BackCautious optimism on placements at IIM-B
Cautious optimism on placements at IIM-B
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Bangalore: While the exuberance of previous years is yet to return, the mood was cautiously optimistic on the first day of summer internship placements at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B) on Friday.
A good summer placement season is seen as a harbinger of a good final placement season in February-March, when students land permanent jobs.
“The students I spoke to seemed to be in demand," said Suvojoy Sengupta, partner and co-head of the India practice of Booz and Co., which has taken three students as interns. “Last year, they weren’t this confident."
In November 2008, both summer and final job placements took a beating after the crash of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. The Wall Street investment bank had been one of the most sought-after employers on premier B-school campuses in India.
As at IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Calcutta, which started their summer internship placements earlier this week, companies on the first day at IIM-B, too, consisted mainly of consulting firms and investment banks.
The consulting firms—Booz and Co., McKinsey and Co., Boston Consulting Group Inc., Bain and Co. Inc. and AT Kearney Inc.—made 19 offers on Friday at IIM-B.
The investment banks included JPMorgan Chase and Co., UBS AG, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, Citigroup Inc. and NM Rothschild and Sons.
IIM-B aims to get summer internships for at least 30% of its batch of 350 students, with around 40 companies invited on day zero. The term day zero is B-school parlance for the first slot when the most sought-after recruiters are invited to campus; it lasts a day and a half.
The institute expects at least 150 companies to visit the campus.
The process is likely to conclude in six-seven days. IIM-B has a larger class of 350 first-year students this year after the caste-based quota was implemented. These students will start their internships in April and graduate in March the year after.
Last year, the summer placements concluded in five days for a smaller batch of 280 students.
Financial services firm Anand Rathi Group was also at IIM-B making offers to students. “We are going aggressive on our investment banking division," said Nand Sharma, director, strategy and business development at Anand Rathi. The company plans to take 10-12 interns from IIM-A, IIM-C and IIM-B, against none last year. “We need people in mergers and acquisitions and private placements," Sharma said.
poornima.m@livemint.com
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