IIM-A passouts to bat on home turf

Besides hefty packages and international offers, the students of the Indian Institute of Ahmedabad want the recruiters to relocate them to India within two-three years.

While a good number has chosen domestic offers over more lucrative ones abroad, their faith in the Indian economy has been reinstated with their seniors making a beeline for India in the last three years. Some have requested their company to relocate them to Indian offices, while others are planning to quit to take up a job in the country.

So strong is the Indian flavour on the campus this year that it has caught up with international exchange students as well. Some exchange students from France and Spain are planning to take up jobs in India after they are through with their studies.

This year about 150 exchange students will spend a semester on the IIM-A campus and sources in the institute say that most of them are craving for an Indian stamp on their resume to earn brownie points in the books of top banks and companies, for whom knowledge of the Indian economy is a pre-requisite.

Even as the trend of about 20 students opting out of placements this year is well-known, at least 5-8 among those who have accepted placement offers in India plan to work with them for only a year or so till they create a business network before launching their own ventures.

The motivation to stay in India for this lot of students is simply to map the emerging trends in their chosen domain and network with venture capitalists and angel investors. Some of them are also a part of a start-up with non-IIM-A students, which will begin functioning as an independent venture while the IIM-A student tries to network using his/her contacts to be created subsequently.

"I have accepted an offer from a global investment bank for its Mumbai office but this is temporary till I establish the contacts necessary for the creation and funding of my own venture, which should take three years at most," said a student of IIM-A.

Most of these students said there was no doubt in their minds while turning a blind eye to lucrative packets abroad. They said the future is much more promising if they choose to make their careers in India.

Apart from the group of four who spurned Rs 1 crore salaries in favour of starting a venture in the lingerie business, a group of three has opted out of placements to get into the lighting business in Mumbai.

The group is working with the Institute's Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) for funding.

A student, who plans to set up a portal for e-booking of film tickets has already seen interest from serious investors, including Shringar Cinemas Director Shravan Shroff, while another who is interested in setting up an art fund is already deep in negotiations with a well-known venture capital group.

A group of four have decided to establish a cricket stock portal, which is a virtual stock exchange dealing in stocks of cricket players.

Some students will take up family business as a career. A student has decided to carry the mantle of his father's pharmacy business, while another will be entering his family's construction business.

The graduating batch of PGP has also decided to create a networking fund and carry on the initiative taken by the class of 2001 for better contacts in the industry.