The Economic Times

Edition: Kolkata

Date: 2nd February 2006

 

 

IIFT Graduates Have A Ball

Our Delhi Bureau

 

            Move over IIMs.  It’s the moolah route even for the graduating batch of MBA (international business) of the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT).  The institute, which produces global managers in the field of international business, has seen a record high in annual domestic salary and international salary of Rs 10.6 lakh and $100,000, respectively, in its ‘Placement 2006’.

 

            “These high salaries translate into an average increase of 10%, at Rs 8.1 lakh, than last year’s placement figures,” Munish Bhargava, corporate and placement adviser, IIFT, told ET.  Against this, the average salary during 2005 was Rs 7.28 lakh and Rs 5.89 lakh in 2004, Elaborating on the sectoral break-up, he said this year’s selectors were led by FMCG and banking companies, who picked up the maximum number of candidates.

 

            Mr. Bhargava claimed that the salary figures at IIFT this year were at par with what companies were offering at the IIMs, ‘which reaffirms the institute’s commitment and capability to churn out world-class managers,” he added.  The difference between salary offered at IIFT and IIM-A has narrowed over the last two years.  In fact, the placement day saw 10% of the students being offered overseas jobs.  The day started with less than the full strength, as 20% of the batch had already received pre-placement offers (PPOs) well before the placement week started.  A wide range of companies from different sectors like FMCG, banking, consulting, IT, pharmaceutical, trading and logistics evinced keen interest in the graduates.

 

            Sectoral majors like Colgate Palmolive, ITC, Nestle, Godrej, Dabur, ICICI, UTI, SBI, Infosys, Accenture, IBM, HP, AV Birla Group, Bharti and DHL were present to recruit the best in the field of international business.  In all, there were 75 companies who visited the campus to recruit around 100 candidates.  Such was the demand that only 35 companies could manage to select their candidates.