The Hindu Business Line : IIM-A now a good hunting ground for lateral placements too

WITH the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) emerging as a prime hunting ground for not just entry-level managers but also middle-level talent through "lateral placements," the institute is confident that its new programme for experienced professionals will get good response from the industry.

"IIM-A has traditionally been regarded as a good place for entry-level managers. But this year, we have had a large number of lateral placements, including offers in leading international firms.

"Several companies came up with tailor-made offers for our students who had some work experience.

"That has proven to be a morale booster for us as we are ready to launch the new one-year management programme," the IIM-A Director, Dr Bakul Dholakia, said on Tuesday.

The placement week of the Institute ended on Tuesday with 477 job offers being made to 247 students.

Three students did not participate in the placement process and have decided to branch out on their own.

The average international salary this year was $80,000 per annum.

The institute also notched up a record of sorts with a student, Mr Ravi Singhvi, getting a lateral placement with HSBC Bank for $1,52,000 per annum, the highest salary ever offered to any IIM graduate.

The average domestic salary jumped 12 per cent from last year to Rs 7.90 lakh and the maximum domestic salary touched Rs 14.5 lakh.

Top recruiters included Lehman Brothers, Al Ghanim of Kuwait, IBM, Cognizant, Procter and Gamble and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Dr Dholakia said that the salary comparisons with other IIMs were irrelevant because some IIMs quoted the compensation in cost to company terms while IIM-A figures only denote the assured salary excluding bonus and other incentives.

As many as 71 students accepted international placements, while 10 declined in favour of more interesting and satisfying assignments within the country.

Mr Kanishka Raja refused an offer from Bain and Company in Singapore and settled for Boston Consulting Group in Mumbai only because he wants to "stay on in India and make a difference."

"Each IIM student has great personal drive to do something different," Mr Raja, a product of the Birla Institute of Technology (BITS Pilani), said.

A drive to do something different saw three students staying away from the placement process itself. Mr Pravin Yedla and Mr K. Sharad Chandra have already forged a partnership and will now figure out what exactly they want to do.

"We are not too sure of what we want to do. It would either be starting an institution to teach management education to school students or a management consultancy dedicated to the small-scale sector," Mr Sharad Chandra said.

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