SUMMER PLACEMENT AT B-SCHOOLS SEES DOUBLE-DIGIT RISE IN STIPENDS
Contrary to apprehensions of a dull season, early trends of summer placement at business schools show an upswing in the form of a double-digit rise in stipends and anticipations of higher pre-placement offers (PPOs).
B-schools such as XLRI-Xavier School of Management, IMT-Ghaziabad, and the Indian Institute of Management-Kashipur (IIM-K) in Uttarakhand have either concluded their placement process for summer internships within a few days of commencement or have seen a jump in stipends by 12-15 per cent over last year.
For instance, XLRI-Xavier School of Management, which wrapped up its summer placement process for its 2017-19 batch of 364 students, has achieved 100 per cent placement, with the median and average stipends increasing 20 per cent, with a highest stipend of ~5 lakh for two months.
On the other hand, IMT-Ghaziabad, which is yet to conclude the process, has seen the highest stipend this year touch nearly ~1 lakh a month.
According to the institute, the average package “as on the same day last year” has jumped by nearly 12 per cent.
Given the trend of internship offers so far, B-schools are anticipating a jump in PPOs over last year.
IIM-Kashipur, which had bagged 12 PPOs last year, said that it was expecting more this year.
Though IMT-Ghaziabad sees 100-120 students bag pre-placement internships and PPOs annually, due to more options available during regular placement, the number of students who settle for PPOs is in the range of 60-80 every year, the institute has told Business Standard.
The positive trend of a rise in internship offers and stipends, and the anticipation of a decent number of PPOs are backed by the nature of regular recruiting firms and sectors led by consulting, analytics, information technology and finance, among others.
This year, XLRI-Xavier School of Management saw participation from over 90 firms offering internship roles in domains such as consulting, finance, sales and marketing, operations, business development, human resources (HR), and industrial relations.
The institute also saw several new recruiters. The top recruiters this year included BCG, PwC, Coca- Cola, Mondelez, Hindustan Unilever, ITC, Procter & Gamble, Microsoft, Uber and ABG.
Sectorally, the number of technology firms rose during summer placement, while there was a significant increase in operations roles offered by firms like Reckitt Benckiser and Colgate-Palmolive.
At IMT-Ghaziabad, a majority of the batch gets placed in sectors like automobile, analytics, consulting, e-commerce, consumer goods, IT/IT-enabled services, media, and manufacturing.
In terms of roles, the institute is attracting offers in consulting, investment banking, marketing, analytics, marketing, sales, sales and services, HR and operations profiles.
The number of recruiters is seven per cent higher than that at the same time last year at IMT- Ghaziabad, though it is yet to conclude its summer placement process.
“Unlike the general trend in the overall B schools, IMT-Ghaziabad, on the contrary, has seen a surge in the overall hiring among reputed brand names,” the institute spokesperson said, attributing the trend to recent changes in its curriculum to make it more industry-ready.