KOCHI | Thursday, November 6, 2008 | Email | Print | 
100% placement in IIMK despite global meltdown
PNS | Kozhikode
The Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode (IIMK) attained a rare achievement of getting placement for all the students in its 2008-2010 batch despite the anxieties and fear of reduced hiring due to the global economic meltdown.
A release from the institute claimed that 102 national and international companies, up from 66 last year, participated in the summer placement process, with all the 261 students in the batch getting placement in different firms of their choice. This achievement was billed as remarkable considering the fact that the students intake for the batch had gone up by 42 per cent compared to last year.
A coordinated effort by the faculty, alumni and the placements committee along with the strong relationship which the institute shared with industry partners had ensured that the Class of 2010 had no dearth of offers even when the world was reeling under financial crises, said the release. ‘Summers 2009’ saw students walking away with 14 international offers across various functions and in locations like Singapore, Hong Kong, Germany, Dubai, South Africa and London.
Banks and other financial institutions had actually increased the number of offers this year as compared to the last year. “We were quite impressed by the profiles of the students at IIM Kozhikode,” said Sharad Goenka, senior vice-president at Corporate Banking at HSBC. Some of the other banks that recruited students from IIMK were Citibank, Standard Chartered Bank, American Express, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank.
Investment Banks like JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank, and Edelweiss Capital were bullish on students at IIMK, claimed the release. Roles in private equity were on offers from Tata Capital, and IDG Ventures. A total of 27 per cent of students would intern in finance companies, it said.
A large chunk of students opted for the Strategy and Consulting roles. Management consultants Arthur D Little offered roles to students in its Dubai office.
The Freudenberg Group also reaffirmed its relationship with IIM Kozhikode by picking up students for strategy and operations roles based in Germany and Hong Kong. “I am quite excited about going to Germany for my summer internships,” said Harshad Karandikar, first year student from IIMK who was amongst those selected for the summer internship by Freudenberg.
Wipro and IBM also offered students roles in their consulting and strategy divisions. Twenty per cent of the students would be interning in consulting firms in India and abroad.
While Nestle and Coca Cola offered roles for students in marketing for the first time, regular recruiters like Hindustan Unilever (HUL), Colgate Palmolive, Marico, ITC, Aditya Birla Group and Johnson & Johnson picked students for roles in branding, sales and marketing, operations and logistics. Coca Cola was one of the firms offering highest domestic stipend at Rs 100,000 for the duration of internship, while Singapore-based Vega Foods offered $ 6000 for the internship period.
The sunrise sector also had a great role in the placement process with many students opting for internships in media and real estate companies. Sony Entertainment Television, Viacom, Star News and BBC World offered both creative and marketing roles, while Ansal API, Godrej and ABG Infralogistics offered roles in real estate.
While Cognizant gave roles to students in business consulting, TCS picked them up for capital markets assignments. Taiwanese hardware manufacturer ASUS was a participant in the process for the first time. Conglomerates like Mahindra & Mahindra and international consortiums like the Buhler Group and Dutch State Group also took students for general management and strategy roles at international locations.
According to the release, Summers 2009 also marked a paradigm shift in the attitude of the students towards exploring non-traditional avenues for internships. The Entrepreneurship Cell at IIMK held a start-up fair, in which 25 start-up firms participated and more than 150 enthusiastic students interacted with them. Several students who were interested in learning business hands-on in an entrepreneurial environment actually chose to do their summer internships in these start-ups rather than go to established firms, said the release.
The start-ups offered varying profiles in the space of investment banking, private equity, social entrepreneurship, educational services, media, healthcare, travel and tourism and rural marketing. This was the first start-up fair at IIMK, and the tremendous response it generated ensured that this would become a yearly event, the release added.
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