Peak domestic salary rises 10% at IIM-A

The highest domestic compensation package offered during final placements of the flagship postgraduate programme in management (PGP) at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, (IIM-A) this year is up 10.41 per cent. Referred to as the maximum earning potential (MEP), the package stood at Rs 53 lakh this year, against Rs 48 lakh last year, according to IIM-A’s audited placement report.

Average domestic MEP grew by 1.94 per cent at Rs 22.57 lakh. On the other hand, the maximum international package dipped by 17 per cent, from $153,568 last year to $ 127,275 this year, while average international MEP fell by seven per cent to stand at $68,104. But, on a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis, while the maximum combined rupee and non-rupee MEP grew by 72.34 per cent in 2017 at $344,828, up from $200,083 in 2016, the average combined MEP rose by 38.33 per cent to $129,267 against $93,448 last year.

MEP is the sum total of guaranteed cash component, maximum possible performance-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 (PF) and other perks as well. IIM-A gets its placement reports audited by a third party such as CRISIL and now Brickwork Ratings under the Indian Placement Reporting Standards (IPRS) which looks at standardising placement data, including salary and non-salary information. 

The placement process was completed within three clusters with the third and final cluster being held on February 19, with over 120 firms making offers including laterals. The final placements process at IIM-A saw 386 PGP students, along with 43 PGP-ABM (PGP in agribusiness management) and 67 PGPX (PGP for executives) students seeking placements.

The placement process was conducted in two stages: The first was the laterals process, where firms interviewed students with prior work experience and offered mid-level managerial positions. The second stage was the final placement process, where firms were grouped into cohorts based on the profiles offered. About 45 per cent of the batch was eligible for lateral placements, which included over 30 firms from analytics, BFSI, consumer services, internet & e-commerce, management consulting and pharma, among others. Recruiters such as Aditya Birla Group, Tata Administrative Services (TAS), Alvarez & Marsal, Amazon, Matrix Partners, Microsoft and Ola, among others, were part of the process.

Amazon emerged as the top recruiter, making 18 offers; McKinsey & Company, with 15 offers, topped the consulting domain. TAS (10), Sprinklr and Goldman Sachs (nine each) and HUL (seven) were the other top recruiters. P&G, SC Johnson and Samsung made six offers each.

More than 40 first-time recruiters took part this placement season. Recruiters in the management consulting domain included Accenture Strategy, A T Kearney, Bain & Co and Oliver Wyman; from investment banking Citibank, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, Kotak IB and Standard Chartered. BFSI recruiters such as American Express, Fullerton and RBL extended offers while Airtel, Asian Paints, HUL, ITC, Nestlé and P&G offered sales and marketing roles.

Enterprise Tech and Consumer Tech cohorts, on the other hand, saw participation from the likes of MobiKwik, Rivigo and Sprinklr, among others. 

About seven students opted out of the placement process to start their own ventures under the guidance of IIM-A's Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE). The start-ups have been launched in sectors such as adventure tourism, data analytics, e-commerce and food processing, among others. Against this, last year, eight students had opted out of placements at IIM-A.

The placement process was audited by Brickwork Ratings. The graduating PGP batch of 2017 comprised 380 students.

IIM-A's PGP in food and agribusiness management (FABM) attracted a highest and average domestic MEP of Rs 27.07 lakh and Rs 15.63 lakh while both highest and average international MEP stood at $110,000. As for IIM-A's one-year post graduate programme for executives (PGPX), where firms from the information technology sector led the recruitments, domestic highest and average MEP stood at Rs 43.03 lakh and Rs 28.48 lakh, respectively.