Sep 16, 2008

India - Crossed fingers at IIMs after dream jobs threatened

Lehman and Merrill Lynch have already made pre-placement offers to some students

MUMBAI: Despite bankruptcy charges filed by Lehman Brothers Holdings and sale of Merrill Lynch, the mood at top Indian business schools is not very grim.

Management institutes—where Lehman, along with other investment banks like Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan are key recruiters—are adopting a wait and watch policy.

Currently, the pre-placement offer (PPO) season is going on in full swing at the B-schools, with companies making offers to students who had interned with them in April-May.

According to a placement official at the Indian Institute of Management-Calcutta (IIM-C), Lehman and Merrill Lynch have already made PPOs to some students. “It’s still early to say anything about the scene. We haven’t yet received any word from them,” said Krishnan Sekar, external relations secretary at IIM-C.

Likewise, IIM-Bangalore has also received PPOs from Lehman and the students are taking a cautious approach on the events. According to a placement official, the institute and students are watching with keenness as to what would happen in the near future. “Right now students are optimistic about offers, despite the occurrence of something unfortunate like this.”

Officials said that as the final offers are yet to come by (early next year), students are optimistic about getting offers from firms in other domains such as consultancy.
Investment banks are major recruiters at B-school campuses. In March this year, during the final placements, the highest offers at IIMC and IIM-Ahmedabad were by investment banks and were upwards of Rs 1.3 crore annually. So optimistic was the scenario that 113 out of a batch of 225 at IIMA had taken up offers from the financial services sector.

The IIMs are so sure of getting top notch offers again this year, that they are actually expecting a rise by at least 20% over the number of offers made last year. “Despite the situation, there is still the need for quality talent and the IIMs are the best management institutes in the country. So, market conditions won’t impact us,” said a placement-in-charge who doesn’t wish to be quoted.

However, recruitment consultants are not as optimistic. They feel that as the overall market condition is bad, there would be a slowdown in hiring. According to Kris Lakshmikanth, founder CEO and managing director of HR consulting firm HeadHunters India, the placement scene would be dull. “Students will contemplate joining these investment banks that are in the middle of financial muddle.”

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