India -IIMs find favour with media,retail cos

Rupsa Ray

Media majors like HT Media, Times Group and Star TV and big retail companies such as Pantaloon, Java Green and Provogue were some of the new companies that visited management institutes for campus placements.

Whereas the companies mentioned here visited IIM Calcutta during the institute's summer placement programme, 25 start-ups visited IIM Lucknow. This, at a time when major corporates, especially from the financial sector, are shying away from top management schools.

In all, IIM Calcutta saw around 42 new companies coming to their campus for this year's summer placement. Media companies took around 3-4% of the students, while the retail segment recruited around 2% students from IIM-C campus.

"Over the past few years, students have been vying to work in these sectors. This year, as some of the top finance companies gave the institute a miss, we thought it to be apt to invite companies from these sectors," commented a spokesperson from the placement committee of IIM Calcutta. "Though the intake was not that high, many students showed interest and availed the option," he added.

IIM Lucknow, for the first time, invited around 25 start-ups.

"A number of students weren't happy with the profiles being offered, as they already have a few years of work experience in their kitty. Some of them showed interest in joining start-up ventures, which they feel will help them in their future endeavours," commented Prof Sushil Kumar, chairman, placement, IIM Lucknow. Around 35-40 students from IIM Lucknow's present batch joined start-up companies.

A few niche companies visited IIM Ahmedabad for the first time as wll. An event management firm, Artaaj, was a first timer at IIM-A. Prominent among other first time recruiters were the Planning Commission of India and the Forward Markets Commission.