The placement season is in full bloom across the country. Good news is pouring from various B-school campuses, be it the IIMs or the other leading B-schools. XLRI, SPJIMR, XIMB, IIFT, BIMTECH have already completed the final placements process for the students of 2009-11 batch. In the IIM league, IIM Indore has emerged as the first to complete its placements process.

Now comes the good news from FMS Delhi, which has recently completed the final placements with élan. The entire 2009-11 batch, consisting of 201 students – a 30% increase from last year – distributed among the two full time programs MBA and MBA-Management of Services, were placed in style in reputed Global and Indian firms.

One of the major highlights of the placements process was 5 students rejecting higher paying jobs to accept offers from the most reputed financial institution in the country- the Reserve Bank of India. Incidentally, RBI also made the highest number of offers at FMS across any campus.  With this it was not surprising to see Finance emerge as the top choice of MBA students of FMS Delhi.

Bolstered by a buoyant market, and on the back of strong industry connections and a strong alumni network, the average domestic salary at FMS rose by almost 18% over last year, while the highest domestic package rose by almost 24%.

The average domestic salary was Rs. 15.4 per annum. The average domestic salary of lateral offers was Rs. 16.5 annum. The highest domestic package was Rs. 26 annum and the highest international package (USD per annum) was 150,000.

Prof. A.Venkat Raman, Placement Convener, FMS Delhi, told MBAUniverse.com, “We at FMS are happy to reassert our continuing tradition of grooming the best talent in the country, recognized by the fact that we attracted several new companies and the return of our legacy recruiters. Even as marketing and finance profiles continued to charm a large number of our students, this year they have been more adventurous in the choice of job profiles offered. There has been an impressive array of opportunities in consulting and general management profiles. This year we also introduced a policy of placement holiday for budding entrepreneurs.”

Pre-placement Offers

Almost 33% of batch received pre-placement interviews and offers, indicating the preference of firms for FMS graduates and the impressive performance of FMS students in the corporate world.

Sectoral Trends

-- Consulting

Consulting, traditionally a sought after role, emerged as the preferred domain for almost a fifth of the batch, with Deloitte Consulting  and Accenture Management Consulting making 8 and 7 offers respectively. Arthur D. Little offered international roles based out of the Middle-East for its strategy consulting roles. KPMG, Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Hewitt, Avalon Consulting, Cognizant, Mindtree, Capgemini and Wipro were some of the major names that recruited in good numbers across verticals such as strategy and business advisory.

-- Finance

FMS remained a preferred destination for financial firms with a number of offers made across private equity, investment banking, markets, treasury, asset management, corporate finance, and wholesale and retail banking. Niche profiles offered by private equity firm Avigo Capital and investment banking major Avendus Capital emerged as some of the most sought after roles on campus. Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank returned to campus in style, making 6 and 5 offers respectively. Investment banking giants JP Morgan Chase and Nomura also recruited from FMS. Indian investment banks were well represented by ICICI Securities and SBI Capital. Citibank hired 6 students for roles in Singapore and Mumbai, while MNCs such as Barclays Bank, Standard Chartered, Bank of America, HSBC and American Express, as well as Indian institutions like Tata Capital, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank, Religare, IFCI, HDFC and CRISIL also recruited in good numbers. Corporate finance roles were offered by major companies such as Essar, Hindustan Unilever, Nestle, Kraft-Cadbury, L&T etc. 5 students rejected higher paying jobs to accept offers from the most reputed financial institution in the country- the Reserve Bank of India. Incidentally, RBI also made the highest number of offers at FMS across any campus.

-- Marketing

FMS Delhi, often referred to as the marketing campus of the nation, reaffirmed its premier status in the marketing world. Procter & Gamble led the way with 9 offers across their Marketing, CBD and PS functions, while other major companies such as Hindustan Unilever, Kraft-Cadbury, Nestle, ITC, Johnson & Johnson Consumer, Asian Paints, Godrej Consumer, Britannia, Dabur, Godfrey Philips, AzkoNobel, Wipro Consumer etc also recruited in heavy numbers. While ITC and Nestle made the highest number of offers at FMS amongst all B-schools (including PPOs), Johnson & Johnson Consumer, Godfrey Philips and AzkoNobel recruited from campus for the first time. Durables, Telecom and Pharmaceutical companies also marked their presence through Philips, Lenovo, Johnson & Johnson Medical, HCL, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Aircel, Ranbaxy, Eli Lilly, Madura, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Cummins etc

-- General Management

While traditional General management companies continued their relationship with FMS, there was a significant increase in the number of companies offering roles in this domain. TAS, Olam International with its international profile, Mahindra & Mahindra, Essar Group, Times Group, RPG Group, Jindal group, DCM Shriram Consolidated, Allianz and UB Group, all offered their group level management positions to FMS students.

Entrepreneurship

In an effort to bolster and promote entrepreneurship, the “placement-holiday” policy was introduced by FMS for the first time and the policy was also availed by a student to kick start his own venture.

Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more news on Placements 2011!