I-banks, IIMs act pricey again

: WHEN officials from Philips India walked into the IIM-Calcutta campus in November last year for pre-placement talks, gratitude Coming to terms with lay-off
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was in the air. The global financial meltdown and consequent economic slowdown in India that had set in two months ago had dampened placement hopes in this elite institution. Investment banks, the most coveted at B-school campuses, had all but disappeared from the placement scene, and the gap was being filled by state-run companies, start-ups and assorted manufacturing firms.

Philips had no trouble recruiting the brightest minds in the country. After that first trip across IIM campuses, including Calcutta, for final placements, the company took in 10 students. As for salaries, they were surely less than what i-banks and management consultancies would’ve paid.

But this year, the tables appear to have turned. The scales are tilting once again in the students’ favour.
Before he could spot his first candidate, Philips HR chief S Nagarajan was bombarded by students at IIM-C when he arrived with his team for pre-placement talks last month. They wanted to know about Philips in-depth and its future growth areas, but straight from the CEO’s mouth.

Mr Nagarajan had to finally call in his CEO & MD Murali Sivaraman, who flew down from their Gurgaon headquarters to Kolkata to answer the students’ queries. “Now that i-banks and consultants are recruiting in a bigger way, we had to relook our campus recruitment strategy. With the business outlook improving, students are negotiating harder,” he says.


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But this year, the tables appeared to have turned. The scales are tilting once again in students’ favour. Before he could spot his first candidate, Philips HR chief S Nagarajan was bombarded by students at IIM-C when he arrived with his team for pre-placement talks at the Joka campus last month.

They wanted to know about Philips in depth and its growth areas of tomorrow, but straight from the CEO’s mouth.
Mr Nagarajan had to finally call in his CEO & MD Murali Sivaraman, who flew down from his Gurgaon headquarters to Kolkata, to answer students’ queries.

“Now that I-banks and consultants are recruiting in a bigger way, we had to relook our campus recruitment strategy. With the business outlook improving, students are negotiating harder,” says Mr Nagarajan.

Philips, which again plans to recruit 10 students this year, is eyeing a Slot One place at the upcoming IIM final placements. The way things are going, the company might have to offer international exposure to students from the premier B-schools, says Mr Nagarajan.

People like Mr Nagarajan and Mr Sivaraman are up against significant competitors this year at elite B-school campuses of the Indian Institutes of Management, the Indian School of Business, XLRI and IIFT.

Among them is Goldman Sachs, the tallest investment bank in the global financial universe today. Goldman intends to hire 24 students for summer placement for their centres in London, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangalore and Mumbai. “As always, we are extremely impressed by the high standards of candidates at IIM campuses,” says a Goldman Sachs (Asia) spokesperson from Hong Kong.