Top business schools like IIM-B, IIM-C and FMS add muscle to finance labs

Top business schools like Indian Institute of Management (IIM)-Bangalore, IIM-Calcutta and Faculty of Management Studies (FMS) Delhi are putting in place massive investments for expanding and setting up finance laboratories to aid research, enhance students’ proficiency in financial markets and assist them in placements. The finance labs at campuses are equipped with Bloomberg terminals and other national and international databases that provide real-time information on government securities, equity markets and capital structures.

IIM-Bangalore has allocated Rs. 10 million for an extension of its existing facility, which is expected to provide students access to 50 terminals and data from Bloomberg, Newswire 18, CMI, and CRSB early next year. The institute is serious about expanding the existing facility as these databases give students access to large amounts of empirical data for research and projects, says professor Sankarshan Basu, chairperson, career development services at the institute.

“This also benefits students looking at a career in the banking and financial services industry as the companies expect them to be familiar with such databases. Accessing them earlier makes them industry-ready from day one,” he adds.

This month, FMS opened its financial laboratory at an investment of Rs. 4 million. It is equipped with 12 Bloomberg terminals. These will help students in improving the standard and level of detail in their final-year dissertations and their term assignments, case studies and research with faculty members, besides assisting them at the time of placements.

“Most finance professionals work on Bloomberg terminals regularly, and being familiar with the scope and operations of such databases will boost a prospective recruits’ candidature,” says Nitesh Goyal, head of the finance society. Summer placements will begin at FMS next month. About 26% of the class of 210 in the 2012-14 batch found internships in the BFSI sector.

IIM-Calcutta too plans to replace its existing makeshift financial research and trading lab with a 4,000 sq-ft centre which will be accessible to students and faculty members from November this year. “The centre will function like the labs in overseas B-schools, providing students access to live national and international databases, fundamentals and other banking and non-banking data,” says professor Ashok Banerjee, Dean of New Initiatives and External Relations.

At XLRI, the primary purpose of putting in place such databases stemmed from placements. “Companies expect students to be familiar with such systems,” says HK Pradhan, professor of finance and economics and coordinator of the financial market centre at XLRI.

Source: The Economic Times, September 27, 2013

Salaries surge 7%-20% in non-IIM business schools

Salaries at premium non-IIM management schools in the country, like Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), Management Development Institute (MDI) and XLRI, Jamshedpur, have surged 7-20% this year compared to the previous year. These schools are also getting a greater number of offers from recruiters. For instance, the highest international salary offered at MDI was Rs. 4.3 million per annum and the highest domestic salary was Rs. 2.8 million. The average annual MDI salary has risen by over 14% since last year to Rs. 1.42 million.

XLRI Jamshedpur saw an unprecedented 284 offers made to a batch of 235 students with the average domestic salary at Rs. 1.64 million a year and the median domestic salary at Rs. 1.55 million. Moreover, in line with previous years, global pharmaceuticals major Novartis AG made the highest international offer of $150,000. Same is the case with Delhi’s FMS where, despite the uncertain economic environment, 96 companies made final offers at the largest-ever batch comprising 227 students with the average annual salary rising to Rs. 1.63 million, an increase of 6.1% over last year.

The Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) completed 100% placement this year with international offers coming from Singapore, Switzerland, Germany, Dubai, Vietnam, Myanmar and Africa. The highest domestic offer was of Rs. 1.9 million per annum, up 22% from last year, and the overall average salary package was around Rs. 1.21 million a year.

At Mumbai-based NMIMS, the average compensation for the batch of 2012 stood at an annual Rs. 1.30 million, while the highest package offered rose to Rs. 3 million per annum. Out of 121 companies that participated in the process, a stellar 34% of the companies were new recruiters or firms that were returning to NMIMS after a hiatus. “The increased intake did not deter the recruitment process, as the industry was delighted to tap a larger talent pool,” said NMIMS School of Business Management Dean Debashis Sanyal.

Source: The Financial Express, April 4, 2012

Placements dispel worries over new IIMs

An IIM is an IIM, no matter where it is. (Well, almost.) That seems the message from placements at the three Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) at Raipur, Ranchi and Rohtak that will see their first batch of students graduating this year, with companies offering salaries that are just a little lower than those offered at the handful of B-schools that follow the older IIMs in any listing of India’s top management institutes.

Officials at the three business schools said all their students who sought jobs had received offers in a year that has seen business sentiment dip and the economy slow. That doesn’t seem to have affected the three schools, which still operate from temporary campuses. It wasn’t easy, admits M. Kannadhasan, Chairman (Career Development and Placement Office) at IIM-Raipur (which abbreviates as IIM-Rp). “It was a challenge, but we did a good job,” he said.

IIM-Rp said the average annual salary offered to its students was Rs. 1.25 million; IIM-Ranchi (which abbreviates as IIM-Ra) Rs. 1.32 million; and IIM-Rohtak (IIM-R) Rs. 1.22 million. These numbers (provided by the respective schools) compare favourably with Rs. 1.21 million at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), although they are lower than the Rs. 1.38 million at Gurgaon’s Management Development Institute (MDI) and Rs. 1.63 million at New Delhi’s Faculty of Management Studies (FMS).

Average salaries offered to the graduating batches at IIM-Ahmedabad (IIM-A), IIM-Bangalore (IIM-B) and IIM-Calcutta (IIM-C) weren’t immediately available, although they are likely to be significantly higher. According to media reports, last year, the average salary at IIM-C was around Rs. 1.75 million. At IIM-A (which follows a stringent reporting standard for salaries), the number, as disclosed by the school, was Rs. 1.63 million.

Next year may be better at IIM-Ra, said a student who will graduate in 2013. “If this is the response for the first batch, then we can expect a better show next year,” said Yash Aggarwal, a student of the second batch at IIM-Ra, who confessed that when his batch joined, they weren’t sure about the school, given its age and location. Such anxiety, the tag of being a “new” IIM, and India’s economic worries were only some of the challenges faced, said P. Rameshan, Director at IIM-R. The school also had to ensure its placement record was befitting of an IIM.

Some firms said they will only consider recruiting from the school in the future, he admitted, but there was no shortage of companies willing to hire students from the first batch. It helped that Rohtak is close to Delhi and its environs, he said. Still, the school took no chances, with the director tapping his contacts from 15 years spent teaching at IIM-Lucknow and IIM-Kozhikode, and also hiring a “specialist recruitment officer”.

IIM-R was the first of the three new IIMs to complete its placements, according to Rameshan. At least 27 companies participated in the process and made 58 offers to a batch of 47 students. Several students received domestic offers exceeding Rs. 2.5 million a year, said the B-school’s website. IIM-Rp said it will release details next week. At IIM-Ra, 30 recruiters made 65 offers to 43 students, and the highest salary on offer for a job in India was Rs. 2.3 million.

The recruiters will “measure the performance of the first batch”, said Bharat Gulia, senior manager of education practice at audit firm Ernst & Young, and base their hiring next year on that. Still, “achieving 100% placement with no permanent campus and an economic slowdown on is noteworthy”, he added.

Until the early 1990s, India had four IIMs (at Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Bangalore and Lucknow). In 1996, it added two more, at Kozhikode and Indore. In 2007, it added one at Shillong. IIM-R, IIM-Ra and IIM-Rp started operating in 2010, and in 2011, IIMs at Tiruchirappalli, Udaipur and Kashipur admitted their first batch of students.

Source: Mint, April 3, 2012

FMS students and faculty protest as DU turns to CAT

The students, faculty members, administrative staff and alumni of the New Delhi-based Faculty of Management Studies (FMS) have opposed the Delhi University (DU) move to scrap the institute’s own entrance test, and instead switch to the Common Admission Test (CAT). FMS used to conduct its own entrance test for the MBA and PhD programmes every year. The members were agitated because the decision to join the non-IIM B-schools in accepting CAT scores was taken at the last moment and the brochures for this year’s December 4 exams were ready for sale. DU, which represents FMS, has meanwhile approached the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) for accepting CAT scores — a test promoted by the IIMs.

In a letter sent by DU on August 25, the university said it would be unable to conduct the FMS entrance exam this year. According to the letter, the university is “severely strained by the burden of the exams conducted, on a national level by other departments”. With DU moving from the annual exams pattern to the semester system, the university felt it was short of manpower to conduct the exam. Confirming the move by FMS, Janakiraman Moorthy, Convenor of CAT 2011 and faculty member at IIM-Calcutta (IIM-C) said: “Yes, FMS has approached us for accepting CAT scores. While the procedure is pending, a decision is most likely to be arrived at within this week.”

According to FMS sources, cost was not an issue as the Delhi University was earning from the sale of forms. On its part, the university declined to comment on the concerns of the faculty members and students. However, a student speaking on the condition of anonymity, said: “DU is not ready to explore options. It can possibly postpone the exam this year, if it intends to and can outsource the FMS entrance exam from next year as IIMs do. DU is simply shifting its burden to CAT.”

According to FMS faculty, the move will primarily dilute the brand. “FMS will become just one among many colleges enrolled with CAT. The pattern of FMS entrance test was very different from the CAT exam giving more focus on verbal ability and is a speed-based test. Joining CAT would actually not serve our purpose in taking the kind of candidates we want,” said a faculty member. FMS students also feel this will dent the institute’s brand image.They are gathering online support of their alumni through social media platforms and online petitions.

The FMS decision to accept CAT scores comes at a time when the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have also decided to do away wih the Joint Management Entrance Test (JMET) in favour of CAT. The decade-old entrance exam for the business schools run by the IITs and Indian Institute of Science (IISc), has given way to the CAT promoted by the IIMs.

The move by the Delhi University may be in consonance with HRD Minister Kapil Sibal’s directive of replacing multiple exams of one type with one exam to save time and effort. According to the minutes of the meeting held by the FMS faculty on Monday, the decision to replace the FMS exam with CAT was taken up owing to the university’s expressed inability to help conduct the test. If the FMS joins CAT, the university will have to shell out a one-time registration fee of Rs. 50,000 and an annual fee of Rs. 200,000 in addition to Rs. 200 per candidate to obtain the CAT scores. Last year 66,000 students had taken the FMS entrance test.

Source: Business Standard, September 8, 2011

Academic interest up in corruption studies

The intense public engagement with Anna Hazare’s campaign against corruption along with the attendant saturation media coverage is having an unintended side effect. Academic institutions across the country are seeing rising interest in the issue as a research subject.

The Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Indore has included corruption as a new elective. “The response from students as well as corporate executives coming for short-term courses is very enthusiastic,” said Siddhartha Rastogi, professor of economics at IIM Indore. The Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad (MICA) and the Faculty of Management Studies (FMS) in Delhi are all seeing proposals from students who want to focus on the issue as part of their course work.

By the end of September, IIM Indore’s Rastogi said he will modify the elective and “include the Anna Hazare movement in the context of the Lokpal. This is kind of history in the making and we need to incorporate it,” he said. “In future, this will be a great research subject.”

IIM Indore’s students have also conducted a survey across six IIMs on graft, the Lokpal Bill and the government’s response. Of the nearly 600 respondents, 81% didn’t like the government version of the Lokpal Bill as opposed to 5% who supported it. At least 61% backed the Jan Lokpal Bill, while 17% opposed it. The others had not read the Bill.

At Delhi University’s FMS, students took part in a 3-hour session on Tuesday to discuss Brand Anna. “Anna was projected as a new product in the market and (the discussion was about) how he managed to dent the image of existing market players like the Congress party,” said Anubhav Kanodia, a second-year student at FMS.

Corruption is like a wound and “Anna is working like a balm, hence, he and his movement interests all”, said Harsh V. Verma, a professor at FMS. “We don’t want to stop here. We will write papers, do deeper research and come out with a case study,” Verma added. “From my point of view, Anna is a successful brand.”

Transparency International (TI), an organization that seeks to fight corruption, said there has been a rise in interest among researchers. “The number of students approaching us for internship on corruption has doubled in 2011 from last year,” said Anupama Jha, Executive Director at TI. “Many of them are law students.”

Swati Attavar, an undergraduate Indian student at Cambridge University in the UK, said she was interested on a dissertation on corruption and that was why she approached TI. “Among Indian students in our university, this a subject of huge debate,” said Attavar, currently on a break in Bangalore. “I think soon people will take it up as an academic debate.”

“Youngsters do realize that corruption is a big issue and they are at a loss to find a role model. They found Anna as a model and are following him and his ideas even though many of them don’t understand the nitty-gritty of the subject,” Jha added.

Santosh Kumar Patra, a professor at MICA, said students at the institute have shown an increased interest in academic discourse on the subject, besides participating in anti-corruption rallies. No papers have emerged from this yet.

Source: Mint, August 24, 2011