Another ailing investment bank, Merrill Lynch, was bought on Sunday by Bank of America for $50 billion. Earlier on Sunday, American International Group (AIG), the insurance giant, sought a $40 billion bridge loan from the US Federal Reserve.
What is the fallout of the collapse of major Wall Street firms on India? The Sensex is down and so are sentiments at top tier Indian B-schools which saw these recruiters as coveted Day-One companies offering cororepati salaries. Reacting to a series of speculative stories in Indian media on the impact of this Wall Street meltdown on recruitments at B-schools, IIM-A clarified that while the situation is unclear, it doesn't see the recent developments as a big blow to placements 08/09.
In a press statement issued on September 17, IIM-A said, "Recent events on Wall Street have received widespread media coverage and the impact of the same on placements at various top institutes in the country has been the subject of much speculation. We at IIM Ahmedabad believe that given that the events of the past few days are not conclusive in nature and their impact on Wall Street and future hiring is highly uncertain at this point, we are not currently in a position to make a strong statement on how we believe these events are likely to impact us."
Talking about the "strong relationships" between IIM-A and these financial institutions, IIM-A said, "Furthermore, we have received many queries with specific reference to offers made by two firms in particular, namely Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch. We have a long standing relationship with these firms and they have featured among our prominent recruiters in the past. The combined number of PGP students hired by these two firms was 11 last years. The numbers or previous years are 28 (2007) and 20 (2006). We cannot comment on the status of alumni or interns with regard to these firms."
Optimistic about the career prospects of Class of 2009 graduates, IIM-A said, "IIM Ahmedabad has a large and diverse pool of recruiters and therefore, the status of a few firms is unlikely to impact the opportunities that IIM A students can expect from our placement process."
Expressing its support for the beleaguered financial giants, IIM-A said, "we would like to express our solidarity with two of our long standing recruiting partners and wish them well in their hour of distress."
