IIMs see surge in pre-placement job offers despite sluggish market. Startups, nonprofits join the hiring race.

Mint

4 days ago

India's leading business schools are seeing a sharp rise in pre-placement offers this year despite a sluggish job market. Students across Indian Institutes of Management in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Lucknow, Indore and Kozhikode who completed their summer internships in April-May are reporting strong hiring interest from recruiters.
A pre-placement offer (PPO) is a job offer typically extended by a company to a student interning with it even before the formal campus placement process begins.
While consulting and finance firms continue to dominate pre-placement offers, recruiters from sectors such as renewable energy, edtech, political consulting, think tanks, and nonprofits are also showing significant interest, according to placement teams at the older IIMs.
'Last year, we had about 80-90 PPOs by this time. But this year, we already have over a hundred PPOs, and more continue to come in as companies respond one by one," said a placement coordinator from one of the IIMs, who didn't want to be named.
Not only are the offers higher in volume, but companies are paying 5-10% more than last year, said the coordinator. Though the median stipend for summer internships at all IIMs last year is not available, for IIM-Indore, it was ₹1.3 lakh per month and for IIM-Kozhikode it was ₹2.5 lakh, according to their placement reports.
The summer internships process begins around September-October, when recruiters visit the IIMs to pick candidates for internships in April and May the following year. After the internships, companies offer PPOs to select students, while the remaining students proceed to sit for the final placements.
Depending on the IIM, the dates of final placements vary. The older ones start their placement season in February while the newer ones start a couple of months earlier.
In a sluggish job market marked by uncertainty, recruiters seem eager to close offers quickly, aware that anxious students are more likely to accept early offers.
'We observed that companies are increasingly seeking opportunities to recruit students post their internship," said Roopak Kumar Gupta, chairperson of IIM-Kozhikode's placement office—Corporate Access, Readiness and Engagement (Care) Office. 'Summer internship gives them an opportunity to test the skill of the students on live projects. We are optimistic about this in the coming season."
Influx of recruiters
IIMs, where the batch strength for their flagship MBA programme can go up to 600 students, are using various strategies to help students get internships and better pre-placement and final placement offers.
'While the influx of startups, think tanks, NGOs (non-government organisations) is leading to a diverse spectrum of job opportunities, consulting firms continue to hold an upper hand due to their higher compensation packages," said another placement coordinator at one of the older IIMs. 'We are anticipating slightly better PPO offerings compared to last year."
IIM-Kozhikode banked on a mix of both older recruiters and new firms to secure internships for its students. At IIM-Indore, consulting remained the largest recruiter cluster, with nearly 35% of the latest batch securing internships in this sector.
'Sales and marketing also witnessed a significant surge in compensation (for internships), attracting interest from international recruiters," a spokesperson for IIM-Indore said in response toMint'squeries. 'The finance sector remained strong as well, with several high-paying roles offered across investment banking, corporate finance, and private equity."
IIM-Indore expects a rise in PPOs this year.
'This (internship) season witnessed a notable rise in participation from the renewable energy sector, with companies like TruAlt, ReNew, and Waaree marking their debut," the spokesperson said. 'Educational startups such as Boatload Minds and Hippocampus also joined the roster. Additionally, there has been an emerging interest from political consulting firms, with Showtime Consulting being one of the notable new entrants."
At ReNew, which offered summer internships at older IIMs, the roles spanned international business development, sustainability and CSR (corporate social responsibility), ESG (environmental, social, and governance), policy affairs, finance, and human resources.
'We are providing roles that are both high-impact as well as high-paying, which fit their criterion well," said Vaishali Nigam Sinha, co-founder and chairperson of sustainability, ReNew.
The top recruiters
Top recruiters at IIM-Indore for internships included Boston Consulting Group (BCG), L.E.K. Consulting, and the Big Four firms—EY, Deloitte, PwC and KPMG.
'EY India hires from IIMs both for summer internships and final placements, an association we are immensely proud of and have nurtured over many years," said Arti Dua, partner at EY.
'Our recruitment focus is sharply aligned with EY-Parthenon (EYP) for strategy and transformation roles spanning multiple dynamic sectors, as we find IIM students bring a rare combination of strategic acumen, entrepreneurial mindset, and advanced problem-solving skills—attributes that perfectly match our high-impact, fast-paced environment," Dua said. 'Roles offered typically span across business transformation, market-entry strategy, operating model design, and digital-first consulting mandates."
KPMG's internships focus on the consulting business, where interns work with teams to support C-suite clients on high-impact projects.
'We actively extend pre-placement offers to top-performing interns. The exact number is performance-based, but our aim is to maximise PPO conversion by identifying high-potential talent aligned with our long-term vision," a KPMG spokesperson said in an email reply to Mint.
'PPOs to our high-performing summer interns continues to be a core proposition…," said Saurabh Chhajer, managing director and partner, BCG.
However, the final picture is still evolving. With some top consulting firms yet to confirm their PPO decisions, placement teams remain cautious.
'"The consulting firms are yet to revert, so we are relying more on the growing opportunities coming in from the FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) and the BFSI (banking, financial services, and insurance) sectors," said Rajeev Verma, the placements chairperson at IIM-Ranchi. 'We believe if we do not hear from the traditional recruiters, the PPOs may remain stagnant at what they were last year."
Verma added that artificial intelligence and machine learning operations and sustainability studies had become fundamental skills that recruiters expect candidates to have. 'The institutes are increasingly organizing focused industry discussions on these themes to better prepare students for the evolving job market," he said.
As the final placement season approaches, B-schools are hoping this early hiring and optimism momentum holds.
Ria Dalal contributed to this story