GE Capital provides Rs 1300 cr loan to JLR

The move will shorten the 30-40 days it has to wait for between producing cars and delivering them.


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- JLR secures 170 mn pound loan from GE Capital: report
- JLR recalls 40 Land Rovers in India
- JLR recalls 40 Land Rover vehicles in India
- JLR unveils new plan for revamp, unions restive
- GE Capital Business Process Management Services bags award
- V8 and watch


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GE Capital today signed an agreement with Jaguar Land Rover, the UK-based subsidiary of Tata Motors, to provide a working capital facility of up to £170 million for a five-year term.

The move will boost working capital within the company by shortening the 30-40 days gap the company has to wait between producing cars and delivering them to over 90 countries.

In a media release, GE Capital said the facility represents an innovative structure to finance JLR finished vehicle stocks between the points of production and onward sale to dealers on a revolving basis, as 90-day working capital.

“This is the first time that we are aware of in Europe, that a facility has been created to leverage this part of the distribution cycle and is demonstrative of how our pan-European asset and structuring expertise can truly benefit our customers,” said Rich Laxer, EMEA (Europe, Middle east and Afirca) President & CEO for GE Capital

This working capital loan will come as an additional support to JLR’s financial requirements, strained since the global economic slowdown over the past two years. Sluggish global demand for premium and luxury cars, which are JLR’s forte, led to the Midlands-based car maker seeking financial support from all possible sources within Europe and India.

Earlier last month, JLR had announced that it had secured a £175 million (Rs 1,300 crore) line from State Bank of India, over and above the $90 million (Rs 420 crore) committed export financing facility with ABC International Bank. In all, the company has raised nearly £670 million of new facilities this year, including those from SBI and ABC, and those secured earlier in the year from Standard Chartered Bank, Bank of Baroda, and Burdale Financial Ltd, a subsidiary of the Bank of Ireland, and now from GE Capital.

This also means JLR has raised twice as much funding as it had originally planned to within Europe, when it had managed to get approval for a £340 million loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB). However, it was unable to access this loan as it failed to get the UK government’s guarantee, which was a pre-condition by EIB to get the funding through. In August, JLR said that it would go ahead with its fund-raising plans without the support of the UK government and has since managed to secure twice as much loan as the UK government’s guarantee would have ensured.

Securing additional financial support is only part of JLR plans to claw its way out of the current recession. The company is moving ahead with fresh investments in the development of new models, including a new lightweight sedan, sports cars and sports utility vehicles and “electrification technology” (to produce hybrid cars). This Tata Group company also plans to rationalise its production, by closure of one its united, without any compulsory job losses, by 2014.

Over the past year, production in JLR was reduced by more than 1,00,000 units; spending and costs were cut, jobs reduced by 2,500, pay frozen and bonuses cancelled. “But this was not enough to offset the full magnitude of the downturn and the company swung from profit in 2007 to significant losses over the past 12 months. This was not a sustainable situation. Actions taken have started to reverse the trend, quarter over quarter, and we now have to take the company to the next level of competitiveness,” an earlier statement from JLR had said.

Woman power fuels Scooty

An award-winning marketing scheme that trains women to ride two-wheelers helps TVS ramp up sales.

Last month, the Mudra Group won the only Globe for India at the MAA Award function which recognises the best of marketing programmes from around the globe. The award was in the Best Activity Generating Brand Loyalty category.

The MAA Award, overseen by 114 judges from 27 countries, was the fourth international recognition for Mudra this year for its innovative campaign – Women on Wheels — for TVS Scooty. The campaign won metal at the PMAA’s, the Abby’s and the Grand Emvie as well.

Conceptualised & executed by the Mudra Group’s trade marketing unit, Multiplier, Women on Wheels is a simple programme that trains women to ride two-wheelers.

As a part of this campaign, TVS has set up driving learning centres called TVS Scooty Institute at its dealerships where girls over 16 years of age can take a week’s training for just Rs 350.

Since women account for more than 70 per cent of Scooty sales, the campaign, positioned as empowerment of women, was a smart move. It helped TVS post a 24 per cent volume growth in Scooty sales against the overall industry growth of 18 per cent.

The strategy — train and sell – is also in tune with a TVS-IMRB research study which found that any girl who learns to ride on a certain brand of bike would invariably like to buy the same brand — the training being a big influence on purchase decision.

No wonder, Scooty accounts for 25-30 per cent of the total sales of TVS at around 300,000 two-wheelers. The company’s Scooty portfolio includes Scooty Streak, Scooty Pep, Scooty Teenz and Teenz Electric.

The study also showed that while it is normal for men to lend their bikes to their male friends who want to learn how to ride, women face stiff resistance from even their family members. What makes it worse is that there aren’t many formal two-wheeler training centres in the country. The findings prompted the company to set up the Scooty Institute.

As most two-wheeler sales happen in Tier II towns, TVS launched the institute in areas with population of 100,000 to 500,000. The women undergoing training are in the age group of 18-25 and who don’t want to depend on family members or the public transport system for commuting.

TVS is now planning to scale up the programme to about 1,000 centres (from 80 now), using its extensive dealership and service network. Under the programme, dealers approach girls’ schools and colleges to offer training in riding two-wheelers. Residential areas and beauty salons are also targeted. Over 400,000 women have been contacted and more than 42,000 women trained in the last two years.

“In each centre, we want to increase the number of women being trained to 200 from the existing 60-70,” says S Srinivas, General Manager, Marketing, TVS Motor Company. One in every five students has bought a TVS brand within three months of the training.

While “Women on Wheels” is doing fine, TVS has also been banking on aggressive above-the line promotions and has used celebrities like Preity Zinta, Minisha Lamba and now Sania Mirza to endorse it. “It adds to Scooty’s aspirational value,” says Harish Bijoor, CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc.

Bijoor says the product campaign reinforces the concept of women on the move. “It is all about breaking the stereotype of the woman on the pillion and the man up-front riding or driving,” he says.

Styling, easy-to-use features and the models available in 99 colours have all added to the aspirational value, says Srinivas. Pink is the nost popular colour.

Analysts say TVS needs to step up these innovations as it is still far behind market leader Honda in the Scooty segment. According to SIAM data, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) sold 52,552 Scootys in September against TVS’ 29,468. Hero Honda is in the third position with 17,299 units.

While HMSI, which has Activa, Dio and Aviator in its portfolio, doesn’t advertise specifically for women, TVS may face tough competition from Hero Honda which is gaining ground fast with its 100cc, gearless scooter - Pleasure. Launched in January 2006, Pleasure is betting on cutting edge technology. For instance, Pleasure comes equipped with the tuff-up tube - a technology which offers an immediate remedy in case of a tyre puncture by using an anti-puncture sealant gel.

Hero Honda is also playing on the “woman theme”. Apart from Priyanka Chopra as the brand ambassador, the company recently launched “Just4her”, the first exclusive showroom for women customers of Pleasure. There are currently more than 20 Just4her showrooms and workshops across the country, serviced by women staff only. The company also introduced Lady Rider Club – an exclusive women’s club which is a first in the automobile industry. TVS has tough competition indeed.

TCS to form business alliance with Dow

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), an IT services, business solutions and outsourcing organisation, announced plans to form an innovative business alliance that will provide critical business services to Dow, a diversified chemical company, its subsidiaries and joint ventures.

The alliance is an expansion of an existing relationship between Dow and TCS, combining Dow’s leading chemical industry knowledge and operational discipline with the service delivery expertise of TCS.

“This strategic partnership will make our already lean and efficient corporate centre even more so, by supporting a business services model that delivers world-class capabilities at an estimated 30 per cent savings,” said Dave Kepler, Dow executive vice president of business services. “This innovative approach uses a variable staffing model, centralises activities and maximises efficiencies to meet evolving business needs.”

As part of this alliance and global network, Dow and TCS also are announcing plans to build a new strategic services centre near the site of Dow’s global headquarters in Midland, Michigan, subject to the approval of state and local incentives. Plans are underway to begin construction on a new facility in the next year, with the first phase of the build-out designed to accommodate 1250 employees. This effort will support the local economy through the creation of new jobs. In addition, TCS plans to expand its service offerings beyond Dow in the future, creating a service valley in central Michigan.

Auto sales zoom in Oct

Cross 1-million mark on surge in commercial vehicle sales.

A big surge in the sales of passenger cars and medium and heavy commercial vehicles (M&HCVs) raised domestic vehicle sales in October to 1,000,760 units — 15.62 per cent higher than the 865,566 units sold in the same month last year.

According to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam), this was a continuation of the double-digit sales growth posted by the industry since April this year. The only exception was the month of September, when overall sales growth slowed to 7.67 per cent.

October’s healthy sales growth for the overall automobile industry came on the back of record double-digit growth of 33 per cent for passenger cars and 11 per cent in the sales of two-wheelers.

IN TOP GEAR
Segment	Oct ’08	Oct ‘09	% change
Two-wheelers	678,245	750,229	10.61
Three-wheelers	33,026	39,926	20.89
Passenger vehicles	126,276	168,043	33.08
Commercial vehicles	28,019	42,562	51.9
Total	865,566	1,000,760	15.62
Source: Siam

A positive sales growth notched up by the M&HCV segment (large trucks in the goods carrier segment) for the third continuous month also helped the industry. This segment, which posted a positive growth of 1 and 3 per cent in August and September respectively this year, grew by a whopping 64.14 per cent in October after the industry sold a record 16,048 vehicles last month.

Total sales of commercial vehicles, including light CVs (LCVs) in the goods and passenger segment, grew 52 per cent to 42,562 units last month. The increase in infrastructure spending by the government also helped sales. Siam Senior Director Sugato Sen said the growth would be maintained in the coming months, especially when the new emission norms are enforced in April 2010.

Vehicle sales for October were also aided by the sales of large buses, whose year-on-year sales since May this year had been declining. October sales of large buses grew 64 per cent to 3,294 units. Industry analysts put down the higher bus sales — a record 3,294 units in October — to the JNNURM scheme introduced by the government with the aim of providing better public transportation in cities. Of the 15,000 buses allocated under the scheme, orders have been placed for 12,000, with 1,500 buses delivered so far.

“The overall sales for the automobile industry, apart from other factors, has come primarily from good sentiments in the domestic market and overall economic growth,” research agency IDFC-SSKI’s Vice-President S Ramnath said.

Domestic sales of cars and utility vehicles for October grew 33 per cent, after the industry sold 168,043 units — the highest sales figure posted since this April. This is also a continuation of the double digit-growth posted by car manufacturers since July.

“The growth for October comes primarily on the back of festival demand,” Maruti Suzuki Chief General Manager (Marketing) Shashank Srivastava said.

October sales of two-wheelers grew by 10.6 per cent to 750,229 units. According to industry executives, the October growth looked subdued, since, at least in two-wheelers, last year constituted a high base.

Sales of three-wheelers for October grew 21 per cent to 39,925 units of both goods and passenger three-wheelers.

Going forward, industry executives said growth could slow down on two counts. “To make recovery sustainable, the fiscal stimulus has to be continued beyond this financial year,” Sen said.

Also, vehicles sales could get impacted if the shortage of tyres is not addressed. “There is an acute shortage of tyres in the country. Vehicle OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) are forced to cut back on production,” another executive said.

Inside Bharti Walmart

How the cash & carry retailer runs its business

The Bharti Group, promoted by the Mittal family, had searched high and low for a foreign partner when it wanted to start its cash & carry (organised or modern wholesale) business. The expertise just did not exist in the country. The only way to begin was with help from a large foreign player. And most of them were indeed interested in India, the last virgin territory. After playing footsie with Carrefour, Tesco and Walmart — the three biggest names in the business — the Bharti Group finally walked the altar with Walmart in August 2007. Thus was born the 50:50 joint venture, Bharti Walmart.

The first Bharti Walmart store, called Best Price Modern Wholesale, opened in Amritsar in May 2009. Walmart India President and Bharti Walmart Managing

Director & CEO Raj Jain says it is still early days to discuss performance. But a clear outline of his strategy has begun to emerge. And it straddles the entire gamut from market segmentation to prices, supply chain, real estate and human resource.

Small is big
There are close to 7 million grocers in the country. Out of these, not more than 80,000 are serviced directly by companies like Hindustan Unilever, Procter & Gamble and Colgate-Palmolive. The others depend on wholesalers. Their large numbers mean they account for large volumes. Jain reckons that even in highly-evolved categories like toothpaste or tea, over 40 per cent of the volumes pass through the wholesalers to the small grocers. This is the market Bharti Walmart has set out to tap.

At the Amritsar store, grocers comprise almost 70 per cent of the company’s customers — the rest are bunched together as Horecas (hoteliers, restaurantiers and caterers), though some wholesalers also pick up merchandise from there. Out of these, almost half are small grocers. Jain, in fact, wants to go down one step further. He has an eye on the green grocers who sell their stuff on pushcarts in most towns and cities. Bharti Walmart has, to begin with, obtained licences for ten such pushcarts from the Amritsar municipality; they will pick up the green groceries from the Best Price store every morning and then fan out in the city. If the experiment succeeds, the company could make available more pushcarts.

The all important question is that why should small grocers pick up their wares from the Best Price stores? The wholesale network may be antiquated but it has worked. Wholesalers extend credit to the retailers. The relationship often spreads itself over generations.

Price matters
The biggest attraction, of course, is the price. Jain says that Bharti Walmart prices are 1 to 7 per cent lower than those of the wholesalers. This, mind you, has happened when the company has just started out and supply chain efficiencies are yet to be maxed. Once that happens, says Jain, Bharti Walmart prices could be up to 15 per cent lower.

There is another way the smaller grocer benefits from buying his stuff at the company’s store. Most companies and wholesalers give volume discounts. Larger the order placed by the retailer, lower the price. This is where the smaller grocer happens to be at a disadvantage. Bharti Walmart has the same price for all — there is no volume discount. This works in favour of the small grocer.

Walmart the world over is known for the tough prices it negotiates with its suppliers. Because of the large volumes it can offer, it squeezes the last penny out of its suppliers. But that strategy it can hardly use in India — it has only one store in operation and can therefore not leverage volumes for low prices.

“We are able to negotiate better prices than the wholesale market,” Jain puts it candidly. “We may be small and new to India but a lot of our suppliers work with us globally. So they understand the fact that we are going to become big as we go along. That’s why we can negotiate better terms than the wholesalers.”

Jain says there is another advantage that Bharti Walmart has built into its business model over the wholesalers. Most wholesalers are reluctant to stock a new product because of the risk involved — it can block shelf space but may not sell. “We can have a dialogue with the producer that we can help it establish the product. This can help us get better leverage and price,” says Jain.

Variety, variety
The other factor that draws grocers and Horecas to the Best Price store, says Jain, is the range of products available. All told, the company keeps around 6,000 SKUs (stock-keeping units). Several of these cannot be found elsewhere in the market, he adds.

“Horecas come to us because they get all they need under one roof and we keep specialty items they need — broken cashew nuts, for example. Halwais need it to for the sweets they prepare. That may not be easily available in the Amritsar market. We have big kadhaisand spatulas with a special handle. We have dish to buy which caterers earlier came to Delhi,” says he.

The store even stocks machines that can detect fake notes. “There is a huge problem of fake notes in India, especially in the border towns. There is a machine to identify fake notes of Rs 100 and Rs 500. We find a huge market for these machines. Even banks are negotiating. Shopkeepers are buying it in large numbers,” says Jain. This is the kind of stuff, he adds, which is not available anywhere else in the market.

Also, the supply chain created by Bharti Walmart ensures that product availability is not erratic. This is a problem grocers often face with wholesalers. In case of a disruption, the wholesaler has no means to repair it. Two months ago, there was a severe shortage of butter across the country. Thanks to inadequate monsoon rains, milk production had gone down. Cities had consequently run out of butter. “Since we deal with large manufacturers, we were able to move in refrigerated trucks from Anand (in Gujarat) and other bases to Amritsar. We sold lots and lots at a time when no butter was available on the regular channels for three to four weeks,” says Jain.

Supply score
What is critical, therefore, is the supply chain. Bharti Walmart has put its 1,000-odd suppliers in four buckets. On the top are about 50 large suppliers like Hindustan Unilever and Procter & Gamble. “These are easy to work with because they understand modern trade and know us globally,” says Jain. “But the truth is that many of them are not used to dealing with this kind of trade in India. So, they have to develop skills and capabilities in this area. The information technology systems of some of them are not geared to supply online. Their pack sizes are largely designed for wholesale trade. We can’t sell that.”

All suppliers, big and small, are given a time for delivery. They need to supply within two hours of that. Once the window shuts, they are asked to wait till the next slot on the unloading bays is available — that could happen a full day later. The demurrage charges are borne by the supplier. Bharti Walmart maintains a score card for each supplier. Any consignment that arrives bang on time gets full marks (100 out of 100) and the one that rolls in once the window is shut gets zero. “That is the negotiation that we have with the supplier — what is the scorecard vis-à-vis what was committed. That’s how they get penalised. In most cases, as of now, there is no financial penalty. It is more a question of negotiations on promise versus performance, how to improve it,” says Jain.

So, what is the score of the large suppliers — the companies that have some exposure to modern trade? “The average score has seen double-digit gains in the last six months for all the large suppliers. Some of the best scores are in the 90s and the worst in the 50s,” says Jain. “Our objective is that everybody should be in the 90s. Globally, you can expect to be as high as 97 or 98. So there’s a lot of work that still needs to be done.” But Jain cautions about irrational expectations: “We need to design systems that are centric to India, which is a very unique place in terms of logistics and sanctity of deadlines.”

The next bucket is 20 to 30 Indian companies that do not have global exposure but have the financial capacity and the managerial wherewithal to be able to become a part of an efficient supply chain — companies like Marico and Dabur. “There is some little work that needs to be done to help them in their exposure to modern trade,” says Jain. And what does their scorecard say? “Their score would be lower, so we thought, but some of them have improved very well. They are hungry to learn and perform better,” says Jain.

The third bucket has hundreds of small- and medium-sized suppliers. These are essentially regional players who make stuff like soap, papad and pickle. Some of them are strong regional brands but have no national exposure. Their financial capacity is limited and they have almost no managerial bandwidth. Their exposure to modern trade is almost zero. “Here the task is huge because they need technology, financial and managerial help,” says Jain. “We are working with them on how to bring up their capacity and capability to deal with us. We don’t give them financial aid. But their relationship with us helps them get money from banks.” Jain has put together a team of ten to deal with such suppliers. Independent auditors help them raise their standards in issues like food safety, ethical compliance and child labour.

Finally, there are the co-operatives. Some of them could have strong brands like Verka. “Here the challenge is quite different. They have the financial capability but they don’t have the commitment. In some cases, it is simply too bureaucratic to improve things. It’s a much slower burn than we would like it to be,” says Jain.

In sum, how does the Indian supply chain compare with the Walmart chains abroad in efficiency? Jain admits that such benchmarking is being done internally but a comparision is unfair at this moment. “We are just about showing up in the radar — it is still too early to compare us with the international standards. You can’t do in six months or one year what others have done over ten years.”

Space and people
The cash & carry segment in the country is still small. There are only two players — Metro of Germany with five stores and now Bharti Walmart. Technopak Advisors Associate Vice-president Purnendu Kumar thinks the size of the cash & carry market is around Rs 800 crore at the moment but could grow to Rs 15,000 to 16,000 crore in the next five years. “Others like Carrefour and Tesco are bound to enter in the days to come,” says he. “The next year should be good to watch as more players will speed up operations. We should see the segment mature a bit which is not the case now,” adds Ernst & Young Partner & National Leader (retail and consumer product practice) Pinakiranjan Mishra.

Cash & carry are large boxes located outside the town. Bharti Walmart had initially planned to open 12 to 15 such stores in five years. With the correction in real estate prices over the last one year, Jain says this target will be achieved in three years’ time. The company could own these boxes or take them on lease from landowners. Rentals, Jain has decided, should be between 2 per cent and 5 per cent. “Ideally, it should be 2 per cent. But in India it is not possible right now. Anything above 5 per cent doesn’t work for us,” says Jain. Most retailers fork out up to 20 per cent of sale as rent. This tight control over real estate price, Jain admits, has made site-selection difficult. “As we have established ourselves, people have understood what we want. We have a lot of people who come to us and offer their land,” says he.

More than real estate, Bharti Walmart needs to have the right mix of people — men and women with exposure to global best practices in supply chain and inventory management, and store attendants who ought to make sure the small grocer does not get intimidated. Jain says all the people in the Amritsar store are locals, except perhaps the store manager, who speak the same language as the smallest grocer. The company puts all attendants through a finishing school it has set up in the city with the Punjab government. The Walmart business model has begun to unfold in India.

India Eco Summit: Wipro eyes acquisition in BPO space

The country's third largest software exporter, Wipro Technologies, today said it is looking for an acquisition in the BPO space, which is likely to be the next engine of growth for the IT industry.

"The economy has improved. The IT demand situation is certainly improving. The deal pipeline is good, the demand environment is building up," Wipro Technologies Joint CEO Suresh Vaswani told reporters on the sidelines of the India Economic Summit.

He added the company is looking at acquisitions in the BPO space."BPO has strong performance... BPO will drive growth for the IT industry. Acquisition is part of our strategy we keep looking at it, he said."

The company is also bullish about the current quarter."We have given a fairly strong guidance for this quarter which is substantially more than what we gave last quarter," Vaswani said, adding, all sectors are likely to grow, including the Banking, Financial Services and Insurance.

About the pricing pressure faced by the company, he said customers are not looking at price discounts but are looking at substantial change in cost structure.

"We are doing more fixed price projects which now form 40 per cent of the contracts we have. The fixed price models gives both our customers and us a win-win situation."

Summer placements at IIMs leave winter behind

Return of banking and financial sector companies for summer internships may improve final placements too at the campuses.

The summer placement process, which gives first-year post-graduate students an opportunity to spend nearly two months during summer 2010 with companies that make them offers, has given the Indian Institutes of Managements (IIMs) much cause to cheer.

While all the IIMs maintain that happy days have returned, the placements scenario is still not up to the 2007 levels when growth was at its peak. However, unlike in 2008 — when companies left students out in the cold due to the Lehman Brothers collapse and the economic slowdown that followed (the IIMs had also extended the closing dates for placements last year) — it’s a different story this year.

While IIM Ahmedabad concluded its summer placement process in record four days this year, the relatively smaller IIM Kozhikode too wrapped up the process in eight days with the highest stipend offer at Rs 1 lakh. Other IIMs started the process later, and are expected to close the season within a week.

Following the crash of global banking and financial sectors, the IIMs, last year, focused on tech service firms to explore job opportunities. This year, the IIMs have all their regular information technology (IT) and IT consulting firms returning. Also, this year’s surprise is start-ups and IIMs have some non-government-organisations (NGOs) and sports-based companies showing interest.

IIM-Kozhikode (IIM-K) too has a lot of new sectors in micro-finance and NGOs. “These can add up to nearly 15 per cent of the placements,” said Rohan Jaikishen, placement committee member, IIM-K. IIM-Lucknow placements chairman, R L Raina, says: “The offers are expected to rise. This is a sign of economic growth.”

Students of batch 2009-11 of IIM Ahmedabad (IIM-A) heaved a sigh of relief after over 150 of a total of 315 students were placed for the summers by the end of second day. Marketing was a hot favourite with some of the most sought after recruiters being Diageo (of Smirnoff, Johnnie Walker and Guinness fame), Nokia and Coca Cola. Finance remained the top pick with 44 per cent of IIM-A students opting for roles in finance, investment banking, private equity, corporate banking and treasury roles. Marketing roles grabbed an 18 per cent share with positions in sales and marketing management, branding, business development and marketing research. Consulting and general management were the next two preferred domains followed by IT, at 11, 18 and 9 per cent, respectively.

IIM Kozhikode (IIMK), on the other hand, wrapped up 100 per cent summer placements for its 2009-11 batch in eight days with 120 firms making offers to the 309-strong batch. Global biggies such as Arthur D Little, KPMG, Hewitt, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, Deutsche Bank, HUL, Pepsico and Colgate Palmolive participated in the placements. The highest stipend offered this year was over Rs 100,000 inclusive of perks and allowances. “The participation of new recruiters in the emerging fields of media, sports management, hospitality and NGOs is indicative that our students are also willing to explore new avenues,” said Keyoor Purani, chairperson placements, IIM-K.

As many as 40 firms which include Biocon, Astra Zeneca, Singapore-based Tolaram group and Dubai-based Gargash Insurance recruited summer interns at IIM-K for the first time.

The story at IIM-Calcutta is no different. Around 90 students were placed on day 1. IIM-C has 408 students to place this year, around 100 more than last two years. Morgan Stanley recruited from IIM-C this year exclusively for its London desk. The absence of Lehman Brothers was no longer felt, with Nomura the firm that took over Lehman making five offers to the students. The banks offered profiles in investment banking divisions, global markets, equity research, sales and corporate banking.

Summer placement got underway at IIM-B on Friday with 15-20 companies reportedly on the campus on day one of slot zero, the most coveted slot of placement. Continuing the trend witnessed in other business schools, investment banks and consultancies formed the bulk of recruiters offering both domestic and international offers. Sapna Agarwal, head of career development services at IIM Bangalore (IIM-B), said, “Initially, the institute was apprehensive about placing 350 students this year as compared to 267 last year but the response of recruiters has been very encouraging.”

While there’s no official comment, average stipends are understood to be marginally higher than last year as are the number of offers. Recruiters like RBS, McKinsey, Goldman Sachs, BCG, UBS etc are expected to visit the campus.

Last year, 85 students from IIM-B took up international offers among the highest across the IIMs and the number is expected to be high this year too. At IIM-Indore too, summer placements are underway and the institute will reveal details only after the completion of the process.