The season’s new flavour was the active participation of the PSUs finds Amrita Das of MBAUniverse.com
MBAUniverse.com MBA Placement Report 2009 saw the Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) gain grounds as major recruiters throughout top MBA institutes in India. With private companies adopting a cautious approach in their recruitment, this year, the process was suitably cushioned by PSUs who sensed the opportunity to recruit the best and made the most of it. The MBAs, too, thought it best to bag all PSU offers in view of the current market conditions. But what remains to be seen is: Will this trend remain the same when the market recovers?
The scene at IIMs
This year at Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad, a large chunk of offers came from Union Bank of India, a PSU. IIM A said, “The Union Bank of India made a total of eighteen offers, the highest offered by any company this year.” Other than Union Bank of India – Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), Securities Trading Corporation of India Limited (STCI), Bank of Baroda, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Industrial Finance Corporation of India Limited (IFCI), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and ICRA Limited – took part in IIM Ahmedabad placements.
An IIM Bangalore spokesperson said, “This time a lot of our students opted for PSUs. Some of the PSUs that recruited from our pool of students include GAIL, IOCL, BPCL, among others.”
PSUs were well received by IIM Lucknow students, too. IIM Lucknow said, “This year, 65 offers – highest across all IIMs – came from PSUs. We hosted more than fourteen PSUs this year. Some prominent ones that our students chose to work with were Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, ONGC, SIDBI, BHEL, NTPC, SAIL, GAIL and Coal India.”
Likewise at IIM Indore, the final placements witnessed candidates accepting a range of profiles across various PSUs such as BPCL, SAIL, ONGC, IOCL, Bank of Baroda and Union Bank of India. Prof Prashant Salwan, Chairman of Placements, said, “Despite the global downturn, placements at IIM Indore has showcased the wide acceptability of its students.”
A number of PSUs such as IOCL, SIDBI, Bank of Baroda, HAL, SAIL, PFC and HPCL also recruited from IIM Kozikode. Dr. Keyoor Purani, Placements Chairperson at IIM Kozikode, said, “The large number of final offers made by the PSUs show that they were impressed by the level of preparedness that our students demonstrated.”
Rajat Kathpalia, a graduate of IIM Kozikode, said, “Since I had plans of my own venture, I did not participate in this year’s placements offered by the IIM Kozikode. But I was happy to learn that a number of my batch mates got inducted in some of the best PSUs that came to our campus for the first time.”
PSUs at other top B-schools
Other than IIMs, offers from different PSUs found acceptance from about 10% of the students of Xavier Labour and Relations Institute (XLRI), Jamshedpur. PSUs ranged from financial institutions like SBI Capital, Bank of Baroda, SEBI to top energy players like GAIL, BPCL, BHEL, ONGC & Coal India Ltd.
At Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) New Delhi, the PSUs were amongst the major recruiters. Munish Bhargava, the corporate and placements advisor at IIFT, said, “Despite the economic slowdown, an increased participation from PSUs was recorded.
The students were willing to compromise on their pay structures for good roles of their choice. More than 10 PSUs visited the campus recruiting 30% of the batch.” Some of the prominent recruiters at the IIFT were BHEL, STC, PEC, Bank of Baroda, SAIL, IDBI Bank, NMDC, MMTC, CDC, IIFCL, and ECGC, Bhargava added.
The picture was no different at Management Development Institute (MDI) Gurgaon. At MDI too many students opted for PSU jobs over ‘richer’ jobs. IOCL, one of the Fortune Global 500 brands, also recruited students from Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIBM), Pune. Meanwhile, at Xavier Institute of Management (XIM), Bhubaneshwar many jobs were offered by PSUs like Andhra Bank, IOCL, IDBI Bank, SEBI, Bank of Baroda and State Bank of India.
Even at Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS) Mumbai, as many as eighteen PSUs participated in the placements. While sharing the MBA placement report of JBIMS, its spokesperson said, “About 17% of the batch preferred to work with the PSUs this time, which highlights the growing importance of job stability among the management students.” Bank of Baroda, GAIL, ONGC, HPCL, SEBI, NISM and Union Bank of India were some of the major recruiters at JBIMS.
Next: In the third part of MBUniverse.com MBA Placement Report 2009 series, we will bring to you a report on the shifts in sectoral preferences
