five students each, and Airtel and Hindustan Unilever in sales & marketing, extending eight and five offers, respectively. With seven offers, Tata Administrative Services was largest recruiter in the general management cohort; Microsoft extended eight offers, the highest in the enterprise tech one.

In banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI), American Express extended the most offers at eight, followed by YES Bank and FinIQ with six each. In IT/Consulting, EXL extended the most at eight.

The final placement process also saw a significant rise in 'dream' applications, where the institute offers flexibility for students to apply to companies of their choice in a later cluster, even with an offer in hand. As against 110 applications last year, the numbers rose to 176, of a batch size of over 400 students.

In terms of students opting out of placements for starting their own ventures, the number was marginally down, from from seven last year to six this year.

"Students made 176 'dream applications' which helped them live their dreams and fulfill their ambitions. Companies offered varied and diverse roles which were challenging and exciting for the students who once again proved their mettle," said Asha Kaul, Chairperson of the Placement Committee at IIM-A.

Other recruiters included AT Kearney, Bain & Co, McKinsey & Co, Monitor Deloitte and Oliver Wyman, apart from Accenture. Prominent recruiters in investment banking and markets included Barclays, Citi Bank, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Standard Chartered.

Recruiters in the private equity & venture capital cohort included Kedaara Capital and Matrix Partners. BFSI also saw Bajaj Finserv, FinIQ, Fullerton and HSBC.

Sales and marketing roles were offered by regular recruiters HUL, Nestle, P&G, Reckitt Benckiser and Wipro Consumer Care, among others. The general management cohort also saw participation from Aditya Birla Group, CK Birla and RPG Group. Te consumer services cohort saw participation from Airtel, IndiGo and Star TV. Enterprise tech and consumer tech saw Magicpin, Microsoft, Nykaa, OYO Rooms and UpGrad, among others.

Firms participating in 'laterals' where recruiters make offers to those with prior experience included Adidas Germany, Flipkart, L E K Consulting, Lodha Group, Microsoft, Parthenon and Wipro Global.

Refusing to divulge compensation and other details, IIM-A stated a detailed and audited placement report would be issued in six months.