"In times of transition, the question itself is the answer."

Placements 2002 started with news of Enron bankruptcy coming in. Kenneth Lay was all over media and replaced Alan Greenspan from the news. For all the wrong reasons! It was culmination of the troublesome events that plagued the class of 2001 and kept it in the limelight for all the wrong reasons.

Some mention must be made of post placement developments that might impact placements 2002. First, i2 Technologies withdrew offers it made to class of 2001 in August 2001. Then NIIT was first Indian IT company to issue profit warnings. Hitting hard particularly was the news of withdrawals of some of campus placement 2001 offers and layoffs by Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting), and alumni's ire was reflected on the CoolAvenues' Discussion Boards. Enron bankruptcy, though not directly affecting placements 2002, capped a tumultuous year for Indian MBAs. And Placements @ Indian B-schools, historically culminating with IIMA placements by March 10, were extended by another 20 days due to Ahmedabad riots. A befitting end to a bizarre year!

So the glorious start to the millennium year came to a premature end in 2001 with dotcom meltdown leaving open space for Marketing and Finance, whereas Consulting held its sway, though a bit subdued. And with the recession in full bloom, corporate across globe were focussed on reducing the costs, including limited hiring to fulfill only critical functions. So in effect, everyone was prepared for a tough placement ahead.

But Indian B-schools managed to hold their own in the face of adversity. They showed that they have come of age and are here to stay - recession or no recession. And a lackluster placement of ISB has assuaged the fears of traditional biggies.

For last three years, the recruiters were chasing the students to choose the best. Year 2002 saw the hunters being hunted down, albeit in a positive sense. Companies got ample time to choose from the available students. For instance in 2001, top five recruiters picked up more than fifth of the outgoing batches, and by the time the next top five were through, a third of class 2001 at the 14 institutes had been cleaned out (Refer BT-CoolAvenues Campus Hustings 2001, April 6, 2002, Business Today). Nothing of that sort was remotely observed at any of the campuses this year. Average offers per student dropped to around 1.1-1.2 offers per student from high of over 1.47 offer per student in 2001. That's a pretty steep 25% decrease in offers. If such a decrease happens at top 15 Institutes, the plight of MBAs at tier II B-schools can be easily imagined!.

Though all the star recruiters were there, but this was primarily a relationship building exercise with focus on taking enough recruits in ranks so that the supply of fresh management talent in the company managerial ladder doesn't dry up. As number of offers dried up, and recession looming large, average salary stayed more or less where it was last year. In some cases, it even declined by Rs. 20,000-50,000 as the foreign recruiters were absent and/ or number of offers by foreign/ high paying domestic companies decreased drastically in 2002.

Consulting, everyone's favourite jobs, were hard to get. Few companies, limited offers. Big firms like Accenture, Arther Andersen and PWC were conspicuous by their absence. Once upon a time, around 1997, consultancy was said to be recession proof industry, as it was said that the consultants were required in booming times for expansion plans, and were even more required in downturns to bring in process improvements. Alas, nothing of that sort happened. Meltdown of dotcoms coupled with recession saw dwindling market, and therefore, limited offers were there for the students. As a result, the share of Consulting among the students fell sharply by more than 5 percentage points in many B-schools. PWC, which made 40+ offers in 2001, was absent. Infact, also MIA (Missing in Action) were i2 Technologies and Accenture, which made 30+ and 24+ offers respectively last year.

Foreign postings, a big draw, were biggest casualty of global downturn. With foreign players conspicuous by their absence, number of non-Indian postings offers declined sharply by 60%, from 60 to 20, at a leading B-school in south. Ditto for all the top 10 B-schools. Star foreign recruiters of year 2001 were MIA (Missing in Action).

Finance accounted for a strong show, and maintained its last years' share. Main functions recruiting were retail banking and insurance. Investment banking was very subdued. Understandably so because of weak capital markets. Arthur Andersen, the smallest of top five global accounting firms, was missing from the campus placements in 2001. Lehman Brothers was here along with Deutsche Bank Global.

Information Technology, IT, is going through a lean patch. Infy was back after a one year sabbatical. But its return created a whimper only. Infy pulled out from IIML in 2001 at the last moment, and ditto for other IIMs, but made a return to IIML campus this year though it made only two offers there till reports last came in. Not a great way to make your return clear! Quite a surprise for a firm the recruitment advertisement of which is an almost permanent fixture in the employment supplement of almost all leading English dailies.

IT, as a whole, took a hard beating in this recessionary market as the companies laid off many workers to cut costs and improve efficiencies. Percentage of people joining IT function was low by around 5% at least for majority of B-schools. Foreign visitors and stars of yesteryears, like Blueshift Technologies, i2 Technologies, Fatwire, etc., were missing from campus hustings. Satyam and Wipro, on whom students used to rely for recruiting heavily, weren't there for the party. And if we take into account the high average number of offers made by them, it becomes clearer that the withdrawal of these companies had a none-too pleasant effect on the students looking for a job in the IT sector. Last year star IT Recruiters, like HCL Technologies (80+ offers), Polaris (70+ offers) and iNautix (20+ offers) were unable to make their presence felt. Looks like tough times will continue for some more time.

Marketing reigned supreme! With the downturn in consulting and IT, the blushes were saved by opportunities thrown up by Marketing / Sales and Advertising. FMCG sector is least hit by the recession trend and it showed. FMCG juggernaut was lead by who else but Coke majors, who along with ITC, HLL, P&G and other leading firms had so many options to choose from at various B-school campuses, unlike in the last three years. They sure did made hay while the sun shone! Consequently, traditional marketing bastion like FMS has had no problems.

On the average, Indian B-schools managed very well and with an excellent planning, it was successful implementation of the scheduled placement activities. With the average salary, highest salary remaining more or less constant, and majority of students comfortably placed, these B-schools managed to stare recession in the face. And they did not blink.

Indian B-schools have arrived. Avenues are there for all - recession or no recession.

Quo Vadis???

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Placements 2001

Read complete story of Placement 2001 as it happened along with analysis and comparison across the B-Schools and segment-wise analysis.

Placements 2000

Read complete story of Placement 2000 as it happened along with analysis and comparison across the Indian and US B-Schools and segment-wise analysis.

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