IIM Kozhikode has announced the completion of an exciting placement season on 13 March for its twelfth batch of PG Program in Management, living up to its successful placements record despite apprehensions regarding placing a significantly larger batch of 250 students (32% more than last year's batch).

A total of 122 firms participated in the Placement process this year for IIM Kozhikode’s largest ever batch size of 250 students. These included leading names from Indian and Global Industry - prominent financial institutions, renowned consultancies, the biggest FMCGs and some of India’s largest conglomerates. PSUs and start-ups provided the much sought diversity and greater calling to the passing out batch, aspiring to make a difference.

The Placement Process
Unlike previous years, this year the placement process was spread over weeks instead of days to give both recruiters and students more time to conduct the process and make informed decisions. Thanks to the economic revival, the institute did have the opportunity to wrap up the process in a much shorter duration this year. However, it decided against the same.

“It has always been our top priority to get students jobs in sectors of their choice. We are not here to race against the clock and compromise on quality of offers. With a dramatic increase in batch size, it suits both recruiters and students to have the placements span over a longer duration,” said Dr Debashis Chatterjee, Director, IIMK.

The Placement process took off with the lateral placements during the last week of January. Thereafter, final placements commenced during the first week of February with the day-based system of slotting companies stretched over a month. The placement process was put on hold for two weeks to accommodate the final examinations and resumed from February 23.

Overview
Allaying fears that subdued placements for the Finance vertical would continue due to the spill-over effect of the recession, finance emerged to be the most preferred vertical among the students. A whopping 39% of the total roles on offer were made in the finance domain.

Marketing and consulting also dominated the placement season, with 27% of the roles offered being for sales and marketing profiles and 22% for consulting profiles. Roles offered in HR, Operations and IT verticals accounted for about 12% of the total roles. The largest recruiter for the season was Deloitte, who picked up 19 students from the campus.

In order to provide a better picture of the placement scenario, the institute has decided this year to go ahead and disclose a sector-wise break up for the average pay packages.

“Providing a consolidated average salary figure has been found to be inadequate for MBA-aspirants. A blanket-average salary figure conveys very little information about what the students can expect in a particular sector, since major variations exist in the compensation structures across sectors,” said Dr Keyoor Purani, Chairperson- Placements at IIM K.

Foreign Financial Institutions
Continuing the decade-old trend, Finance again emerged on top in terms of student interest. Roles ranging from Investment Banking, Corporate Finance and Equity Research to Corporate Banking, Retail banking and Risk Management were on offer.

This segment expectedly witnessed an impressive average salary of about INR 17.67 lakh per annum. Firms such as Nomura, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan, Standard Chartered, HSBC, Citi, RBS and American Express took part in Final placements this year. The highest offer was by an investment bank based out of Mumbai for INR 28 lakh per annum CTC.

The Indian Financial Juggernaut
Indian firms weren’t far behind their foreign counterparts. Participation was witnessed from a host of industry leaders such as Yes Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Indus Valley Partners, IDBI, Futures First, Aranca, Irevna, Bajaj Finance, ICRA, IFCI, FINO, SBI Capital etc. Multi-national industrial houses like L&T and Essar also made offers to students in the financial domain.

There was also a substantial increase in the number of students who opted for trading roles in select firms. In addition, thanks to the increasing importance attached to managing risk in firms, Rating agencies also hired aggressively. On the whole, the average salary for Indian Financial firms was slightly over INR 10 lakh per annum.

Consulting
Being hyper-sensitive to the global economic scenario, the hiring appetite for Consulting firms serves as a barometer of the general market sentiment. Going by that statement, this surely is a cause for celebration as Consulting firms were back with a vengeance this season. Firms like Mckinsey & Co., Accenture Business Consulting, KPMG, Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Bristlecone, Hewitt, Cognizant Business Consulting, Droege, Gallup Consulting, Directi etc. participated in the process this year.

The average salary for this segment was in excess of INR 14 lakh per annum. Deloitte emerged as the largest recruiter on the campus this year with a total of 19 offers, while Cognizant Business Consulting was second with 11 offers.

FMCGs
The FMCG sector which predominantly offered roles in Sales & Marketing and Operations ended up with an average salary of INR 11 Lakhs approximately. After the break of one year, most of the campus favourites were back and IIMK saw participation from FMCG companies like ITC, Kelloggs, Pepsi, HCCB, Marico, Coca Cola, Amul and Britannia among others.

In the broader marketing domain, firms such as Pfizer, Sony Entertainment Television, Raymond, Titan, Virgin, Suzlon, Arvind Brands, Sony Entertainment, Tata Motors, Thomas Cook and VIP Bags made offers to several marketing enthusiasts.

The Human Angle
Human Resources vertical saw a healthy rise from last year in terms of student interest and corporate India was quick to capitalize on the same. Roles in Human Recourses were offered by companies like Infosys, ONGC, IFCI etc. The average salary for this sector was around INR 9.35 lakh. A number of Public Sector Undertakings recruited for HR roles this year.

The Information Edge
IT companies and the Information Technology sector as a whole was back in form and on a veritable hiring spree. The average salary in this sector was INR 9.57 lakh per annum with prominent names from the IT domain including TCS, Wipro, Infosys, IBM, Mindtree, iGate, NIIT, HCL, Tech Mahindra etc.

Other Highlights
Firms such as Syntel, IMRB, USHA International etc. also visited the campus offering positions in senior management. Some firms were so impressed with the capability and potential of the students that they offered role of Vice-President to certain students.

Conglomerates such as Essar, Mahindra, Tata, L&T, Tolaram Group, Jindal etc also visited the campus. They made offers to students in diverse roles including finance, marketing, general management and HR.

A number of Public Sector firms, including the Maharatnas and Navratnas like ONGC, HPCL, BHEL, Power Finance Corporation, Central Bank of India, Shipping Corporation of India etc. also participated and opened up diverse roles for students across verticals.

Lateral Placements
Lateral Placements this year were a great success owing primarily to the diverse and extensive work experience of the students. Companies such as Deloitte, Accenture Business Consulting, Nomura, Pepsi, Genpact and Thomas Cook made offers to the students. The lateral placements were completed by January-end with more than 80 students being placed by this time.

Many firms hired for senior level positions and offered packages that were consummate with the high levels of experience that the students were bringing with them.

The Entrepreneurial Streak
Eight students opted out of the placements process this year to start ventures of their own. Two stalwart students, Kapil Jain and Suman Patra, have decided to start a B2B communication venture worth INR 40 lakh. Tapangshu Das and Ravi Kumar, who had decided early in the final year of their course that they want to start a venture of their own, have already drawn up plans to supply components made of natural rubber to automotive companies back home in Agartala with an investment of INR 50-60 lakh. As for the funding, Tapangshu said, “I expect to get support from angel investors and the Northeast Decision Sciences Institute.”

Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more news on MBA Placements 2010!