IIMs' foreign offers to double this season

The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) are expecting the number of foreign offers to double this year and salary levels to shoot up by at least 20 per cent. IIM Bangalore has received 60 international offers so far.

"Indicators till now are very positive and I hope there will many more offers to come as we are still away from the placement season," says Sourav Mukherjee, IIM-B placement chairperson.

The placement season, which begins in February, will generally last till mid-March. Last year, the institute placed 51 students abroad (27 per cent of its batch size) with only 45 pre-placement offers.

At IIM Indore too, which had 12 foreign job offers last year, the offers are set to see an increase "" more than twice the offers this year. An institute spokesperson did not divulge the exact figures but said it has so far has recorded a substantial increase in the number of foreign offers and is still expecting more offers since many companies are still inquiring about the placement status.

IIM Calcutta, however, had received 77 offers last year but this year the institute has already received 93 foreign job offers which will see a significant rise with more companies still enquiring for final placements.The institute had placed 51 students abroad last year.

IIM Kozhikode and IIM Lucknow too are expecting a sharp rise in the foreign job offers this year. IIM Ahmedabad, however, says the offers at its campus will not double as the institute already has huge number of offers. Last year the institute placed 30 per cent of its batch (73 students out of 235 students)abroad.

This time around, students are being hired either for an analyst's post or managerial position. Generally, freshers are offered jobs at the mid-management level or analyst level and the ones with certain work experience go through lateral placement clinching jobs at the managerial level.

However, the trend with international financial majors coming to the campus to recruit remains the same.

"With global mergers and acquisition market booming, financing and consulting firms would be recruiting in large numbers. Though private equity firms do not recruit in large numbers, they do come up with attractive and exciting offers. It would not be surprising if the students let go a big offer from an MNC to join a private equity firm," says Mukherjee.

Other B-schools in India are expecting a similar situation with job offers. Management Development Institute (MDI), Gurgaon, which placed 12 students abroad last year, is seeing a steep rise in the number of offers. However, Subir Verma, placement chairperson, MDI, predicts a new trend in receiving foreign offers.

"The offers will definitely double but the acceptance level of the offers might come down. Students are no longer enamoured by the international offers. Only if the offer is good with a good pay packet and an exciting job profile would the student accept it," he says.