Disclamer: The authors do not take any responsibility for any depression or gloom setting in the erstwhile Classes of last century at IIMs as a explosion measuring highest-ever recorded by Richer scale in India is happening right away at the Placement 2000

The salaries have zoomed up at the IIMs. And the credit goes solely to the twin factors. One is the entry of the MNCs particularly the I-bank sector from Wall Street. Another major factor is the current reference towards the IT companies, which offer an informal working atmosphere, chance to see the world (we mean outside India and not Kolhapur or Raebareilly) and the latest sweetheart - ESOP.

Arrival of Gods
The Gods arrived. And things changes dramatically and drastically. The salaries started zooming with the entry of Mckinsey Inc. & group at the campus. They were the exceptions with salaries crossing Rs. 3.0 Lakhs in early '90s. It made major headlines in the dailies and the business magazines. And the craze for MBAs started across nation. People woke up to welcome MBAs as great career. Soon other MNC entering India in liberalisation wave almost caught up and trailed behind by a few yards only. Some big firms like Deutsche Morgan Grenfell were there. But the consulting firms upped their salaries at Rs. 6.0 + in 1998.

Then the big bang happened. And the placement season was never the same again.
In 1998, Lehman Brothers entered the IIMA campus with $ 95,000 package. It was the first major I-bank from reverend Wall Street to come to IIMA with offers of global placement. And the cascade began. Soon Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and others entered in 1998.

The Major League
In Placement 2000 the crème de la crème of I-banks are coming to IIMA. Firms like Goldman Sachs, SSB, Chase, J P Morgan, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter are queuing up at IIMA with offers of International placement. And the salaries have again zoomed up. The investment banks are offering in the range of Rs. 7.5+ Lakhs in India and $ 1,00,000 for International placement. Also the major firms like Microsoft have moved in.

And the Fad
With bullish run of Infosys at NASDAQ and Infosys, Wipro, other IT companies and the current trend of dotcoms the MBAs at the IIMs has resulted in a sea-change in attitude candidates look towards the companies. With ESOPs the current craze, salaries matching the FMCG majors and the chance to travel across the globe, the FMCG giants were, for once, put on their backfeet.

The Shake out
The major impact of the current reference for IT sector has been borne by the traditional heavyweights in the FMCG sector. These companies till yesterday were darlings on the campus. Though the traditional majors like HLL, P&G faced competition from entry of SKB, Reebok and Heinz who offered a better package than these. But old habits die hard. Though the competition was close but these still came at first choice. Candidates dreamt of being lapped up these big boys. Now they have been forced to rework their strategies to the brightest talent.
As a direct result, the salaries have been increased drastically by these FMCG major. From the earlier salaries of Rs. 2.5-3.0 Lakhs, the salaries have suddenly zoomed up to Rs. 5 + Lakhs. E.g. Asian Paints rated highly in campuses for excellent training has been forced to revised its salary from a paltry Rs. 2 Lakhs to Rs. 4.5 Lakhs. Still the salary hike pales out in comparison to Rs. 7+ Lakhs offered by the I-Banks & Consulting and the excitement and stock-options dangled by IT sector and dotcoms.

And the winner is …
Which firm from which function gets the cream de la crème of Indian talent? Who will be the campus darling in the new millenium?
Watch this space for the above answers.

CoolAvenues Research Team

Placements 2001

Read complete story of Placement 2001 as it happened along with analysis and comparison across the B-Schools and segment-wise analysis.

Placements 2002

Read complete story of Placement 2002 as it happened along with analysis and comparison across the B-Schools and segment-wise analysis.

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