IIM-C Placement Season: More Students Taking PPO Route, Joining Startups Emerge as New Trends

More Pre-Placement Offers (PPOs) instead of unique offers and an increasing number of those joining start-ups in ‘Founder’s Office’, a strategic role in a firm, emerged as the new trends in the final placements season at the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta in an academic year that ended amid stressed market conditions.

According to an IIM-C spokesperson, the highest pay package (CTC) that has been offered this year in its flagship MBA programme is of Rs 1.15 crore.

Given the global economic slowdown, mainly in advanced economies, the IIMs, even the first-generation ones, had a tough year in terms of placements with recruiters not hiring as many students. The institutes reached out to a wider network of companies relying heavily on their alumni base.

IIM-C is one of the top-ranking first-generation IIMs in the country. There are 21 IIMs in the country and they have been declared Institutes of National Importance.

IIM-C said it achieved 100% placements in the season that concluded on February 15.

The institute’s placement committee said that a new trend of firms offering roles in the ‘Founder’s Office’, a cross-section unit that is responsible for the direction the firm is going to go in including management of its resources, emerged this year. “Many students joining this role contribute heavily to the growth of startups,” said a placement committee executive. “These roles were offered by Ola, IndusInd Bank, Newme, ParkStreet, PoshN, and Kofluence among others. The season saw the participation of many first-time recruiters like Jio Financial Services, Hero Fincorp, Yubi, Sobha Realty, Sirius AI, Husk Power Systems, and DMI Finance.”

The placement executive said that this year also saw another trend with a greater interest in the Pre-Placement Offer route. Several global firms participated as first-time recruiters.

This year, the institute also launched the Joka Dialogues-Industry Conclave to deepen “alumni relationships”.

“A total of 464 students took part in the process, securing 529 offers rolled out by 194 companies despite the tough market conditions,” IIM-C spokesperson Aloke Guin said.

With 31.6% of all offers made, the consulting sector emerged as the top recruiter yet again, for 167 students.

“Accenture Strategy emerged as the top recruiter among the consulting sector which included firms like EY-Parthenon, Monitor Deloitte, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Vector Consulting, Arthur D Little, McKinsey, BCG, Bain, and Kearney among others,” Guin said.

Besides, 114 students (21.5%) bagged offers from finance companies such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Chase, Bank of America, Citibank, Barclays, HSBC, BNP Paribas, Arga, Avendus, Kotak Alternate Assets, Kotak Mahindra Capital and Ambit, among others.

Nimruji Jammulamadaka, chairperson of the placement committee, said, “Looking at the market conditions, we were ready for the long haul and focused on diversifying the recruiter base and building student resilience. The Joka Spirit of “we leave no one behind” is one of the greatest strengths of the Joka community comprising students and alumni and has helped us weather the tough conditions.”

Both new and legacy firms participated in the process, she said. The technology sector saw participation from firms like Microsoft, Navi, Arcesium, Media.Net, Uber, Angel One, HCL, Newgen, Zomato, Javis, and NPCI, which extended offers to 88 students (16.6%).

A total of 130 students or 24.6% were offered jobs by marketing and general management sector firms such as Proctor and Gamble, Dabur, Aditya Birla, Essar Group, and Reliance, among others.