B-schools unite to combat downturn

Confirming the move, IIM-C’s director, Prof Shekhar Chaudhuri, said: “We, along with IIM-A and B, have coordinated in scheduling the interview dates in such a manner that they don’t overlap. We have done this for the first time and are also working on broadening the admission process in our respective institutes.”

The coordination will also show up at the entrance level. According to Prof Chaudhuri, the MBA entrants seeking admissions in IIM-A, B and C will now be interviewed by various other faculty members apart from the chairman.

Apart from spacing out the placement interview dates, the three IIMs have also joined forces in extending the duration of the placement process so that the candidates and their prospective employers find more time to interact.

“Earlier, we used to close the placement process within 3-4 days, but this year we closed on March 16, having begun on March 8. This way, the employers and the candidates find more time for themselves,” Prof Chaudhuri said.

2003 final placements saw automotive and financial services sectors emerge as the top recruiters at IIM-Bangalore, IT and ITeS and financial services at IIM-C while it was banking and finance that topped the charts at IIM-A.

IIM-C, which had the largest graduating batch with 251 students saw 245 of them participating in the final placements process.

While pre-placement offers (PPOs) of the institute rose up to 25 from 16 last year, the institute had put a special thrust on lateral placements which saw a 30 per cent increase over last year. Eighteen companies which offered jobs in lateral placements in the areas of financial services, FMCG and manufacturing.

The companies included Hindustan Lever Ltd, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Kanbay, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories and Evalueserve.

So far as compensation is concerned, the median domestic lateral salary is pegged at Rs 7 lakh per annum while the median domestic entry level salary stood at Rs 6.75 lakh a year. The biggest offer was from consultant McKinsey which stood at Rs 14 lakh per annum.

However, like other management campuses, the number of companies visiting the IIM-C campus stood at 79 from 88 last year. The number of foreign offers too took a dip to 11 from 20 in 2002. IIM-C, whose strength lies in Finance, had a setback this year with 21 per cent of the jobs being offered by this sector. Finance accounted for 33 per cent of the jobs last year.