Boom time in IIMA: 110 opt for foreign shores, 120 get Slot Zero

Ahmedabad, Nov 17 (UNI) Almost half of the first year Post-Graduate Programme (PGP) students of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) have opted for international locations for their summer internships.

At least 110 out of the 246 students will be going to such international locations as New York, Boston, London, Brussels, Paris, Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo, for their summer placement, the Institute said in a statement.

About 120 students have been selected in the premier recruitment slot, popularly known as ''Slot Zero'', for summer internships. They comprise 49 per cent of the students appearing for placements.

Another 101 more students were placed by ''Slot One''.

The biggest recruiters on Slot Zero were Lehman Brothers (17), Merrill Lynch (14), J P Morgan (11), Barclays (11) and Citigroup (9).

Slot Zero saw 25 companies on campus, which included 11 investment banks and seven consulting firms.

In this slot, 82 students were placed in investment banks while 26 students opted for consulting firms. A number of the firms recruited exclusively in IIM-A in addition to a few select B-schools worldwide, said the IIM-A spokesperson.

Along with an unprecedented 60 per cent increase in the number of Slot Zero offers (compared to 73 last year), there has been a substantial elevation in the roles being offered at entry level too.

Deutsche Bank, Lehman Brothers and Barclays Capital recruited for Associate positions, that is at par with Ivy League B-school grads, he said.

Devashish Chakravarty, Coordinator of the Student Placement Committee, said ''The elevation in roles is a natural extension of IIMA's reputation as a global brand, and its position as one of the best B-schools in the world.'' IIM-A Director Professor Bakul Dholakia said, ''The consistency in the quality of students across the batch and across the Slots enabled the students to secure international placements even in Slot 1 and Slot 2.'' Of late, students at IIM-A have shown an increased interest in starting their own business, or joining startup firms which would give them valuable exposure across functions, and higher levels of responsibility in a very short time. This year, a 'Startup Fair' was organised for students on October 29, in which about 40 first year students interacted with 5 startups and 2 venture capital firms.

Raghavendra Reddy and Sourav Roy, members of the Placement Committee, said, ''The whole idea of the fair was to give the student adequate choice to make his career decisions and explore greater opportunities, and this is what sets us apart from other leading b-schools across the world.'' Neela Nageshwar Vittal, a first year student, is planning to join a tech startup based out of Bangalore for summers. He said, ''I plan to start something of my own in the future, and summer internship is a good time for me to experiment and explore.'' P Song Lal Khan Khual, another first year student who opted out of the formal process, plans to join an NGO in North-East India for the summers. ''I always wanted to work for a meaningful social cause, and the internship will also help me understand the working of an NGO,'' he said, UNI MMG SSS VKG LS VV2220