The Indian Institute of Foreign Trade(IIFT),one of the premier B-schools in the country, has seen a 30 to 40 per cent drop in average packages offered at its lateral placements that concluded about a fortnight ago, and expects a similar trend in the upcoming fresher placements in January, owing to the downturn.
Around 50 students appeared for the lateral placements this year out of a total strength of 180 across the two IIFT campuses in Delhi and Kolkata and the institute has tasted 70 per cent success including pre-placement offers. "While the average package for lateral placements in the last academic session ranged between Rs12- 15 lakh per annum(pa), this year the average package offered is down to Rs 6 to 8 lakh pa. This could further go down during the fresher placements in January.", admitted K Rangarajan,head of IIFT Kolkata campus and Centre of MSME Studies at the institute. "As businesses try to focus on reducing overhead costs including expenditure on human resources, the package sizes offered have gone down.", he added. Sources in IIFT claimed that corporates are also trying to make the most of the current situation to avail cheaper manpower. Some students, it is learnt, have turned down offers.
"Around 40 to 45 per cent of the visiting companies are from the manufacturing sector this time.This is significantly more compared to other years when the balance was steeply in favour of service sector firms that comprised nearly 80 per cent of the portfolio.", Ranagarajan informed.