And that’s a big jump! The trend cuts across majority of leading B-schools. Graduates in many institutes have in fact got even higher salary increases.
Take Indian Institute of Management, Ahemdabad (IIM-A) for instance. The average domestic salary is up by a whopping 30% this year! The average domestic salary stood at an impressive Rs 18.75 lakhs pa. The highest domestic offers ranged from Rs 50 lakhs to Rs 70 lakhs. On the international placements side, the picture was even brighter. There were several offers made in the range of USD 280,000 to 360,000. That made several IIM grads instant crorepatis! The average international offers at IIM-A was USD 109,000.
The placement scene was equally buoyant at Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM-C). A student received an offer of Rs 1.36 crore! The average domestic salary was pegged at Rs 16.4 lakhs. There were several domestic offers made in the region of Rs 65 lakhs to Rs 70 lakhs.
The younger siblings of the IIM family too created their own benchmarks. Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode (IIM-K) and Indian Institute of Management, Indore (IIM-I) have recorded their best placement season ever.
The domestic average at IIM Indore was a healthy Rs 13.07 lakhs, which is 20 % higher that last year’s average. At IIM Khozikode, the average salary was up 16% at Rs 14.83 lakhs. The highest domestic salary was a high Rs 29 lakhs.
If you thought that these fat packages were only for the lucky once at IIMs, you are in for a big surprise. There were many other B-schools who left even IIM salaries far behind. Take Delhi University’s Faculty of Management Studies (FMS). The average domestic salary that their MBA graduates garnered was a high Rs 15.31 lakhs. And was a whopping 27% higher than last year! Admittedly, FMS is at an advantage – it runs a smaller batch size of 99 candidates in its flagship MBA course, compare with around 250 candidates placed by IIM-A, IIM-B and IIM-C.
XLRI, Jamshedpur too attracted top recruiters and a high average salary. For the batch of 180 students, the average salary stood at Rs 14.75 lakhs and the highest domestic offer was Rs 28 lakhs. The average international salary was USD 90,000.
Mumbai based Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS) recorded an average salary of Rs 13.94 lakhs. See more salary data in chart ‘Up, Up and Away.’
Clearly, the going was good for the privileged few who made it to the top B-schools. With fat pay packages, joining bonuses, international locations, and even holiday packages, red hot Indian corporates and talent-hungry international firms left no stones unturned in their bid to lure talented Indian MBAs.
MBA Salaries 2008: Up, Up and Away
|
Institutes
|
Avg Salary in 2008
(Lakhs)
|
Increase from last year
|
Maximum Salaries recorded
|
|
IIM-A
IIM-C
|
Rs 18.75*
Rs 16.40*
|
30 %
14 %
|
Max Int. Sal USD 280,000 to USD 360,000
Max Dom Sal. Rs 50-70 Lakhs
Max Int Sal Rs. 1.36 crore Max
Dom Sal Rs 65 to Rs 70 lakhs
|
|
IIM-K
IIM-I
|
Rs 14.83
Rs 13.07
|
16 %
20 %
|
Max Int Sal USD 175,000 pa
Max Dom Sal Rs 29 lakhs
Max Int. Sal USD 85,000;
Max Dom. Sal Rs 26 Lakhs
|
|
FMS
ISB
JBIMS
MDI
XLRI
IIT B - SJMSOM
IIT-K VGSOM
IIFT
SPJIMR
IMT
IMI
|
Rs 15.31
Rs 19 lakhs*
Rs 13.84
Rs 12.50
Rs 14.75*
Rs 13.96*
Rs 11.44*
Rs 10.11
Rs 13.78
Rs 10.87
Rs 9.28
|
27%
21%
28 %
10 %
15 %
44 %
30%
8 %
25 %
5 %
24 %
|
Max Dom. Sal Rs 26 lakhs
Max Int. Sal USD 105,000
--
Max Dom. Sal Rs 29 lakhs
--
Max Dom. Sal Rs 20.2 lakhs; Ht Int. Sal. Rs 29.43 lakhs
Max Dom Sal Rs 28 lakhs
--
Max Dom Sal Rs 21 lakhs
Max Intern Sal USD 85,000
Max Dom. Sal Rs 18 lakhs
Max Int. Sal USD 70,000
Max Dom. Sal Rs 25 lakhs
Max Int. Sal USD 110,000
Max Dom. Sal Rs 20 lakhs
Max Int. Sal USD 70,000
Max Dom. Sal Rs 17 lakhs
Max Int. Sal USD 85,000
Max Dom. Sal Rs 12.1 lakhs Max Int. Sal Rs 26 lakhs
|
Source: MBAUniverse.com MBA Placements Report 2008
* Average Domestic Salary: Overall average salary figures not available.
* IIM Bangalore and IIM Lucknow did not share their salary figures
What is driving these salaries up? Our analysis points at several interesting factors.
First, and perhaps the most important factor, is the improving profile of candidates who make it to top B-schools. As is the growing trend, majority of candidates admitted to top B-schools have work experience leading to more negotiation power and ‘lateral placements’. Many top B-schools have recorded higher Lateral placements, which are open to candidates with work experience and offer 10-15 % higher average salaries when compared to regular placements. Lateral placements are held prior to the final placements and are open only to candidates who have about 18 months of prior work experience. In the lateral placements, companies queue up to hire middle managers, who can start delivering early.
Take the case of Lateral Placements at IIM-A. The number of candidate eligible for laterals shot up from 89 last year to 112 this year. At Rs 18.3 lakhs, the average salary for lateral recruitment was higher than final placements. Says IIM-A, “The significant amount of prior work experience of the batch of 2006-08 led to an increase in number of students eligible for lateral placements. The lateral process was unprecedented in term of scale and diversity.”
Similar are the trends from other top campuses. At IIM Calcutta 153 offers were made during the lateral process, much higher than last years numbers. At IIM Khozikode, almost 30 % of the batch was made lateral offers where average salary was Rs 15.56 lakhs. At XLRI, MDI, JBIMS the number of lateral offers was on the rise.
Entry of high profile international financial services and consulting firms into the Indian recruitment markets too helped in rising salaries. B-schools report several first-time recruiters on their campuses. Aggressive Indian recruiters too added more fuel to the fire.
There are several other interesting trends and analysis emerging from the placement report. More details from the report will be published on MBAUnivese.com soon.
India’s leading management portal MBAUniverse.com surveyed the Placement Results at 20 leading management institutes to prepare its MBA Placement Report 2008. The institutes that are part of this analysis include six IIMs, Indian School of Business (ISB), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Business schools, Xavier Labour and Relations Institute, Jamshedpur (XLRI), Management Development Institute (MDI), Gurgaon, Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), University of Delhi, S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research (SPJIMR), Mumbai and other top schools.
