Lucknow/New Delhi, March 21 (IANS) Despite the global economic meltdown the Indian Institute of Management-Lucknow (IIM-L) managed to find jobs for all its graduating students but with a dip in the salaries and fewer options to choose from, the institute said Saturday.
The public sector units (PSUs), once not the ‘top choice’ for students graduating from one of the premier B-schools in the country, offered placements to a record 65 students.

“Of the 235 students who opted for placements, 65 students were recruited by various PSUs. It’s true PSUs gave us relief when everyone was worried about placements and feeling the heat of the global meltdown,” Sushil Kumar, IIM-L chairman of placements, told reporters.

Fourteen PSUs recruited from the institute, which is highest across all the IIMs. last years only two PSUs visited the campus.

“Stability in the job and pay revisions in the PSUs were the two main reasons for students opting to work with them,” said Kumar.

The PSUs that made the job offers include Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC), Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL), Coal India, Bank of Baroda and Union Bank of India.

Out of the graduating batch, 25 students accepted the pre-placement offers extended to them, while seven students chose to start their own ventures, officials said.

Effects of the slowdown were evident in the IIM-L placements. This year there was a decline in the number of offers made by the companies, compared to last year.

“Last year we had 496 offers, but this year there were only 284 offers from different companies. Surely, it was the recession effect,” said Kumar.

“Last year, the international placements were 32. That dipped to 15 this time.”

The international offers came from firms such as Barclays Capital, Frost and Sullivan, Ernst and Young (Middle East) and Alshaya, he added.

In all 150 recruiters participated in the final placements. Of these, 50 companies recruited from IIM-L for the first time. “Though the number of entrants increased, the average requirement per company was fewer this time,” said Kumar.

Companies that visited the campus for the first time included Jaypee Capital, Siva Ventures, Loreal, Tholons Consulting, Virgin Mobile, Religare Securities, Darashaw and Co, Allegro Advisors, Eli-Lily, Jindal Steel, Kellogg, Maersk and Bharti Telesft, officials said.

Significantly, there were several big names missing from the recruitment process.

“Some of the big names that were missing this time included Reliance Industries, Reliance ADAG, Accenture, Ernst and Young (India Division),” added Kumar.

About 40 percent of offers came from the finance sector while 31 percent of the students were got into marketing.

In addition, about 16 percent of the batch accepted consulting offers while the rest took up offers from human resources, general management and operations, he said.

Siva Ventures remained the top recruiter with 21 heads, followed by Jaypee Capital with 14.

The top B-schools in India are facing a dip in the average salary in both domestic and overseas positions offered to the students.

Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta reported a drop of 25 percent and 23 percent in their average salaries respectively.

According to a senior official working with IIM, high salaries quoted for the students are inclusive of bonuses which are mainly determined on the basis of the performance of the employee.

“The salary is just a fraction of the offer made by the firm visiting these institutes. And in these hard times the probability of reduction of this variable pay is very high and is resulting in a small pay check for the aspiring students,” said the official.