Global pay for flagship course up 39% at IIM-A

The compensation package offered by foreign companies during the final placements of the 2016 batch of the flagship postgraduate programme (PGP) at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, (IIM-A) is up 39 per cent compared to last year. Referred to as the maximum earning potential (MEP), the highest international package offered this year stood at $153,568 against $110,284 a year ago.

The highest domestic package, however, fell 10 per cent, according to the audited placement report released by IIM-A on Wednesday. The final placements at IIM-A, held in February this year, saw 383 PGP students along with 46 PGP-ABM (postgraduate programme in agribusiness management) and 67 PGPX (postgraduate programme for management executives) students seeking placements.

MEP is the sum total guaranteed cash component, maximum possible-linked variable pay and all other components of salary that are a part of the offer. This can include long-term compensation such as provident fund and other perks as well. Since IIM-A began getting its placement reports audited by a third party like CRISIL and now Brickwork Ratings under the Indian Placement Reporting Standards (IPRS), which looks at standardising placement data, including salary and non-salary information.

According to the latest IPRS report, domestic MEP at IIM-A fell from Rs 53 lakh during final placements last year to Rs 48 lakh in 2016. Average domestic and international MEP, however, saw reversal of trends where the former rose eight per cent over the previous year while the latter fell 7.7 per cent. During the 2016 final placements held in February at IIM-A, the average domestic MEP stood at Rs 22 lakh against Rs 20 lakh last year, while international average MEP was $73,580 compared to $79,738 in the previous year.

Around 110 firms had participated in the final placements for the 2016 batch at IIM-A. In terms of sector-wise recruitments, consulting continued to lead the pack, followed by banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI), online services and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), among others.

The consulting sector, led by recruiters such as Accenture Strategy, Alvarez & Marsal, A T Kearney, Bain & Co, McKinsey & Co and The Boston Consulting Group recruited 108 students this year against 97 last year. Recruiters in the BFSI, FMCG and e-commerce sectors included the likes of Axis Bank, Bharti AXA, YES Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Amazon, and Flipkart, among others.

After making offers, Flipkart had later deferred the joining dates of candidates to as late as December. This triggered a scathing response by IIM-A, which however later softened its stance.

Before the final placements, 108 pre-placement offers were also accepted by PGP students at IIM-A.

IIM-A's one-year programme for executives (PGPX) saw the highest and average international MEP fall by 38.26 per cent and 16.33 per cent, respectively. While international MEP fell from last year's $207,581 to $128,160 this year, the average fell from $147,119 to $120,80 for the same period. Domestic MEP for PGPX, too, fell 10.8 per cent, down from Rs 54.6 lakh last year to Rs 43.7 lakh this year while the average domestic MEP rose negligibly by 1.18 per cent from Rs 28.8 lakh last year to Rs 29.1 lakh this year.