BIG PAY DAY AT CAMPUS PLACEMENTS

THERE WERE MORE JOBS THAN CANDIDATES, RESULTING IN GREATER COMPETITION AMONG CORPORATES TO HIRE THE BEST OF THE BEST.

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IN APRIL THIS YEAR, Isha Nisar bagged a marketing job with ITC after graduating from Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A). Getting to choose from three offers, Isha considers herself fortunate enough to graduate in 2022.

The placement season in 2021 wasn’t great, says Isha. “Fewer companies had come and salary packages were not as high as this year,” she recalls the experience of her seniors at IIM-A. Isha sat for various roles, from finance to consulting, but decided to pursue her interest in marketing. “I had offers from investment banks, private equity and venture capitalists. They offered hefty salaries to the tune of `70-80 lakh. But I decided to follow my heart and went into marketing. I had the luxury to say no and focus on what I wanted to do because of the rich placement process.”

Data from this year’s Fortune India Best B-Schools Survey backs Isha’s story. Average annual salaries among top 12 business schools in India saw a strong jump in 2022, up to a whopping 30%. While it was the highest at Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM-C) at `34.20 lakh, Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode (IIM-K) saw the highest jump (30%) in percentage terms — from `22.53 lakh in 2021 to `29.50 lakh in 2022. Interestingly, the average annual salary had dropped 2% in 2021 over 2020 at IIM-K. For other B-Schools, the salary hike was muted in the range of 0.65% to 13%.