Nandigram: Top recruiters skip IIM-Calcutta

The Nandigram fracas is taking a toll on placements at the oldest Indian Institute of Management (IIM), in Kolkata, with top-notch recruiters like Goldman Sachs deciding not to visit the campus this year for summer placements.

Goldman Sachs, a leading recruiter at the IIMs, is learnt to have been advised by its corporate advisory board to avoid going to West Bengal due to the frequent bandhs (general strike) and protests in the state.

A highly-placed source at IIM-Calcutta confirmed that Goldman Sachs had decided to stay away from placements this year on the advice of its corporate office. IIM-Calcutta was informed about this, the source said.

Another familiar recruiter at the IIMs, CitiGroup, too could not turn up at the campus for the summer placements due to the strike in West Bengal. It decided, however, to conduct the interview with IIM-Calcutta students through video-conference.

The violence in Nandigram has claimed several lives and put the state on a high safety alert since January, when the region flared up over proposed land acquisition for a special economic zone (SEZ), which has since been scrapped.

Goldman Sachs has already recruited 17 students from the IIM-Ahmedabad and some from IIM-Bangalore over the last 10 days.

The company started coming to IIM-Calcutta campus from last year and was expected to recruit a number of students from the institute.

A spokesperson for Goldman Sachs said: "Goldman Sachs has visited Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Kolkata this year. We have hired a record number of IIM graduates for our internship programmes at the firm in 2007 but we do not provide specific numbers or school-by-school breakdowns."

Around 100 companies have made it for summer placements at IIM-Calcutta this year which include top names like JP Morgan, Merill Lynch and Barclays.

 

[pratikbharti]

IIM-C is recruiters' top choice again

The Indian Institute of Management Calcutta has upheld its reputation as recruiters' top choice again this year. It has managed to get its batch of almost 300 students, which is the largest batch amongst all the IIMs, placed in a record 4.5 days.

The students have been offered diverse roles such as investment banking, consulting, general management, private equity, and even something as esoteric as economic research and advisory, normally reserved for highly qualified PhDs and economists.

The prestigious Slot 0 saw companies such as Morgan Stanley, Merill Lynch, McKinsey, Macquarie, Credit Suisse, A T Kearney, Boston Consulting Group, Bain & Company, HSBC Global, JP Morgan Chase, Barclays Capital, Deustche Bank and Lehman Brothers amongst many others.

Firms such as Merill Lynch (18), Morgan Stanley (11), JP Morgan Chase (13), HSBC Global (6), AT Kearney (5) and Mc Kinsey (8) recruited the highest number of students from IIM Calcutta across all the IIMs, on basis of the reports arriving from other IIM campuses. Then there were firms, like Credit Suisse for example, which chose to recruit exclusively from IIM Calcutta picking up 7 students. Even Macquarie, which was recruiting for the first time from IIM Calcutta, selected 9 students.

These superlative placements are no surprise for the batch of students with the highest number of Aditya Birla Scholars this year (5 out of the 10 across all the IIMs).

More than 58 per cent of Slot 0 offers were made by international investment banks and 37 per cent by international consulting firms. Another highest for IIM Calcutta was the number of international offers that were offered to the students, which totaled 137 in all.

This too came from varied domains, and included openings in retail, general management, marketing and investment banking. Some of the major firms these international positions included marketing behemoths such as Proctor and Gamble, Hindustan Unilever Limited and Coke, the ubiquitous investment banks, the consulting firms, and by Indian firms such as the Aditya Vikram Birla Group and Dabur.

Around 50 per cent of the Slot 0 firms recruited their highest numbers from IIMC across all the IIMs.

Company.....Students recruited
.....................IIMCalcutta....IIMAhmedabad**...IMBangalore**
Merill Lynch.............18.....................13...............10
JP Morgan Chase......13.....................NA...............11
Morgan Stanley........11.....................NA................6
Credit Suisse.............7.......................0.................0
HSBC.......................6.......................0.................5
Rothschild................2........................1.................2
AT Kearney..............5.......................NA...............NA
McKinsey..................8.......................NA................4


*NA : Data Not Available ** According to Placement reports released by IIMA and IIMB