The average domestic salary bagged by the prospective business management post-graduates at the prestigious Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, this year was Rs. 14.94 lakh per annum while the average international scale was 1.10 lakh dollars per annum.
An IIM-A spokesman said on Thursday that the placement process for the flagship Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGP) course had been completed with all the aspirants placed comfortably. As many as 110 companies participated in the placement process, which was for the first time held on a “cohort-cluster based system,” with interviews on every weekend since February 13 instead of the rapid three to five-day continuous placement process.
The impact of the global financial meltdown was clearly visible at the placements as for the first time since 2007, more students opted for consulting instead of finance companies, clearly demonstrating the decline in interest in the speculative markets.
The spokesman said 40 candidates were placed within the first cohort-cluster on February 13-14. The institute maintained that the investment banks which were almost absent in last year's final placements, returned this year. “While Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, UBS, Deutsche Bank and Citigroup were among the major recruiters to extend offers through the PPO [Pre-Placement Offers] route, we saw JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch, HSBC and Nomura participate in the finals process,” the spokesman said.
According to him, while 27 per cent of students opted for the finance sector, 29 per cent preferred consulting, while marketing, general management and systems attracted 15, 13 and 15 per cent of candidates respectively. Only one per cent preferred the entrepreneurial route this year.
The spokesman said there had been a steady decline in the percentage of students aspiring for the finance sector over the years. While in 2007, 47 per cent of candidates opted for finance, in 2008, the percentage came down to 45 and in 2009 it dwindled to 39 before hitting the lowest in four years at 27 this year.
