B-Schools lead all the way

It’s boom time for premier B-schools as companies line up to recruit graduating MBAs in a big manner
The north of India may be under the grip of a cold spell but for the country’s top B-schools in the National Capital Region, this is the hour of reckoning. The Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), Delhi University, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), Management Development Institute (MDI), Gurgaon, and Department of Management Studies (DMS), Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IIT-D) will see the batch of 2001-03 graduating in the next few months.And, what these B-schools are currently witnessing is a long queue of companies visiting them for placements.
Associate professor and placement coordinator, MDI, Amit Mookherjee, said: ‘‘Companies have started to arrive in droves for ‘Pre-Placement Talks’ (PPT). Several of the companies visiting the campuses have made ‘Pre-Placement Offers’ (PPOs) to respective students based on their performance during the summer training.’’ At least 10 to 15 students at MDI have received PPOs from organisations like Ranbaxy, Philips and Computer Science Corporation and an equal number of offers are in the pipeline.
A similar situation exists in IIFT. According to the corporate and placement advisor, IIFT, K K Muthu, ‘‘The number of companies visiting for PPTs have doubled.’’ The companies visiting IIFT for placements include ITC, HLL, Glaxo Smithkline, TAS, Telco, and Sundaram Group. Moreover, public sector giants like Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd, Oil and Natural Gas Commission and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd have confirmed their participation for final placement, for the first time in IIFT’s history.’’
At DMS-IITD, seven students out of 44 have already received PPOs and 22 companies have visited the campus for PPTs. Head, DMS-IITD, Rajat K Baisya remarked, ‘‘Around 25 companies, which include Maersk, Trinity, TCS, LG, Mckinsey Knowledge Centre, Global Trust Bank and HLL have confirmed their participation in the final placement week to be held towards the end of January. The profile of companies varies from finance, consultancy and banking to insurance and FMCG.’’
A graduating student from DMS-IITD who has received a PPO of Rs 5.5 lakh from Mckinsey Knowledge Centre Kanika Singhal, said: ‘‘For me, it’s a dream come true to get an offer from Mckinsey.’’
In FMS too, the placement scene looks promising as a number of PPOs till date is 12 and 10 students have received 10 lateral offers. Some of the companies, which have confirmed their participation for the final placements range from Hindustan Lever, to Infosys.
Ashish Dhingra, who got a PPO from HSBC says, ‘‘For any banking sector aspirant, HSBC is a dream start.’’ Pavanjit Singh Bedi of FMS is on cloud nine after receiving an offer from Hindustan Lever.’’ The secretary, corporate relations and placements, FMS, Harman Dhillon remarked, ‘‘This year, the pre-placement scenario has been promising. The quality and the number of PPOs reaffirm the confidence and belief the corporates have in FMS students.’’