XIMB expects 25% growth in PPOs

Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB) is expecting over 25 per cent growth in its pre-placement offers (PPOs) this year, compared to last year despite the prevailing economic turmoil.

The premier B-school has already received 32 PPOs this year from top companies like Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages, Tata Group HR, JP Morgan Chase, Cognizant, Axis Bank, Hindustan Times, Godrej, Britannia and Genpact to name a few. More PPOs are in the offing as companies are expected to make offers till the end of this month. Last year, XIMB had bagged 32 PPOs.

Apart from PPOs, the management institute has also been able to secure summer internships for nearly 90 per cent of the first year students of its PGP (post graduate programme) in management. The institute is now gearing itself for Xuberance, the final campus recruitment programme for the 2007-09 batch of PGP students which is scheduled for January 15-22 next year.

Over 100 companies are expected to visit the XIMB campus during this year’s final placements as against 62 companies which visited last year. In last year’s placements, the recruiters across different sectors made a total of 218 offers for the 118 students. Last year, the highest international offer was $85,000 per annum and the highest domestic package stood at Rs 16.5 lakh per annum with the average salary on offer being Rs 10.12 lakh per annum.

Talking on the final placements for the current batch, Sabeeta Mohanty, head, placements committee, XIMB said, “The growth in average salary is likely to be stagnant during this year’s placements owing to the prevailing economic downturn. However, none of our regular recruiters have indicated that they will be hiring lesser students this year”. It may be noted that XIMB has recorded about 100 per cent growth in its average salary over the past three years.

“Many companies are yet to make any final commitment on recruitments as they have kept their fingers crossed over the impending third quarter results. This year, the banking and financial services sector is unlikely to emerge as the top recruiter and we are expecting more recruitment from other sectors”, she added.