IIMs rake in, cashing in on corporate boom

Money may be scarce in the world, but this is no truth when it comes to students of Indian institutes of management (IIMs).

What else can be said when the first day of placement at IIM-Bangalore sees 16 MNCs making a beeline for the hallowed institution, presenting 52 pre-placement offers.

In all, IIM-Lucknow registered 100 per cent placement this year, with a record 491 offers for 249 students. All the same, withstanding such lure, six students of IIM-Ahmedabad and one at IIM-Bangalore have turned down job offers to chart their own course.

They are Mansur Ahmed, Sarath Babu, Sharath Coorg, Gaurav Dagaonkar, Rohit Shankar and Nikhil Vasvani from IIM-A and Kunal Mahipal from IIM-B.

While Gaurav Dagaonkar will defy all convention to pursue a career in music, Rohit Shankar and Nikhil Vasvani are planning to jointly start wellness and hospitality centres targeting corporates.

"Sky is the limit if you are your own boss. I want to have my own company which will have a global presence," said Sharath Coorg, who decided not to take up a corporate job as he feels that there is a ceiling to the ladder of growth in corporates.

This 25-year-old IIT Madras graduate is starting a real estate business with his friends in Bangalore.

On the other hand, Mansur Ahmed, even before starting his course, had made up his mind to own a video gaming company.

"I enjoyed working at IBM for three years and since then I have decided to start my own company. For this, I also let go my pre-placement offer of 65,000 pounds from Deutsche Bank, London," he added.

Following his heart and passion for music, Gaurav Dagaonkar, who already has a couple of live shows to his credit, is all set to launch a career in music.

"I have written and composed 11 songs, of which three are in English. I will soon cut a music video for one of the songs," he said.

But to return to the conventional: Friday, the first day of placement at IIM-B, saw 16 multi-national investment banks and management consultants join the hiring exercise as compared to 12 companies that took part in last year's placements.

About 182 students are appearing for interviews this year to get their dream jobs. IIM-B officials were tight-lipped on both the number and names of the companies taking part in the three-day campus recruitment mela.

But according to sources, the MNCs participating on Day Zero included ABN AMRO, AT Kearney, BNP, Bain Capital, Boston Consulting Group, Bloomberg, BP, Deutsche Bank, DPWN, Lehman Brothers, McKinsey and Co, Merrill Lynch, UBS, Bearing and Sabre Caps.

However, less than 20 students were likely to accept those offers. The highest offer made was worth 110,000 pounds by Barclays Bank to Gaurav Aggarwal. Last year, the average salary offered to IIMB graduates was Rs 10 lakh.

"The placement process has just started and there is a good beginning. We expect good placement for our students this year," Prof Y L R Murthy, chairman, placement, IIMB said.

At IIM-Lucknow, the average salary for students went up to Rs 9.33 lakh as against Rs 7.8 lakh last year, the institute said in a release.

The top Indian recruiters' salary ranged from Rs nine lakh to Rs 16 lakh and international recruiters' salary ranged from Rs 31 lakh to Rs 36 lakh. The number of foreign offers almost doubled to 24 this year from 13 last year.

"Our students this year got placements from all the top companies present in India and also well known international firms," IIM-Lucknow Director Devi Singh said.