The new status of the National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), which was recently designated as the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Mumbai, has given a boost to placements at the institute this year. Even as the impact of global slowdown is visible on placements at other IIMs and IITs, there is over a 20 per cent increase in the number of companies coming to the newly designated IIM Mumbai for campus recruitment compared to last year. This includes a number of prominent first-time recruiters at the campus such as Microsoft, Goldman Sachs, Pine Labs, Meesho, Blinkit, Gestamp, SUD Life and Birla Paints, among others. At a time when the global tech downturn is a topic of discussion across marquee higher education institutions in the country affecting placements, including at IIM Bangalore, IIM Mumbai has witnessed a notable jump in new recruiters. The placements began last week. Microsoft not only visited IIM Mumbai for the first time but the tech giant also offered the highest annual pay package of Rs 51 lakh. This is much higher than the average salary package of 31 lakh pa at the campus this year. The placement process, however, is still ongoing. While NITIE received IIM status in August this year, Prof Manoj K Tiwari, Director, IIM Mumbai, said the new status has led to a shift in market perception of the institution. “Many new and high valued companies have shown interest in campus placements this year, a positive change witnessed after the development of gaining IIM status in August,” he said. Prof Tiwari also gave credit for it to the specialised curriculum of the institute. “Our curriculum is incorporating current industry needs by promoting digital technology in all spheres of management,” he said. The first phase of placements is focusing on students who have joined NITIE after considerable years of work experience. The Common Recruitment Program for fresh graduates will be in January and the institute is already anticipating success in phase II with the kind of interest shown by companies. Prof Neeraj Pandey, Associate Dean, Placements and Branding, IIM Mumbai, said even as they are in the initial days of placements, they have witnessed interest from new recruiters with domestic as well as international offers. “Apart from our regular participating companies with international offers — Landmark (Dubai) and Tolaram Group (Africa); Sobha Realty from Dubai is a new entry confirmed until now whereas few more are in talks,” he said. As opposed to recent reports claiming challenges at IIM Bangalore to place its students for summer internships, IIM Mumbai is in a position to pick and choose this year. There are a total 130 companies participating in campus placements for Summer Internships Programme (SIP) out of which a total 20 are new entries this year. “Almost all our students are placed in SIPs, there are a few still waiting. But that is not because we do not have companies offering SIPs. It is because we are evaluating whether the company holds the intention and capacity to convert this SIP into a Pre-Placement Offer (PPO),” said Prof Rauf Iqbal, Dean of Student Affairs at the institute. This year, the institute has already witnessed a higher percentage of SIPs being converted into PPOs. “The placements began with 38 per cent of SIPs converting into PPOs, this rate of conversion was only 33 percent last year,” added Prof Pandey, adding that there were 168 PPOs this year.
