Top of the world: IIM-C bags big bucks, best jobs

IIM-Calcutta is the toast — or should we say envy — of all its sister institutes. Its students have topped the job show this year; all 278 of them have been placed. Better still, foreign firms that had never recruited from India have come and picked up the best of the best from IIM-C.

But the icing on the cake is that the highest stipends (both foreign and domestic), have also been bagged by IIM-C students. The Joka campus is celebrating like never before.

As many as 54 students from this batch (the largest across all IIMs) have been placed with overseas companies — a whopping rise from last year's 17. The highest domestic stipend offered in any B-school this year was Rs 90,000 per month, and two IIM-C students have got it. The highest foreign stipend ($8500) also went to an IIM-C student, the institute's placement cell says.

Besides, the Joka campus is the first and only one in the IIM chain (not to speak of other B-schools), where General Atlantic Partners, the global private equity giant, chose to visit and recruit. GAP, famed for recruiting only from ivy league Bschools in the US, broke tradition and picked up two summer interns from IIM-C.

Seven students were recruited by Merrill Lynch, seven by JP Morgan, three by Barclays, 11 by Pricewaterhouse Coopers, two by Ernst & Young, 22 by IBM, 19 by ICICI Bank, six by Citibank and eight by GE — each of these is the highest that these companies have taken anywhere in the country.

"Our alumni, settled all over the world, helped to get foreign companies that had never visited Indian campuses to recruit from IIM-C," said Sanjeev Jha, placement representative of the institute.

In the investment banking sector, IIM-C has outshone others. ING Investment Bank chose to recruit only from IIM-C this year and is taking the summer intern to Hong Kong. There were 19 investment banks in all — a much larger participation than has ever happened in IIM-C history. JP Morgan and Barclays Capital recruited the highest number of summer interns from IIM-C this time. Lehman (Hong Kong) recruited three interns for its investment banking division.

In the hedge funds sector IIM-C again bagged gold by becoming the first and only Indian B-school to get global giant Gartmore Global Credit Funds to recruit from the campus. GGC has been nominated by Euro hedge as the best start up fund and it recruited two students from IIM-C for its newly established India facility.

IIM-C turned out to be a favourite among global consultancy firms as well. This year the entire gamut of consultancy giants including PwC, KPMG, Ernst&Young, Accenture, Hay Group and Hewitt Associates came to Joka, with PwC and Ernst and Young making the highest number of offers across all Bschools in the country. Even the International Finance Corporation (World Bank) chose IIM-C as the favoured campus for summer recruitments.

It not only recruited second year students but also picked up a doctoral student for a six month internship.