IIMs Flocked by Consulting Firms to hire MBA Graduates

More Indian Institutes of Management were flocked by consulting firms on a look out for management talent this year. The improving economy as well as the government initiatives such as Digital India was the driving force behind this demand.

At IIMs in Kashipur, Trichy, Udaipur, Rohtak and Shillong the offers made by the consulting matched those from traditional areas such as financial services, technology and consumer goods. While there was a two fold increase in offers from consultancies in some B-schools the biggies in the sector such as EY, Deloitte, Cognizant and the Boston Consulting Group stated that they hired approximately 50% more MBAs this year with as much as 30% higher salaries at the entry level than last year.

Although the consultancies have been pretty active as far as hiring is concerned but till now the bigger names had been largely focusing on the established institutes such as Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and Kolkata.

While the trend continued this year too but the higher demand for more MBAs with an improving economy took them to more institutes this time. In fact this turns out to be cost effective as well since the graduates from established institutes demand a higher salary.

Sandeep Kohli, national director for HR at EY said,” Clients are fairly positive about campaigns such as Make in India, Digital India etc. The outlook for growth is quite positive and all this is translating into a rise in hiring numbers this year.” Cognizant that topped the ET’s Top Recruiters at B-School study for over three years now said that it is now venturing into the newer IIMs as well. According to Sandy Gopalan, vice president for consulting at Cognizant, the increasing digital focus of clients is one of the major factors behind this.

Gopalan said,” We are in the midst of a once-in-a-decade shift in the technology landscape. While continuing to drive down costs in core operations, clients are also shifting towards digital in order to remain competitive. This trend is creating significant opportunities for B-School graduates. More than ever, consulting is the first port of call for clients looking to leverage next generation technologies to optimize their businesses and drive innovation.”

It is a well-known fact that the big consulting firms normally pay Rs 20-30 lakh annual package to B-school talent at the entry level. According to MDI Gurgaon BCG offered the highest salary at the institute this year at 32.1 lakh. Suresh Subudhi, partner and head of recruiting at BCG said,” In line with our growth, we have hired almost 50% more than last year across grad and undergrad campuses.”

The sharpest jump in offers from the consulting space was seen by IIM-Rohtak, founded in 2010- to 22 this year from just nine last year. At IIM-Shillong, the number rose to 25 from 17; at IIM-Udaipur, to 13 from 8 whereas IIM Kashipur witnessed a 30-35% increase in offers from consultancies this year.