B-school placements subjected to market risks

The average salary was about Rs. 18 lakh per annum in top management colleges such as Jamnalal Bajaj, Narsee Monjee and SP Jain, while they stayed below Rs. 10 lakh per annum at other institutes

Average salaries offered during placements at top B-schools in Mumbai have witnessed a marginal increase this year.

Average salaries offered during placements at top B-schools in Mumbai have witnessed a marginal increase this year. (Agencies/File photo)

The average salary was about Rs. 18 lakh per annum in top management colleges such as Jamnalal Bajaj, Narsee Monjee and SP Jain, while they stayed below Rs. 10 lakh per annum at other institutes. Analysis of the average salaries offered at five institutes show an increase of 3% over last year. On the other hand the high-paying banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) companies continued to dominate the placements, while the e-commerce sector has slowed down.

For a majority of the institutes, the average pay package couldn’t swell beyond 5%. The colleges have offered a variety of explanations for the trend. “Our batch-size has almost doubled compared to last year. In such a scenario, it was difficult to maintain the average salary,” said a professor from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS).

Contending that the salaries are a product of the market conditions, Anisur Rahman, a placement committee member from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, “While it appears that the average salary has not increased significantly, the trends vary if you consider individual offers. In any case, one can’t expect packages to rise every year,” he said.

A placement official from Welingkar Institute pointed out that the compensations offered by BFSI sector, the largest recruiter of management graduates, have remained stagnated for some years, bringing down the overall average.

Nevertheless, the BFSI companies continue to offer the highest packages in most of the institutes, even as other sectors such as consulting and IT/IT enabled services are fast catching up. This year, around 30% offers have been made from companies belonging to financial sector.

Meanwhile, the recruitments from e-commerce companies have dwindled. By a rough estimate, the offers made by the online ventures have halved over the one year period.