7% new recruiters to visit IIM-A campus

Day zero of final placements at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A) saw companies, who came to hire the Post Graduate Programme (PGP) students showing interest in interacting with their counterparts, the Post-Graduate Programme in Management for Executives (PGPX), for recruitment.

An estimated 120 companies will visit the IIM-A campus this week of which around 5-7 per cent are new recruiters.

Students of PGPX are involved in lateral placements and were not originally a part of the placement week, which will see students of the flagship programme, PGP getting placed. All the PGPX students have at least one offer and are in the process of deciding on them.

IIM-A has taken a major initiative of encouraging entrepreneurial spirit among students who have expressed desire to stay out of the placements to start their own ventures. Students who do not participate in the placements this year will be eligible to apply for them for the next two years.

Last year, six students had opted out of final placements and the number is set to be significantly higher this year, confirmed Piyush Kumar Sinha, chairperson, Placement Cell, IIM-A.

"Around 20 ideas were presented to venture capitalists and angel investors by students at the Annual Venture Conclave this year, which shows the tremendous interest in starting up their own ventures," added Sinha

The institute was earlier planning to establish a start-up slot for encouraging start-ups wanting to hire the students but the idea was not taken forward since the institute received less number of entries.

For the first time, even international companies would be paying placement fees for participation in the recruitment process. An official said the placement fees was close to Rs 1,00,000 for initial participation.