IIM Kozhikode’s Class of 2006 signed off in spectacular style with the grand success of this year’s placement process. The strong economy and a positive outlook for growth set the scene for a superb recruitment season as 41 new companies joined IIMK’s already impressive recruiter list. 97 companies confirmed their participation in the entire placement process, however only 47 companies received final offer acceptances from the students.

100% placement for the Class of 2006 was never a concern, but the sheer number of offers that flooded the placement season had the students floored as companies made 423 offers to the 133 students. The average number of offers shot up to 3.18 per student, a record unheard of across all B-School campuses. “When I joined IIMK, I dreamt of landing the job of my choice. I never could have dreamt just how much choice I would eventually end up with” said an evidently overjoyed Raul Sinha who bagged the highest number of offers this year and will eventually join Lehman Brothers India. Roles in Strategy Consulting, Corporate Finance, Private Equity, Investment and Merchant banking, Equity Research, FMCG Sales and Marketing and Analytics found particular favor with the students.

More than one-third of the batch (48 in a batch of 133) received pre-placement offers/ interviews (PPO/PPI) – double the number received last year, in a glowing testament to the strong recruiter perception IIM Kozhikode enjoys as it enters ten years of glorious existence. PPOs were offered by companies like ITC, Asian Paints, Ernst & Young, Godrej, Wipro, and Patni.

With 34 offers of more than Rs 10 lakhs per annum, the average salary went up dramatically by 24%, from Rs.7.3 Lakhs per annum last year to Rs.9.02 Lakhs per annum this year. The median salary stood at Rs. 8.75 Lakhs per annum. The highest international offer stood at USD 70,000 (as on 28th Feb, 2006. It is likely to be revised upwards when the processes of other foreign recruiters – including Singapore Airlines and Petrofac –conclude in March) while the highest domestic salary on offer was Rs. 16.67 Lakhs. Abhilash Nair, who bagged the highest domestic salary on campus this year, said “The quality of courses with emphasis on live projects helped me understand the finer points of management. The credit for my success goes to my batch mates and the culture of leadership through teamwork that IIMK breeds. It has catapulted my career to new heights”.

The entrepreneurial streak characteristic to IIMK’s students was evident again as Yash Sehgal, a student, decided not to take up a lucrative offer from a leading FMCG company and instead opted to strike it out on his own by starting a laser-based measurement device manufacturing company. “I had always wanted to start a business and accept the challenges of entrepreneurship. Though an experience in the FMCG sector would have been rewarding, I decided to follow my dreams“, said Yash.

The buoyant placements season that IIM Kozhikode has enjoyed is only an indication of things to come, as some premier recruiters like Johnson & Johnson, Edelweiss Capital and L’Oreal initiated their relationship with IIM Kozhikode as part of the summer placements and are now looking at a long term relationship with the institute.

Recruiter feedback across the board was excellent with glowing tributes to the student quality at IIMK, the efficiently-managed placement process; as well as firm commitments to building long-term relationships with IIMK.

“The significant growth in the number of offers per student reflects the corporate world’s demand for IIMK graduates, while the stability in the past recruiters coming back to the campus and the growth of new recruiters indicates that the high offer rate at IIMK is sustainable” — Dr. S.S.S Kumar, Placement Chairperson, IIM Kozhikode

“IIM Kozhikode has evolved very well. Lehman Brothers shall visit this campus for years to come”– Mr. Sanjeev Kaushik, Director-Equity Research, Lehman Brothers

“IIM Kozhikode is getting better year by year. We look forward to recruiting from here again next year” —Mr. Raghaviah, GM-HR, ITC Limited

Sectorwise Breakup

Companies from all the major sectors were on campus to participate in the placements process, with many companies visiting the campus twice to recruit from the IIMK talent pool, once each for the lateral and final processes.

Banking, Financial Services and Insurance: (20% of the batch)

Banking, Financial services and Insurance reinforced its status as a sector of choice at IIM Kozhikode with 20% of the batch opting for careers in this industry. New additions in this sector included Lehman Brothers, Standard Chartered Bank, Ocwen Financial Services, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, Keynote Investment Services, ICICI Lombard and SBI Life. Considering the past performance of the alumni and the strong relationship that IIMK shares with them, the regular recruiters did not think twice before revisiting the campus this year. This long list of regular recruiters includes Kotak, JP Morgan, Citigroup, iRevna, e-Serve, Max New York Life Insurance, SBI Caps and UTI Bank. The roles on offer were some of the most coveted in the industry. The students were placed in fields of private equity, investment banking, equity research, corporate finance, financial risk management, portfolio management, fund management, wealth management, private banking, insurance, treasury and retail banking. The highest offer in this sector was Rs.16.67 Lakhs and the average was Rs. 8.92 Lakhs. The highest number of offers in this sector was made by Citifinancial and ICICI Lombard (9 each).

Consulting: (23% of the batch)

Pricewaterhouse Coopers (recruiting for their prestigious GRID consulting division), Ernst & Young, Erix Financial Advisors, Headstrong, Jones Lang Lasalle (Roles in real estate consulting) and Atos-Origin were the biggest new names in the Consulting sector this year. They joined other big players like Deloitte, Bristlecone, IBM Business Consulting Services, Capgemini and Accenture to vie for the batch of 2006. Most of the offers in this sector were made during the lateral process as Consulting firms were seen preferring students with prior work experience. Deloitte Consulting, which offers the Assistant Manager role only in select few campuses across India, offered the same to 6 students at IIMK this year. IBM, recruiting only from select campuses for its Business Consulting division made 6 offers at IIMK. The highest offer in this sector was Rs.11.5 Lakhs and the average was Rs. 9.26 Lakhs. The highest number of offers in this sector was made by Deloitte, Capgemini and IBM BCS (6 each).

Marketing/FMCG: (20% of the batch)

In terms of number of new additions, FMCG/Marketing sector lead the way in 2006. The already star studded list of ITC, Asian Paints, Bharti Televentures, Godrej, GE Money, Coats India and Titan were joined by new recruiters like Britannia, Dabur, The Times Group, Asian PPG, Hewlett Packard and Cypress Semiconductor. Cypress Semiconductor, recruiting for the first time, offered roles in international B2B marketing. Marico returned to IIMK after a brief hiatus of 2 years and made 2 offers. The significant increase in the number of students majoring in marketing was an added incentive for the companies. Times Group offered the role of Category Head to select students. The highest offer in this sector was Rs.8.5 Lakhs and the average was Rs. 8.22 Lakhs. The highest number of offers in this sector was made by Times Group (11 offers) followed by Bharti Televentures (9 offers).

General Management, Automotive and others: (6% of the batch)

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), Essar Group, RPG Group and Murugappa Group were the new entrants in the General Management sector. Offering a wide variety of roles, RIL recruited 9 students in its first visit, including 3 lateral offers. Aditya Birla Group and Air India were the other recruiters in this sector. L&T;, Tata Motors and BPCL offered PPOs to the summer interns who worked with them the previous year. The highest offer in this sector was Rs.12.35 Lakhs and the average was Rs. 9.0 Lakhs. The highest number of offers in this sector was made by RIL (9 offers).

IT/ITES: (31% of the batch):

As always, the number of IT companies willing to visit the campus for recruitment was more than the number that IIMK could accommodate. This year, Cognizant, Dell and Hexaware joined the Who’s Who of the Indian IT Industry – IBM, CSC, US Technology, Wipro, Genpact, Infosys, TCS, Patni, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, EXL Service and Progeon. The roles offered include Business Analysis, Project Management, Quality/Six Sigma and Business Development. Cognizant made the maximum number of offers (2 to start off their relationship with IIMK with a bang while US Technology made 3 foreign offers based out of the US. With an average of 23 months of work experience, the graduating batch leveraged their prior experience primarily in the IT domain to land many plum offers from the IT giants, which paid incremental salary based on amount of experience. The highest offer in this sector was Rs.10.59 Lakhs and the average was Rs. 9.42 Lakhs.

Reaching for the stars

As IIMK enters the 10th year of existence, an analysis of placements over the past 4 years is due. The upward trend in every parameter is only an indication of the days ahead. The highest offer and the average offer this year have both leaped up this year.

The total number of offers has more than doubled this year – the most astonishing statistic of them all.

The break up of the Average Salaries corresponding to the work experience is as follows:-

All in all, placements 2006 at IIM Kozhikode were a sparkling success.