Hiring rebounds at top Indian business schools even as global political developments cast a shadow

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. After a tough placement season in 2024, India’s leading business schools have said in conversations with Mint that placements are looking sunnier this year. This, even as geopolitical shifts are clearly stamping their mark on the placements, with some recruiters even asking global business environment-related questions of candidates.

Placement heads of some of the older IIMs said that while crore-plus salaries have been coming in, the median pay packages are similar to last year’s or have seen marginal uptick. Recruiters from consulting, manufacturing and, in some cases, financial services too have shown higher interest in hiring so far this year. Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore, one of the older IIMs, has already placed its first cohort and, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity, the students were “upbeat" about the placements this year.

The management college did not respond to Mint’s queries. Recruiters, too, are pointing to hiring more this year. “Our hiring numbers have gone up this year, and we will likely hire more candidates from the IIMs compared to the last two years," said Supratik Bhattacharyya, chief talent officer for RPG Group.

According to Bhattacharyya, the business house typically visits older IIMs such as IIM-Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta and Lucknow as well as other premier campuses such as FMS, SP Jain or XLRI. Also read | IIM grads get a reality check in a tight job market Placements at the older IIMs typically begin in end-January and February, while the newer ones’ placements begin the previous December. Geopolitical changes and the new Donald Trump-led US government’s unorthodox thinking may have prevented companies from