XLRI shines in season of campus gloom

From The Times of India

KOLKATA: XLRI, Jamshedpur, seems to have bucked the global meltdown that has not spared the likes of the IIMs and IITs. The highest international
stipend (for two months) is the same as last years record of Rs 5 lakh and the average stipend has risen by over 55% from Rs 48,000 to Rs 85,000 for 2009.

Better still, the number of students bagging a stipend of Rs 1 lakh-plus has jumped from 14 to 45. The icing on the cake: international offers have shot up from 5 in 2008 to 22 for 2009.

The only casualty of the meltdown is the highest domestic stipend, which has slipped from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh. No more than a bruising blow, when many others have taken a knockout hit. The number of recruiters who turned up for summer placements increased by 32 from last year.

Top financial banks like Lehmann Brothers (which offered the highest stipend last year), Robo Bank and Calyon Bank stayed away but no surprise there.

Over 200 internship offers were made for a batch of 180 students with 15% of the profiles being offered internationally in North America, Europe, South-East Asia, and West Asia by over 70 recruiters.

The highest international stipend was offered by a Wall Street investment bank for its trading desk in Hong Kong while the highest domestic stipend was offered by an investment bank, again, for a position in Mumbai, said Jeevan Kumar, secretary of XLRI's placement committee. And, The Carlyle Group, now the largest private equity player in the world, once again chose XLRI as its exclusive domestic recruitment destination.

So, what's the secret? "We had invited carbon trading companies like Cantor C2E and commodity exchange companies like MCX for summer placements. And, for the first time, brand consulting companies participated too,'' said Rajiv Mishra, XLRI's placement committee chairperson. "XLRI offers a unique dual management, both in marketing and finance. So, the meltdown did not affect us as much.''