Placements at IIM Ahmedabad Continue to Show Growing Preference for Indian Firms & Locations

Dispelling all anxieties and rumors about reduced hiring due to the subprime crises and the world-wide economic slow-down, the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, successfully conducted its final placement process from 6th March to 11th March 2008.

The process, which saw participation by over 90 firms, re-affirmed the status of the institute as the premier destination for recruiters in India. A significant portion of the batch (more than 65% or 161 students) had been placed or had opted out by the end of the much-coveted Slot Zero of placements, which saw the participation of as many as 25 firms.

Refer to Table 1 for the batch profile of the IIM-A Batch of 2008, and to Table 2 for sector-wise distribution of jobs accepted by students. Table 3 illustrates the geographical distribution of jobs accepted by students. Even though the geographical distribution of offers extended by the firms remains the same, students have shown a distinctive trend to work in the emerging market economies in the Asia-Pacific region.

Global Investment Banks Maintain Faith in IIM Ahmedabad

Despite the grim situation in international financial markets, a total of 113 students out of a Batch of 255 will be joining the financial sector this year. At a time when many banks have imposed ‘hiring freezes’ on their international recruitments, students at IIM-A have been preferred over students from other business schools across the world. The major banks to recruit students of the batch of 2008 include Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, Merill Lynch, Deutsche Bank, Barclays, among others.

In addition to this, 12 students have opted for jobs in private equity which is significantly more than in previous years. Among the private equity players, Greater Pacific Capital and Carlyle Group chose to recruit solely from IIM-A. Credit Suisse also recruited exclusively for final placements 2008.

Consulting Firms Dominate Slot Zero

In a break from the past, the much-coveted Slot Zero saw consulting firms emerge as the most preferred destination for students. For the first time, many of the coveted Slot 0 consulting firms offered international positions across USA and Europe. Consulting majors Monitor Group and Oliver Wyman made their first appearance at the process and had respectively 9 and 5 acceptances. Monitor Group recruited exclusively from IIM-A across all business schools in Asia. "We are extremely happy with the quality of students and hope to build this relation going forward," said a recruiter from Oliver Wyman.

Other long-time recruiters such as McKinsey (13 acceptances), BCG (8 acceptances) and Bain (7 acceptances) were among the major consulting firms participating in the process. A total of 41 offers were made by Slot 0 consulting firms at the final placements itself.

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