Indian Express
Sign In | Register Now
Newsletter | ePaper
Indian Express >  Front Page > 

IIMs get their reality check: those six-figure Wall Street salaries will have to wait

Font Size
Sudipta Datta Posted: Sep 17, 2008 at 0126 hrs IST
Related Stories: Bachchan taken ill on birthdayAlphonsa’s friend feels blessed to witness her canonisationTamper-proof kerosene: there’s proof it can be tamperedGay pride: laws and outlawsThank YouTerror mail trail leads cops to MSU
Kolkata, September 16 : Over the weekend, as Lehman Brothers went bust, Merrill Lynch was sold and the world of global high finance shook, hearts broke on Kolkata’s IIM campus. For two students of IIM-C’s Class of 2009 who had accepted pre-placement offers only a couple of weeks ago, the immediate future was suddenly a void.

“We interned at Lehman’s London office only this summer. Work was as usual, no one had any idea that trade was declining,” one of them told The Indian Express.

The student could have been speaking for hundreds of fresh graduates at Indian Institutes of Management from Kolkata to Ahmedabad, Lucknow to Bangalore. Firms like Merrill and Lehman have been among the biggest recruiters on campus, and the investment banking and financial services sector has been setting the aspirational benchmark with offers of salaries that have ranged from $120,000 to $360,000 annually. In the 24 hours after what the global media is describing as the blackest day in decades on Wall Street, many aspirations are appearing unreasonable.

The two IIM-C students have received no official word yet from Lehman, but the silence holds only a slim hope. “We put in 12-13 hours a day at the London office and worked on hot sectors like commodities and equity sales. Everyone there was very interested in India,” recalled the student.

Ads By Google
A third of last year’s IIM-C batch of 291 got jobs in the investment banking and financial services sector. For summer placements, Merrill hired 18 students, Morgan Stanley 11, JP Morgan Chase 13 and HSBC Global Investment Banking Division 6. “Both Merrill and Lehman are big players as far as placements are concerned,” said IIM-C chief administrative officer Dinesh Varma. “They are good paymasters too. Probably this year we will miss them.”

At IIM, Lucknow, the mood was gloomy. Lehman has been making four or five offers every year, and last November, Merrill had shown an interest for the first time. “We were expecting a reduction in the number of offers, but the collapse of Lehman Brothers has come as a shock. Though Lehman made just one summer placement offer this time, we were hoping that would change,” said placement cell co-ordinator Rishabh Papardia.

At IIM, Ahmedabad, the Wall Street shock has translated into a gag order on students. “We have been asked not to speak to the media on the Lehman Brothers issue right now as the institute is yet to study the situation completely,” said...

Post Comments
Message*
Maximum characters allowed     
 
Name* Email ID*
Subject* Country*
TERMS OF USE:
The views, opinions and comments posted are your, and are not endorsed by this website. You shall be solely responsible for the comment posted here. The website reserves the right to delete, reject, or otherwise remove any views, opinions and comments posted or part thereof. You shall ensure that the comment is not inflammatory, abusive, derogatory, defamatory &/or obscene, or contain pornographic matter and/or does not constitute hate mail, or violate privacy of any person (s) or breach confidentiality or otherwise is illegal, immoral or contrary to public policy. Nor should it contain anything infringing copyright &/or intellectual property rights of any person(s).
I agree to the terms of use.
View all Messages [ 8 ]
MBA's and their fancy theories! by Rajan on 2008-09-17 22:03:22.392436+05:30
MBA's and their fancy theories about money management learned in class room environment are directly put in high managerial positions within a short time. They then try to put their fancy theories to practice and commit huge resources. When market forces don't go as assumed by these MBA's theorists then the corporates pay a heavy price. Aggresive use of structured products and high leverage corporates are the products of such MBA's as they are interested in providing short term results which raises their careers further!. No wonder corporates pay a heavy price for their decisions.
Bubble burst by (Dr.) B.N.Anand on 2008-09-17 12:46:09.029289+05:30
The bubble has finally burst. It was always bewildering that these financial companies offered very fat salary cheques to the fresh pass outs from IIMs with out any experience. May be their inexperience in international financial dealings have contributed in the meltdown of these companies. It seems the focus may shift from expertising in finance to other variety of economic fields.The disappointment of the IIM graduates is understanable.
Overhyped IIM's by Harish on 2008-09-17 11:40:37.97632+05:30
IIM's are highly hyped institutions, 20 something fresh MBA's given responsibility without any experience were the cause of the Asian meltdown, as they are to some extent of this meltdown also
IIMs not producing leaders... by Neeraj on 2008-09-17 11:08:34.67291+05:30
India should rethink its education system and so should IIM, where they are unable to produce leaders in the industry. IIM is supposed to be the best mgmt. college in India. Its sad that neither the IIM students nor their professors could foresee anything wrong in the market, esp. the financial market.
Nothing much in name of institutions, it is quality, integrity, honesty, zeal, commitment of product that matters. by P. Suresh on 2008-09-17 09:04:47.5885+05:30
It is not the institution that matters mostly, it is individuals who matter.
Wish you well, and thank you by Shibu Purushothaman on 2008-09-17 08:13:53.768107+05:30
Hope this is some thing that will go off soon. India's development does to an extend depend in the NRI cash flow.
Efficiency of IIM-ians by pritis C majumdar, MBA on 2008-09-17 05:55:10.650621+05:30
Does it not prove the "inefficiency
Hihg salaries by Ajit on 2008-09-17 03:08:49.922517+05:30
What goes up comes down....!!! well usually...
View all Messages [ 8 ]
Group Websites : Express India | Financial Express | Screen India | Loksatta | Kashmir Live | Biz Publications
Privacy Policy | Feedback | Site MapThe Indian Express Group | Work With Us | Adverise With Us | Contact Us© 2008 Indian Express Newspapers (Mumbai) Ltd. All rights reserved
*Recipient(s) name *
*Recipient(s) e-mail address *
(Separate addresses by commas)
*Your Name *
*Your e-mail address *
Select your Country
Comments(optional)

The name(s) and e-mail address(es) you provide will
not be used for any purpose other than to inform the
recipient(s) of your identity. (*mandatory field)
 
Close