IIM-A's 2021 PGPX placements attract highest package of Rs 82 lakh a year

This is a tad higher than last year's top figure; no international offers made second year on the trot

Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, the final placements at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad's one-year MBA programme for executives have attracted the largest domestic package of Rs 82 lakh per annum (lpa). This is a tad higher than last year's top figure.

Known as the full-time Post Graduate Programme in Management for Executives (PGPX) at IIM-A, the final placement process for the programme's fifteenth batch saw the highest domestic maximum earning potential (MEP) being offered at Rs 82 lakh, marginally up from Rs 81 lakh last year, according to the B-school's audited placement report.

MEP is the sum of total guaranteed cash component, maximum possible-linked variable pay and all other components of salary that are a part of the offer which can include long-term compensation such as PF, gratuity and other perks as well. As against the highest domestic MEP of Rs 81 lakh, the average domestic MEP for IIM-A's PGPX placements stood at Rs 30 lpa, down from Rs 33.3 lpa last year.

However, unlike in 2019, when the programme attracted the highest international MEP of $109,666, no international offers have been made in 2020 or 2021.

Of 137 eligible students in all, 119 were facilitated through the placement system, 17 received offers on their own and one took up entrepreneurship. A total of 120 firms participated in this year’s campus placement process, held virtually, offering different roles to the PGPX graduates ranging from chief executive officers (CEOs) to heads of department.

Sector-wise, Information Technology (IT) firms emerged to be the largest recruiter this year, by hiring as much as 37 per cent of the batch, followed by healthcare, BFSI and consulting sectors at 13 per cent, 12 per cent and 10 per cent of the students, respectively.

Recruiters at IIM-A's PGPX placements included global giants such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, MIT Group, Indegene, OneFitPlus, Mastercard, SAP India, L&T Infotech who offered positions ranging from the CEO to operations managers.  Other recruiters who roped in talent from IIM-A included Genpact, Axis Bank, Persistent System, Flipkart, ICICI Bank, Publicis Sapient, Citibank, and Bridgei2i Analytics, among others.

Commenting on the placements, chairperson of the placement committee Ankur Sinha said that despite 2020 being a COVID year that disrupted all the organizations and processes, placements at the premier business school (B-school) smoothly transitioned into the virtual mode with recruiters seeing value in hiring PGPX students for their talent needs at mid to senior level positions.

According to PGPX Recruitment Secretary Saurabh Agrawal, the B-school saw an increased interest from some of the well-established start-ups hiring from PGPX for senior management roles, complemented by traditional recruiters from IT, consulting, pharma and conglomerates.