Pre-placement offers ring in optimism for IIMs

Older IIMs say they are insulated from external market situation

If pre-placement offers (PPOs) are an indicator, the placement season at the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) might turn out to be better than expected. The IIMs say despite a not-so-promising job market, they are optimistic about placements for their students.

So far, IIM-Calcutta has seen 58 PPOs, while IIM-Bangalore has seen 60. At other IIMs, PPOs are still trickling in.

"We are conscious about the market condition. However, being IIM-Bangalore has its advantages. We, at IIM-Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Calcutta, are significantly insulated from the external market situation. We will do better than last year," said Sankarshan Basu, chairperson (career development services) at IIM-Bangalore.

At IIM-Bangalore, more than 60 PPOs have come in from sectors such as consulting, investment banking, finance and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG). Last year, IIM-Bangalore had received 98 PPOs. "We are well on course towards last year's figure, as a lot of banks are yet to release PPOs. About 95 per cent of the PPOs come in by October," Basu said.

In November 2012, summer placements for the 2012-14 postgraduate programme batch at IIM-Calcutta saw an unprecedented rise in the number of participating firms. At this IIM, the number of offers, as of the first week of August 2013, stood at 58 (including 11 pre-placement interest).

"In less than two months since the end of the internship season, the batch of 2012-14 has received a teeming number of PPOs, with some firms offering PPOs to all their IIM-Calcutta interns. Recruiting firms are delighted with the summer internship performance of the batch and the students are now reaping the benefits of the hard work they had put in over the course of their internship," IIM-Calcutta said.

The top four management consulting firms alone offered 27 PPOs (out of a total of 30 interns) at IIM-Calcutta, at a staggering 90 per cent conversion rate. Both McKinsey and Company and Bain & Company offered full-time positions to all IIM-Calcutta interns. The Boston Consulting group accounted for 10 PPOs, while AT Kearney made four PPOs. Other firms that made PPOs included Hindustan Unilever, Microsoft, Accenture Management Consulting, Royal Bank of Scotland, Aditya Birla Group and Flipkart.

IIM-Kozhikode said, so far, the response of companies had been good. "Though its early to talk about the numbers pertaining to PPOs, so far, they have been made by firms in finance, FMCG, pharmaceuticals, information technology and consulting sectors, along with the general management vertical," said Kulbhushan Balooni, professor and chairperson (placements), IIM Kozhikode. The institute said as part of its placements policy, it didn't disclose the names and numbers of companies making PPOs till the placement season was over.

Devi Singh, director of IIM-Lucknow, isn't so optimistic. "The market is tough. So far, we have no indications from firms. But I do not expect it (PPOs) to be better than last year. Job conditions are tough right now," he said. Last year, IIM-Lucknow recorded 70 PPOs

At the new IIMs, however, the number of PPOs has largely been in single digits, so far.