Placements situation looks bleak at IIMs

Placements situation looks bleak at IIMs
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The placements scenario at Indian Institute of Management's is bleak this year. According to sources some students are not placed yet. Top...

plac2 The placements scenario at Indian Institute of Management's is bleak this year. According to sources some students are not placed yet. Top B-schools are connecting with more companies and extending their placement windows to ensure that the entire batch is placed. As on date, a number of Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) have been finding it difficult to place 5-10 per cent of their students within the stipulated placement period. The reason for this is attributed due to many firms and other financial institutions not recruiting much. Many firms have changed their recruiting plans due to a slowing economy. The number of students in each batch has also increased. Nearly 460 students will complete the two-year flagship MBA programme at IIM-Calcutta. While in 2012, 360 completed the programme. Some companies have frozen hiring. However, IIM-Ahmedabad did not have any difficulty in placing its students. This year offers were made by 130 companies. Boston Consulting Group was the top recruiter at IIM-Ahmedabad, recruiting 15 students. A spurt in the number of students graduating from B-schools and a general sluggishness in the economy are being cited as reasons. "This is just a blip. This is because even while the economy has picked up the recruitments have been sluggish. But the situation is set to improve in a year or two," said Krishanu Rakshit, placements chairperson at IIM-Calcutta.A IIM-C, which had kicked off its final placements on March 3, has over five per cent of its 462-odd batch left without job placements. "We are hopeful of placing them in the next two-to-three days," Rakshit said.A According to Ashok Banerjee, Dean, New Initiatives and External Relations, IIM-C, the trouble with placements was primarily because of lower demand and higher supply due to the extended batch size. The institute had around 350 candidates last year. "There are certain candidates who are looking to venture into entrepreneurship and we are planning to set up incubation centre to help such candidates," Banerjee said.A IIM-Rohtak is hopeful of placing five per cent of its 123-odd batch in the next 2-3 days. "Last year our batch size was 47, this has increased to 123 this year. So we are connecting with more companies to ensure placements," said Pranit Upadhyay, placement committee, IIM-Rohtak. According to M.J. Xavier, Director of IIM-Ranchi, management schools should look at aligning their course with the industry demand. "While more number of students and lower demand is a reason, we need to be innovative and look at what the industry wants," he said. IIM-Ranchi has started analytics as an area of specialisation to meet the industry demand, he said. "B-schools should take a sectoral view and look at offering courses on health management and infrastructure management among others," he pointed out.
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