Placements for the Indian Institute of Forest Management’s (IIFM), Bhopal batch of 2010 concluded with 25 companies offering jobs to the 57-student-strong graduating class. Of these 25 organizations, eight belonged to the Conservation and Livelihood sector, another eight to the Environment sector and nine belonged to the Development sector. A total of 14 students received more than one job offer.

The official average salary quoted by the institute for the 2010 placements is Rs 6.47 lakhs, a 54% increase over that of placements 2009, when the average salary was Rs 4.2 lakhs. The official average salary calculation includes the sole international package of USD 55,000, according to placement coordinator Priyanka Batra.

The actual domestic average salary of IIFM Bhopal therefore stands approximately at Rs 6.14 lakhs per annum, by deducting the USD 55,000 number from the average with a Dollar to Rupee exchange rate value of Rs 45. By this calculation, the average salary increase over the previous year is 46%.

Companies that participated from the Conservation and Livelihoods area: Renewable Woods Pvt Ltd, ITC, SRIJAN, Villgro, BILT, Aravali Foundation for Education and the Madhya Pradesh government’s District Poverty Initiatives Program.

From the Environmental Management area, the following companies participated in the placements: General Carbon, IFMR-CDF, NR Consultants, Sambodhi, Madhya Pradesh Forest Department, C-TRAN, Environmental Planning and Coordination Organization (EPCO) and Wildlife Trust of India (WTI),

Companies that represented the Development management area: SKS Microfinance, Microsave, CCFID, Sahyog, Grameen Koota, FINO, BASIX, AXIS Bank and Spandana Spoorty Financial Limited.

These companies offered jobs with designations such as Forestry Operations Manager, Researchers, Consultants, Chief Executive Officer, Financial Analysts, Area Managers, Chief Operating Officer, Development Officer, Credit Analysts and Human Resources Manager.

The Madhya Pradesh Forest Department recruited graduates for its CDM and livelihoods projects, while the Environment Planning and Coordination Organization (EPCO) hired IIFM graduates as consultants for drawing the State Action Plan for Climate Change in a UNDP-funded project. This project seeks to build a Strategic Knowledge Centre for climate change which is one of the missions of the India’s National Action Plan for Climate Change (NAPCC). The Madhya Pradesh District Poverty Initiatives Program (DPIP) hired an IIFM graduate to work as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of a producer company as part of phase-two if their programme. Sahayog Micromanagement offered Operational Head and Strategic Planning profiles to the students. BASIX, a conventional employer of IIFMites has come back with totally revamped job profile of Senior Managers.

Edit: The previous year’s average salary was Rs 4.2 lakh and not Rs 7.2 lakh as mentioned earlier in the report. The error stands corrected.