Wall Street banks have shrugged off their worst nightmare and the tide has turned. But most of them are still cautious about picking the best brains from premier Indian B-school campuses.
With M&As seen in the banking landscape — Bank of America acquiring Merrill Lynch and Barclays (BCS) buying out some of the Lehman assets earlier — this caginess about employing Indian business graduates could have something to do with the hiring sentiment, say analysts.
According to Ian Gore, HR head, Citi South Asia, recruiting top quality management associates shall remain unchanged in 2010 with similar numbers targeted.
Though ibanks have kept their date with the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), they are not yet pulling out their cheque books and have delayed making pre-placement offers (PPOs) at least by a quarter in some centres.
Paul Savio, external relations secretary at IIM Calcutta (IIM-C), said, “The pre-placement process started off slowly, with companies, especially the ibanks, delaying offers by a whole quarter. But the momentum is picking up now. We expect to cross last year’s PPO tally of 59.”
Pre-placement offers are made to students after their summer internships. The PPO season across IIMs kicked off in June this year and will continue till February.
Mahesh Aras, chief operating officer of financial services firm JP Morgan India, said, “Our outlook has always been long term, on both people and business, and from that perspective, we do see a revival in the market.”
Aras, however, refused to disclose any specific hiring data.
But the mood is upbeat down south. The 2009-11 batch of IIM-Bangalore (IIM-B) has so far received 40 PPOs from the companies they interned. Last year, at this point in time, there were less than 40 PPOs. “The signals we are getting from the industry are definitely positive. We are expecting the situation to be better than last year, but we are still being cautious,” said Sapna Agarwal, head, career development services, IIMB.
IIM-Kozhikode (IIMK) is expecting 30% more PPOs this year compared with 25 offers made previously. “In the boom time, pre-placement offers have shot up to Rs 50-65 lakh per annum. We may reach this mark only by next year. But the salary outlook is still tempered for this year,” said Rohan Jaikishen, member of placement committee, IIM-Kozhikode.
At IIM-Lucknow (IIML), 10% of the 320-strong batch has already received PPOs. “The institute has received PPOs, including international placements, across verticals.
International consulting and finance firms like McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group,Hewitt Associates and JP Morgan, Unilever, Procter & Gamble and Diageo have already confirmed PPOs,” said RL Raina, chairperson-placements, IIM-Lucknow (IIM-L)
But going by the emerging trends from the PPOs process, IIM-grads are looking at a heady mix of options, besides finance and consulting roles. “Besides investment banks, students opting for micro-finance and private equity will go up by 15% this year,” added Jaikishen.
Echoing a similar trend, Himanshu Nema, head, students’ placement committee, IIM-Ahmedabad (IIMA), said, “Over the past few years, we are getting more and more batches with a wide-range of interests like in film production, telecom, pharma and retail. Banks, however, continue to be a much-pursued sector.”
As an aftermath to the downturn, students are swarming to PSU jobs as they provide stability. “Close to 18% (40 students out of 260) of the batch will take up PSU jobs. Banking, oil & gas, steel and heavy engineering will be the regular recruiters on campus. I don’t see a return of sign-on bonuses of fat perks as companies are still cautions about recruitments,” said Jaikishen.
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