The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Placement season at IIM-B assuages fears

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Wednesday, Nov 19, 2008
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Placement season at IIM-B assuages fears

Staff Reporter

All the 268 students placed in five days
Goldman Sachs makes maximum number of offers

Bangalore: This placement season for summer internships at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, seems to have somewhat assuaged fears of a lull in recruitment induced by the global financial crisis.

With a decrease in the number of offers made by each recruiter (owing to the increase in the number of recruiters from 65 to 110), the impact of the crisis is evident. The number of offers in slot zero dipped to 121, compared to 132 in 2007. However, IIM-B is far ahead of other IIMs where placement has been completed.

“The mood is positive, however, the trends are indicative of a sense of caution and apprehension in the industry. The outcome has brought some relief to second year students, who will sit for placements soon. But going by the number of offers made by each of them, it will still be challenging,” placement cell chairperson Sourav Mukherjee told The Hindu. For the first time ever, all companies requested IIM-B not to go public with the number of offers made by them.

Marquee recruiter Lehman Brothers, which made the highest number of offers last year (15), was missed. Goldman Sachs, an investment banking firm, made the most offers this time around.

The batch comprising 268 students, the largest ever at IIM-B, was placed within 5 days. Finance companies, which were expected to lie low, have offered internships to 21 per cent of the students, investment banks (20 per cent), marketing firms (13 per cent), general management (13 per cent) and others (5 per cent).

As many as 85 students were placed in international firms, compared to 110 last year.

Representatives of the placement cell said that students preferred Indian companies over international ones on account of the current economic scenario. Consulting firms such as McKinsey and Co., Boston Consulting Group and Bain and Co. recruited the highest number of interns from IIM-B, McKinsey and Co. being the single largest consulting recruiter, hiring five persons. “Most of our regular recruiters remain the same,” said Mr. Mukherjee. This year, 18 per cent of the first year batch at IIM-B was composed of women, the highest across IIMs.

Over 45 per cent of women were placed in slot zero firms. Consulting took first place among women (21 per cent), while 25 per cent of women chose investment banks for their summer internship.

About 53 new companies visited the campus this year. This year has seen international companies such as Booz & Co., Oliver Wyman, Result, Alvarez & Marsal, Bank Muscat, UAE Exchange and Morgan Stanley Infrastructure visiting the campus for the first time.

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