There are no surprises when it comes to the best college for commerce in Delhi. Ask anyone, from experts to students, and the reply more often than not will be: Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC).
According to KV Bhanumurthy, head, department of commerce, University of Delhi, the notable Delhi colleges for commerce, after SRCC, are:
. Lady Shri Ram College for Women (LSR)
. Shaheed Bhagat Singh
. Jesus and Mary College (JMC)
. Hans Raj
IC Dhingra, a well-known author of books on economics and a retired associate professor from Shaheed Bhagat Singh College (Day), lists the following top performers (after SRCC):
. Sri Venkateswara
. Delhi College of Arts and Commerce (DCAC)
. LSR
. JMC
. Shaheed Bhagat Singh College.
There are four factors, says Bhanumurthy, which distinguish a college from others: quality of faculty, the college’s reputation among employers, the quality of students and their participation in extra-curricular activities.
In Delhi, the calibre of the learners seems to be the game-changer. “Companies scout for SRCC students only because their partial assessment is complete the moment they are admitted (to the college) because the cut-off marks are normally above 95%. When it comes to cut-offs, there’s just a difference of 1% to 0.5% between SRCC and Hans Raj,” says Bhanumurthy.
The best colleges also become magnets for teaching talent. Dhingra says, “North campus has always been the first choice of commerce teachers and within the campus SRCC manages to draw the best of the lot. In south campus, Venkateswara has always stayed in the lead. However, in the last few years, Delhi College of Arts and Commerce (DCAC) has been doing well. Among the women’s colleges, LSR and JMC have good commerce departments.” When it comes to LSR, Arvind Kumar, an assistant professor in the college’s commerce department, says, “This college has produced several rank holders. For three consecutive years starting with 2005, DU’s topper was an LSRite.”
Though it has a small batch size of 42, LSR’s department of commerce has six faculty members. Out of them, four are PhD holders. JMC offers a bachelor of commerce (Hons) course and a bachelor of commerce (pass) course.
Bestamongst the rest
Shri ram college of commerce
Admission procedure: The admission process begins in May/June, along with most other Delhi University colleges. The college accepts the university’s centralised application form. The annual intake is of around 550 students every year and nearly 1,200 study BCom (honours) in all the three years put together.
Faculty: Out of 50 faculty members in the commerce department (the total number of teachers is 73, as per the college website), about 32% are PhDs.
Well-known faculty members and authors are VK Singhania and Girish Ahuja (both teach income tax).
Placements: The highest pay package offered in 2011 was R39 lakh a year for a London posting at Deutsche Bank followed by the Parthenon Group’s offer of R20 lakh. The average package was R6.5 lakh a year. The other 30 companies which visited the campus include Ernst and Young, Deloitte Consulting India, McKinsey and Bain Knowledge Centre.
Alumni: Analjit Singh, chairman, Max India Limited; Pramod Bhasin, CEO, Genpact; and Rajiv Memani, CEO, Ernst & Young India.
Alumnus speak: “Amit Sachdeva in the economics department and Dr CS Sharma in the finance department are known for their published work,” says Ajay Dawar of the 2008 batch.
Hans raj college
Admission procedure: Same as SRCC.
Faculty: There are 500 students and 23 faculty members out of which five are PhDs. Well-known members of the faculty are ND Kapoor (business studies), Dinkar Pagare (business studies) and MN Arora (costing).
Placements: About 65 (out of 72) students were placed in various organisations on an average pay package of R4.5 lakh a year while the lowest package stood at R2.5 lakh a year. Companies that visited the college for placements included Facebook, Google, Future First and McKinsey.
Alumni: Navin Jindal, Member of Parliament and entrepreneur.
Alumnus speak: “The fact that the college runs other programmes has helped us build a sound faculty base. We had a psychology teacher teaching politics, ethics and social responsibility in the first year in BCom (honours),” says Vikram Singh, a 2010 graduate. shaheed bhagat singh college
Admission procedure: Same as SRCC. About 350 students are admitted in BCom (honours) and 150 in the BCom programme every year.
Faculty: Out of 19 faculty members in the commerce department, half of them are PhDs. In all, there are around 55 teachers. Noted members of the faculty include GK Kapoor (law), SB Saxena (management accounting), BC Sehgal (costing) and SS Sareen (business law).
Placements: Around 10 companies recruited 81 students for pay packages ranging from R2.5 lakh to R3.5 lakh a year in the 2011 batch. They included KPMG, Ernst & Young, Indiabulls, Protiviti, and Deloitte, etc
Alumni: Deepak Kapoor, chairman, PwC India
Alumnus speak: “Most of my teachers were PhDs and half of them had written books. The only drawback was that it’s an off-campus college,” says Harinder Jit Singh, partner of PwC and a graduate of 1981
Hans raj college
Admission procedure: Same as SRCC.
Faculty: There are 500 students and 23 faculty members out of which five are PhDs. Well-known members of the faculty are ND Kapoor (business studies), Dinkar Pagare (business studies) and MN Arora (costing).
Placements: About 65 (out of 72) students were placed in various organisations on an average pay package of R4.5 lakh a year while the lowest package stood at R2.5 lakh a year. Companies that visited the college for placements included Facebook, Google, Future First and McKinsey.
Alumni: Navin Jindal, Member of Parliament and entrepreneur.
Alumnus speak: “The fact that the college runs other programmes has helped us build a sound faculty base. We had a psychology teacher teaching politics, ethics and social responsibility in the first year in BCom (honours),” says Vikram Singh, a 2010 graduate. shaheed bhagat singh college
Admission procedure: Same as SRCC. About 350 students are admitted in BCom (honours) and 150 in the BCom programme every year.
Faculty: Out of 19 faculty members in the commerce department, half of them are PhDs. In all, there are around 55 teachers. Noted members of the faculty include GK Kapoor (law), SB Saxena (management accounting), BC Sehgal (costing) and SS Sareen (business law).
Placements: Around 10 companies recruited 81 students for pay packages ranging from R2.5 lakh to R3.5 lakh a year in the 2011 batch. They included KPMG, Ernst & Young, Indiabulls, Protiviti, and Deloitte, etc
Alumni: Deepak Kapoor, chairman, PwC India
Alumnus speak: “Most of my teachers were PhDs and half of them had written books. The only drawback was that it’s an off-campus college,” says Harinder Jit Singh, partner of PwC and a graduate of 1981
From Chennai to Pune
The reputable colleges for commerce outside Delhi include:
St Xavier’s College, Kolkata
www.sxccal.edu
This 150-year-old institution offers undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in humanities, science, education, commerce and business administration Presidency, Chennai
www.presidencychennai.com
Presidency offers a BCom degree in corporate secretaryship with four allied subjects. These are: business management and business statistics and office management and managerial economics. It also provides an MCom degree
RA Podar, Mumbai
www.rapodar.ac.in
Affiliated to the University of Mumbai, this college runs a BCom programme. The college boasts many toppers in the university exams for BCom
Symbiosis College of Arts and Commerce, Pune
www.symbiosiscollege.edu.in
Affiliated to the University of Pune, this college offers a BCom programme with four specialisations - banking, business administration, costing and marketing. In the MCom programme, there are two specialisations — business administration and advanced accounting. Students can take a three-year diploma in liberal arts along with their degrees