The average domestic and international salaries of Indian School of Business (ISB) graduates has fallen by about 20.78 per cent and 17.8 per cent, respectively, due to the global economic slowdown. This is the first time that the salaries of ISB graduates have dived.
According to details from the placement wing of the ISB, the average domestic salary for Class 2009 was Rs 15 lakh per annum, compared with Rs 19 lakh last year. The average annual international remuneration was $119,022 for the graduating batch, against $144,812 last year.
Officials say the drop in the salaries of ISB graduates is not unusual but has been common with many B-schools as a direct fallout of the global slowdown. Also, this is for the first time that the placements at the ISB had been extended beyond April, as companies were cautious in recruiting new talents. The school formed a “task force” especially to aid students in finding placements even after the graduation ceremony.
The placement process was completed only recently and the school succeeded in placing about 400 of its total 437 students. About 35 students took to entrepreneurship, while one took up a government job and the other joined the sports field.
However, the average outgoing salary was more than twice the average incoming salary (salary before they joined ISB). For example, the average cost to the company (CTC) for manufacturing jobs was more than 2.78 times and for real estate it was 2.63 times of the average incoming CTC.
About 28 per cent of the students went into consulting jobs this year, followed by marketing (17 per cent), finance (12 per cent), technology (9 per cent), general management (4 per cent) and operations (5 per cent). About 25 per cent of the students got into other areas. According to V K Menon, senior director, admissions and financial aid and career advancement services of ISB, this year saw rolling placement happen till the end of June. Till last time, it was till April.
Typically, the placement at the ISB is marked by heavy career shifts. But this time it happened on a moderate scale. The job profile a candidate held in the earlier stint before joining the ISB was given more weight than before.
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IT, ITeS and telecom sectors provided 20 per cent jobs, consulting 18 per cent, pharma, biotech and healthcare 11 per cent and banks and insurance and financial institution 11 per cent.
The placement office is still working on the trends, the company details and sector wise analysis. However, there were some visible trends at the placement.
The institute has, henceforth, decided to hold the placement season from January to June to give the companies and the students more time to think about the opportunities.This would also aid in reducing the attrition rate of the students who join after considering various options.
For 2009, ISB saw 326 companies, the highest ever, coming for campus recruitment. Last year, there were 230 companies. Though the number of companies increased, the students had limited choice in terms of offers and roles, Menon said attributing it to the slow off-take from the companies. Though there was a drop in finance, i-banking segments and technology areas, the number of pharma jobs increased this time.
For the current year, however, already 11 international companies have registered with the ISB to be part of the recruitment drive next January. Also, many companies that reduced their intake now would increased it next year, Menon says.