Pertaining to ongoing economic slowdown, the average salaries have dropped this year at all Indian B-schools, with the salary at the most-prestigious IIM Ahmedabad dipping by as much as 25-30 per cent as per the uncomfirmed reports available in media.

By the time the final placements concluded at IIM-A, the average domestic salary drawn was Rs. 12.17 Lakhs while the international salary average stood at US $ 83,000. As reported by The Financial Express, “Despite being the worst hit as well as the most vulnerable sector right now, finance saw the highest percentage of acceptance at 39 per cent. This was followed by consulting (24 per cent), marketing (13 per cent), general management (9 per cent), systems (6 per cent) and others with 6 per cent (including media, rating agencies, manufacturing sector). Overall, the highest number of offers were made by the Union Bank of India (18).”

But the good news is that IIM-A has managed to place all it’s students within a span on 9 days, starting on February 25, and ending on March 5. Reports IndianExpress.com, “About 252 students of Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGPM) and 21 students from PGP in Agri Business Management (PGP-ABM) took part in the placement process. Seven students from PGPM and one student of PGP-ABM have opted to start their own ventures.”

With all students placed, IIM-A Director, Dr. Samir Barua, virtually breathed a sigh of relief. “That we are able to place all our students despite the unprecedented meltdown is no mean an achievement,” Dr. Barua said, further claiming that it was because the institution this year invited more companies to participate in the campus recruitment in view of the meltdown and also insisted on top executives of the recruiting companies to personally attend the process, which took more time than usual. “And, yes, slowdown has also impacted,” he admitted.

A story in The Hindu provides further details of the Final Placements at IIM-A.

“As many as 109 companies participated in the process, of which 95 companies recruited from the campus… The overall domestic offer also declined to about 15 per cent as against more than 20 per cent last year… A significant change this year were the offers made by the domestic public sector organizations that came in large numbers. Union Bank of India recruited 18 students, the Bank of Baroda 6, Indian Oil Company Limited 5 and many others like STCI, SEBI, IFCI, BPCL, ICRA and others came to the campus. As many as 25 companies were first-time recruiters though most of IIMA’s old associates were also present.”

The other prominent recruiters included Bain and Company and McKinsey and Company, both with 8 acceptances each, Boston Consulting Group and TAS 7 each, and first time recruiter Frost & Sullivan 5. The process also saw participation from Unicon Securities, which made 12 offers, and the global network giant Alcatel-Lucent, which made 5 offers.”

The Times of India also gave credit to PSUs for being a big draw at IIM-A placements, “Thanks to the slowdown, placements for the 2007-09 batch saw government banks and public sector units (PSUs) take a huge share of graduates from this premier business school. The PSUs in total took 41 students out of a total of 235 from the batch - a huge gain considering that they drew a blank over last two years.”