Plan to increase public sector recruitment from 10% to 20%
They may not offer pay packages that in any way rival the pay packets of multinationals, but public sector units (PSUs) are increasingly gaining favour with management institutes.
Last year, many B-schools students opted for PSU placements on the back of the global slowdown. Stability was the key factor that drove this decision since financial institutions were collapsing and were being perceived as frail bodies. Experts believed that once the economy stabilised, the lure of PSUs would die down.
But the trend continues. The faculty and students of management institutes reason that with PSUs being allowed to recruit on contract too, students are being offered work profiles that are more challenging that that of MNCs. And buoyed by an increased interest among students towards PSUs since last year, these B-schools are making sure they see more number of such enterprises at their campuses for the placements this year.
On an average, last year B-schools saw 5-10 per cent of the batch being recruited by PSUs. This year, the institutes are aiming to increase this to 15-20 per cent by inviting more PSUs. For instance, PSUs were well received by IIM Lucknow students with 65 offers -- highest across all IIMs, being accepted during the previous placement season.
"PSUs are very much on the cards for IIM Lucknow students this year as well. And we plan to invite more than just the top notch companies, which will not restrict the pool of talent here to just the organised sector and will give them more opportunities to explore. The incoming batch at IIM-L has relevant work experience and some are already showing interest in working with, for example, the oil sector and other PSUs," R L Raina, Chairman, placements at IIM Lucknow (IIM-L), told Business Standard.
KJ Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research (SIMSR), too— which saw around 2-3 students getting recruited by PSUs last year — is looking to invite more companies including the likes of HPCL, BPCL, NTPC and IOC this year. "Last year, after some students were recruited by PSUs, more students have shown interest towards these enterprises. Now that the PSUs can recruit on a contract basis wherein students can be offered some challenging tasks, we will be inviting more of them for the placements this year," says N D Sharma, placement coordinator of SIMSR. Close to 300 students from SIMSR will be participating in placements this year.
Ahmedabad-based Nirma Institute of Management (NIM) is also mulling inviting more PSUs. "We will have to broadbase our company list to include more PSUs. Efforts will be on in NIM to see that more PSUs make it to the campus for placements this year. While pay packages may be lower than that of MNCs, the work profiles are equally challenging," said Sushil Bahl, chairperson - placements, Nirma Institute of Management.
More From This Section
As compared to last year when about 17 per cent of students at NIM were recruited by PSUs during placements, this year the institute is aiming at a higher share. "We had witnessed around 20 students out of a batch strength of 116 being recruited by PSUs last year. This year, however, we hope to see some more offers from PSUs being accepted," added Bahl.
Last year, even the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) saw Union Bank of India making the highest number of offers of 18, apart from six offers by Bank of Baroda (BoB) and five offers by IOC.
Similarly, 17 per cent of the batch of 112 students at Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS) were placed with PSUs last year. "The profile offered and relationship that JBIMS shares with PSUs via various endeavors encourage us to invite them at JBIMS. Companies like Bank of Baroda, GAIL,ONGC, HPCL, SEBI, NISM, Union Bank of India had participated last year. The talks with various companies are on and we expect many PSUs to be a part of the placement process this year as well," says Siddhesh Jayakar, member, Placement Committee at JBIMS.