Know your initial worth in market

For those mulling their first job offer and wondering if they are being paid right, here is a website that could give an indication.

After the successful launch of paycheck.in, a portal which gives transparent wage rates across sectors, cities and countries, the Indian Institute of Management- Ahmedabad (IIM-A), IT Professionals Forum-Bangalore and Indian Institute of Science-Bangalore are now planning to launch fresherpaycheck.in.

This would be one of the first websites in India providing salary information to companies hiring at entry-levels and to those without work experience, who want to know their professional worth.

fresherpaycheck.in would be a part of the WageIndicator Foundation, a non-profit organisation and a joint initiative of FNV (Dutch confederation of trade unions), the University of Amsterdam/AIAS (Institute of Advanced Labour Studies) and career website Monster. The portal would contain entry-level information for those wanting to apply across several sectors like IT, finance and services.

Like paycheck.in, visitors to the site will be able to fill up a short questionnaire pertaining to their current employment, salary, incentives and educational background, which would be added to the database. Companies will also be able to fill in details on their wage structures, making it easy for freshers to have an idea of what salary they can quote during interviews. To protect the identity of the users, the portal will have personal details like name and company under wraps.

“We are working on fresherpaycheck.in and will look to discuss more details with the Wageindicator Foundation in Amsterdam,” said Biju Varkkey, an IIM-A professor. He said the website was being planned to help young professionals and that nearly 1,000 hits a day were expected after its inception around July 2008.

Despite giving information on specific domains like womenpaycheck.in and ITpaycheck.in, Varkkey said most visitors to paycheck.in wanted to know others’ salaries and did not want to put their own salaries on the database. The website receives as many as 1,500 hits a day but just 300 or so fill up the salary questionnaire. To counter this, fresherpaycheck.in is looking at fewer questions so that the process would be simpler.

The questionnaire takes information relating to the user’s sector, geographical position, profile, salary package, perquisites and other wage-based information anonymously, which could be compared by someone interested in the same position.

To encourage visitors to fill up the questionnaires, prizes like a trip to Africa or an iPod are also being offered by paycheck.in and similar wage websites affiliated to the Wageindicator Foundation. The site also has a separate section called VIP paycheck, which gives details on salaries drawn by famous personalities like Pratibha Patil, Sachin Tendulkar, Serena Williams and Hillary Clinton.

Four new IITs, six IIMs to be set up

In a bid to give an impetus to the higher education sector, government today decided to establish four new IITs and six IIMs in various states besides upgrading some of the state universities to the status of Central Universities.

While the new IITs would be located in Orissa, Madhya Pradesh (Indore), Gujarat and Punjab, the IIMs would come up in Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh (Raipur), Uttarakhand and Haryana.

These new institutions would be part of the eight IITs and seven IIMs proposed to be set up during the 11th Five Year Plan.

Government has already announced establishment of four IITs in Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Himachal Pradesh and one IIM at Shillong.


The location of the new higher education institutions has been approved by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, HRD Minister Arjun Singh told reporters here.

In addition, he said the government proposed to convert the Institute of Technology of the Banaras Hindu University into an IIT. Admission to this Institute was already based on the IIT-Joint Entrance Examination.

Singh said it is also proposed to establish during the 11th five year plan period 14 Universities with world class standards and 16 universities in states which do not have a Central University at present.

Varsity to set up constituent college

Anna University-Tiruchi (AU-T) will shortly initiate the process of identifying land for setting up a constituent college in Nagapattinam district.

University authorities have planned to approach the district administration for earmarking a suitable site for the purpose. Of the three constituent colleges that will get functional under AU-T jurisdiction from the next academic year, as announced in the State budget last week, sites for two other colleges — one at Panrutti in Cuddalore district and another in Ramanathapuram district — have already been identified.

The alienation process is in progress for transferring to the university a 20-acre site belonging to Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board at Panrutti and a 25-acre government land a few km away from Ramanathapuram town along Devakottai Road, Vice-Chancellor V. Ramachandran has said.

In subsequent phases, Anna University-Tiruchi will establish constituent colleges in

IIMB focuses on all-round development, says its medalists

All work and no play makes jack a dull boy. But, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIMB) makes its students work hard and also play hard, making them all-rounders was the unanimous opinion of its medalists for 2007-08.

For 23-year-old Sahil Barua, who bagged the gold medal for best all-round performance in the Post Graduate Programme (PGP), IIMB is unique because of its focus on all-round development of its students. “I do not think you could get a better peer group than this throughout the country or even abroad.”

Sahil, who plays the keyboard, guitar and was a member of the ‘TSEPAK’ (volleyball played with feet), feels the opportunities at IIMB “for a person to evolve are fantastic”. Sahil, who has received a job offer from Baine and Co. Consulting firm based out of Boston, has opted to work in their Gurgaon office as he feels “India is the place to be now”.

“It is an exciting time to be in India, the global focus is on India, salaries are good, working atmosphere is stimulating,” he said.

Son of Samir Barua, Director IIMA, Sahil has been working for a start-up Catalyst Ventures which is into micro venture capital funding for the last six months.

Amit Gupta, who did his mathematics and computing from IIT-Delhi, won the gold medal for obtaining the first rank in PGP. He opted to work for McKenzie and Co in their Gurgaon office, though he interned with Lehman Brothers in New York because he wants to give back to his country what the country has given him.

On his experience at IIMB, Amit said, “It was better than what I expected. I got to interact with a diverse age group, from people in their twenties to those in their late thirties. Opportunities here are umpteen for you to pursue co-curricular activities, which really develops you as a person.”

Abhishek Agarwal, who bagged the gold medal for securing second rank in PGP, has opted to work for Blackstone, a private equity firm based out of London and US.

“Though I have opted for the Mumbai office, the company has asked me to work in London for an year.”

“IIMB is the best place to be in as the focus is not just on studies but making you a well-rounded person, capable of facing any challenge head-on.” Abhishek, who interned with an investment banking firm, wants to be in his home country.

For 33-year-old Srisankar Swaminathan Kunniyur who has bagged the gold medal for obtaining first rank in PGSEM (Post Graduate Diploma in Software Enterprise Management) and he is working with Motorola, “The faculty in IIMB is great. It is on a par with institutes abroad. It induces you to put your best foot forward, making you an all rounder.”

Srisankar, who moved to India over three years ago after working in the US, wants to start a company of his own. “There are a lot of opportunities in India now. There is no need to go out. India is a happening place.”

For Amit Agarwal (30), who has bagged the gold medal for all rounder performance in PGSEM, is working in Infosys as chief solution manager, IIMB provided the best opportunities to evolve as a person. It is a very enriching programme.”

“I got the best support from my seniors at Infosys and also IIMB faculty,” he said. Amit, who is married, had to do quite a lot of balancing and time management since he got very less time to spend with family.

VGSOM students receive 30 per cent higher offers

Vinod Gupta School of Management (VGSOM), IIT Kharagpur, recorded the highest domestic salary of Rs18 lakh per annum, while the average international salary offered was $70,000.

While the domestic average stood at Rs11.44 lakh per annum, the median was Rs 10.32 lakhs per annum, indicating a uniform placement performance across the batch.

With multiple offers made to students, VGSOM saw a 30 per cent increase in the average salary levels, notwithstanding the sizeable batch strength of 121 students.

Some of the roles offered were of global leadership, management consulting, investment banking, corporate planning and strategy, brand management, real-estate consulting, equity research, knowledge management, SCM consulting, treasury, risk management and product merchandising.

IIM-B hikes annual fee to Rs 4 lakh

The Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore has hiked the fee for post graduate programme (PGP) from the existing Rs 2.5 lakh per annum to Rs 4 lakh per annum.

The decision to hike the fee, to be effective from the next academic year, was approved by the IIM-B Board of Governors meeting chaired by Chairman Mukesh Ambani on Tuesday here.

The decision to hike the fee was long pending as the premier academic institution was subsidising the education of the students.

According to IIM-B, the institute incurred an expenditure of Rs 5 lakh per student per year whereas the fee charged was just 50 per cent of it. The balance 50 per cent of the fee was being subsidised.

All incoming PGP students will pay Rs 4 lakh for the first year and another Rs 5 lakh in the second year. “Since the cost of the education per year per student is Rs 5 lakh, there is a proposal to collect the same. The IIM-B is planning to fix the fee at Rs 5 lakh per year from the 2009 academic year,” a spokesperson of IIM-B said.

Besides, the IIM-B was failing to attract faculty due to compensations that were not on a par with the private universities. “The hiked fee will go towards the functioning of the institute, improvement of infrastructure,” the spokesperson added. Though the number of full time faculty at the institute is 120, it has fallen below 100. The institute hopes to regain its full faculty strength.

IIM-B Director Pankaj Chandra said the institute provided financial assistance amounting to Rs 91.13 lakh to 49 students during the year 2007-08. “No student will be denied an opportunity to pursue the PGP for want of financial resources. Besides the financial assistance provided by the institute, several students won awards and merit and need-based scholarships,” he said in his report at the thirty-third annual convocation of IIM-B on Friday.

He pointed out that all 266 students were successfully placed with top Indian and international firms. “In order to encourage alternative career choices, IIM-B has become the only institution to allow students to defer placement by two years. Five students have taken advantage of this flexibility to pursue other interests. Two of them are looking to start entrepreneurial ventures,” Chandra pointed out.

Amit Gupta secured the first rank in the PGP 2006-08 batch. Mukesh Ambani gave away the awards to passing out students of PGP, Fellow Programme in Management, PGP in Public Policy and Management and PG Diploma in Software Enterprise Management. In all, 424 students passed out of the IIM-B.

IIT B-schools lack IIM allure

Despite being the leader in technical education in the country, IITs are still regarded less than first grade when it comes to providing business education.

Even as they work to create a pool of technical experts with good management skills, the most coveted engineering institutes of the country — the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) — are not the first choice for management programmes.

IIT graduates, by virtue of graduating from the top institutes of engineering, aim for a management school which is equally high up in the rankings.

“These departments could be a choice for students who could not make it to the IIT at undergraduate level but not IIT graduates,” notes Arindam Lahiri, director (academics), Career Launcher.

Going by the perception of students aspiring for management education, these departments are definitely not their first choice, asserts Jaideep Singh Chowdhary, senior member academic team, TIME — a management entrance training institute, said.

As per the estimates by TIME, nearly 54 per cent of students across eight IIMs are engineers — of which around 20 per cent are IIT graduates.

“IIM graduates are taught industry strategies which reduces the burden of companies when it comes to training freshers. Management graduates from IITs, on the other hand, have education in a technical environment and are thus expected to do well in the technical department. Hence, they are given second preference which does affect the remuneration of these graduates,” explains Arvind Sehgal, director, New Era India Consultancy.

He points out that while the remuneration for IIM graduates typically averages around Rs 12-15 lakh per annum, a fresh management graduate from IIT pockets only around Rs 6-7 lakh.

Satya Narayanan, founder-chairman & director, Indus World School of Business, concurs that these departments are a notch or two lower than the Indian Institute of Management (IIMs) — the premier institutes of management education in the country.

However, the management departments of IITs are slowly seeing an increase in remuneration packages. For instance, this year the average domestic salary at the Shailesh J Mehta School of Management, IIT Bombay, increased by 44 per cent at Rs 13.96 lakh as compared to Rs 9.71 lakh last year.

The Vinod Gupta School of Management (VGSOM), IIT Kharagpur, too recorded an average domestic salary of Rs 11.44 lakh per annum — a 30 per cent increase over last year’s average.

The gap, in any case, remains, as this is countered with a considerable rise in the salary of IIM graduates as well.

Apart from older IIMs, like IIM-Ahmedabad, where lateral placements recorded an increase of nearly 13 per cent in average salary to reach around Rs 18 lakh, newer IIMs like IIM Khozikode, too, registered an average salary of Rs 14.83 lakh per annum, a 16 per cent increase over last year’s figure.

“Of course, the IIMs are very good, but as such they cannot be compared to the management schools run by the IITs. We, in our own way, have been having good placements in recent times. Even though the IIT graduates go to the IIMs or even abroad, some of them do opt for management courses in these departments, especially in the dual degree programme which IIT-Kharagpur introduced two years ago,” said Probir Kumar Gupta, Dean, VGSOM.

“There are reasons to go into diverse fields and get a management degree from the IIMs but if one wishes to specialise in technical management a degree from IITs is a good option,” K Raman, executive director KPMG said.

The department of management studies came up with the objective of creating a centre of excellence in management education with emphasis on technology-driven and knowledge-based industries.

The oldest is at IIT-Kanpur, which came up in 1974. It is also engaged in a diverse set of activities including industry consultancy, management development programs, academic research, public sector projects among others.