Buzz around 1-year exec courses too

For the first batch of the Executive Post Graduate Programme in Management (ePGP) at IIM-B, companies had started trickling in from November 2009. The institute has 70 students in this batch. Around 25 companies visited the campus and made multiple offers this January. The mood among recruiters is positive, confirms Sapna Agarwal, head of career development services at IIM-B.

The average work experience for the one-year executive management programme is 5-7 years. The placement season begins in January and ends in March.

“Unlike last year, we hope to place all students by the convocation (usually held in the last week of March). The placement office, I believe, has sent invitations to about 200 firms,” concurs Shailesh Gandhi, chairperson of Post Graduate Programme in Management for Executives (PGPX) at IIM-A.

IIM Lucknow’s International Programme in Management for Executives (IPMX), which has 46 participants started its placement process in December and expects it to finish by end of March 2010. The average work experience of this batch is 10 years. Offers have been coming in and the scenario is more upbeat, says Neerja Pandey, co-chairperson, placement for IIM Lucknow.

The Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad, too is seeing optimism in placement this year and expects increased recruitment in areas like consulting, finance, marketing and technology.

Last year was bad for management companies. ISB had 326 companies on its campus, where the average domestic cost-to-company (CTC) was a little over Rs 15 lakh. At IIM-A, 70 students had opted for placements, while four students of the class decided to start their own ventures. The average salary offered was just Rs 20.16 lakh. IIM-C saw the highest salary touch Rs 35 lakh per annum while the average salary hovered around Rs 18 lakh. All institutions believe 2010 will be much better.