MUMBAI, India : Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s SPJIMR on Friday announced the successful completion of placements for its PGDM Class of 2021 in a record time of two days with enthusiastic corporate participation, signing off a season of unprecedented challenges brought by the Sars-Cov-2 pandemic.
The placement performance in terms of average salaries offered, the number of participating companies and the speed with which the offers rolled out reflected the goodwill of SPJIMR, the institute’s deep and lasting relationships with the corporate sector and the strong value that MBA participants bring to the companies they work for. It also highlighted the adaptability and the resilience of the institute and in particular of the students, who are ready to take up challenging roles and deliver on business goals with social sensitivity.
Consulting emerged this year as the top recruiting sector with offers rolled out to 36 per cent of the batch of 233 participants. This built on a trend of increased offers from management and technology consulting companies seen last year and indicated a preference for participants from SPJIMR’s PGDM programme.
The entire placements exercise, which normally sees the campus covered in a flurry of business suits as company executives interview participants, was conducted online using a variety of platforms and protocols to meet the convenience and security needs of companies.
This was the first time the final placements process was conducted online, building on the experiences of participants using online platforms for the autumns internships. Students, faculty and businesses have not met physically since the lockdown forced by the pandemic took effect in March last year.
The average annual salary (cost-to-company) this year stands at INR 25.86 lakhs per annum. This is similar to the levels reported last year. The median annual salary came in at INR 25 lakhs per annum, with over 26 percent of the batch securing offers in excess of INR 30 lakhs per annum, and over 80 percent in excess of INR 20 lakhs per annum.
Consulting companies rolled out offers to 84 students, the highest ever reported by SPJIMR for a batch. The participant companies included Accenture Strategy, Bain & Co., Boston Consulting Group, Deloitte USI, EY, GEP, KPMG and PwC US Advisory among others.
The FMCG sector continued to be a major recruiter, making offers to close to 18 per cent of the batch. Top recruiters in this sector included Asian Paints, Colgate-Palmolive, Hindustan Unilever, L’Oréal, Marico, Mondelez, Procter & Gamble and RB.
This was closely followed by offers in the BFSI and E-commerce sectors that saw companies like Amazon, American Express, Axis Capital, Barclays, Citibank, Flipkart, Nomura, PayTM and Grofers (among others) participating in the process.
General Management roles were offered by leading recruiters like Capgemini ELITE, Mahindra GMC, RPG and Tata Administrative Services.
In addition to the regular recruiters from SPJIMR, close to 75 new companies from diverse sectors added to the breadth of the process this year. As a result, the total number of companies in the process this year stood at 131, up from 122 last year.
Despite the challenges brought by the pandemic, around 50 per cent of the batch bagged PPO/PPI opportunities through the autumns internship and corporate competitions with leading corporates like Amazon, Boston Consulting Group, Colgate-Palmolive, Hindustan Unilever, Procter & Gamble and Tata Administrative Services among others.
The large number of offers in a year marked by dramatic changes in the business environment indicated high levels of trust in the unique SPJIMR model of autumns internship. Under this, participants take to autumns internships typically in Sep-Oct after the completion of their specialisation courses, making them more business ready.
Prof. Renuka Kamath, Associate Dean – Academic Services & External Relations, said, “The strongest institutions are those in which the community comes together in difficult times. Our corporate partners, alumni, faculty and staff have come together to ensure the best possible outcomes for our students. Our students have demonstrated resilience and character. The entire SPJIMR community deserves credit.”
Prof. Sajeev A. George, Chairperson PGDM, said, “It is hugely satisfying to see a stellar placement performance during these difficult times. The teamwork and dedication of our faculty, staff and students have helped us to achieve this commendable feat. We shall stay focused to further enhance the rigour and relevance of our curriculum, as per the needs of the changing times.”
Prof. Abbasali Gabula, Associate Director – External Relations, said, “What looked like a particularly difficult season harking back to the times of the global financial crisis has ended on a high. Despite the extremely challenging environment, we have maintained compensation at the levels achieved last year. This was a result of more effort, preparation and speedy adjustment to the online mode. Our students supported by faculty have worked well to respond to the new environment. The response indicates that corporate India is well on its way to getting back to business in full swing.”
