IIM Bangalore students lapped up during placement process

While half (185 students) of the entire batch of 375 opted for pursuing careers in these two fields, there were an equally large number opting for other sectors.

Out of more than 180 companies registered to visit the campus, the entire batch was placed in the firms and sectors of their choice in 127 companies. Nearly one-third of the batch was placed on the opening day of the session. Each company on an average increased the number of offers by 26 per cent, as compared to the previous year.

The summer placement process at IIMB concluded yesterday, the fifth day of the process, placing the entire batch at an 'unprecedented rate', as compared to previous years.

Despite an increase in the batch size from 348 to 375 students, the process concluded sooner, with a 100 per cent increase in the number of first day offers over the last two years.

While this is the largest batch of the institute to be placed so far, the process was smoother and faster this year.

"While the summer placements at IIMB this year were a clear testimony to the revival of the industry, a lot of the credit can also be attributed to the diversity of the batch," IIMB Chairperson (Placement) P D Jose said.

About 21 per cent of the batch comprised of women, a higher proportion compared to previous years.

"Many firms that came to the campus were willing to hire in much larger numbers as compared to the previous few years," he added, reaffirming what he termed market trends as well as the acceptability of the student cohort at IIMB.

Significantly, top consulting firms recruiting on the first day of the placement process made 70 per cent more offers than the previous year. IIMB sees the number of global recruiters providing strong testimony to its maturing global reputation.

This year, the IIMB campus hosted leading multinationals such as BCG, McKinsey and AT Kearney in the consulting segment and Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, RBS, Nomura and Standard Chartered amongst the investment banks.

UBS, Accenture, Ernst & Young, Caterpillar, Yahoo, Hindustan, Coca Cola Beverages, Kraft Foods and Schneider were among the firms that took part in the process for the first time.

Seven students chose to pursue alternative opportunities including entrepreneurship.

Nomura Fixed Income Research Managing Director Vasant Naik said: "We at Nomura have hired an outstanding set of students for internships in our offices across the globe. We view IIM Bangalore as a strategic recruiting partner and look forward to coming to the campus again in the years to come."

A T Kearney Partner Hemant Kalbag said the process was managed very efficiently on the ground. "Based on past experiences, our recruiting experience at IIMB has been extremely fruitful and alumni from IIMB campus have consistently flourished at A T Kearney. We are very happy with the quality of students we have recruited."

BCG Director Ravi Srivastava said: "We were highly impressed with the quality of students that we met, as well as the efficiency with which the placement team ran the entire process".