Companies line up with shining salaries at IIMA

The job market is booming again, if salaries being offered at Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) are an indicator.

IIMA’s final placements got over on Wednesday. Though pay packets per year failed to touch 2008 levels, average domestic salaries went up by around 22.8%. The average domestic salary was Rs17.85 lakh in 2008. It was just Rs12.17 lakh in 2009. This year, it bounced back to Rs14.94 lakh. The average international offer also increased from $83,000 to $1,10,750.

While the highest international and domestic offers could not be confirmed, there was talk in the institute that a student got a Rs60-lakh domestic offer.

The financial sector lost some of its sheen as the consulting sector topped the list of job offers at IIMA this year. While placements in financial sector have been decreasing in the last few years, it saw a steep decline from last year’s 39% to 29% this year. Jobs in general management increased from 9% to 13%.

Students’ tendency to start their own businesses also seemed to be declining. While five students had started their own ventures in 2007, only one student opted to do so this year.

Investment banks had been almost invisible in last year’s final placements. They returned with a bang. While Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, UBS, Deutsche Bank and Citigroup were among the major recruiters, the placements also attracted top firms such as JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch, HSBC and Nomura.

Indicating improved conditions in the IT sector, Cybage and Syntel Inc made offers for their US operations. Proctor & Gamble had four job acceptances for its Singapore operations.

More than 40 firms participated in the lateral hiring process and extended more than 100 offers, a four-fold rise over last year. Lateral hiring means job offers extended to people with experience.

“With this new process (cohort-based placement) stretching for one month, we have reiterated our conviction that time taken to place the batch is not an indicator of placement efficiency or effectiveness. The objective of the placement process is to achieve the right fit between the student and the recruiter and we would continually review the placement process to align it to this principle,” placements chairperson professor Saral Mukherjee said.