Know Your BSchool – IIM Ahmedabad

The Objective of IIM A is to “develop young men and women into competent professional managers, capable of working in any sector of organized activity, proceeding leadership and achieving excellence in performance while contributing to the welfare of the larger society.”

Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM A) is a business school located in the city of Ahmedabad, Gujarat in India. It consistently ranks amongst the leading business schools in Asia-Pacific region and is considered as one of the “world’s toughest business school to get into”. It is fondly referred to as Well-known Institute of Management in Western India or WIMWI. 

IIM Ahmedabad was established on 11 December 1961. The institute currently offers Post Graduate Diploma Programmes in Management and Agri-Business Management, a Fellowship Programme, and several executive training programmes. 

Major Courses Offered

1. Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGP): IIMA’s flagship programme, the PGP is a 2-year full time residential management programme. Admissions to PGP are primarily through the Common Admission Test conducted jointly by the IIMs. Of the 1.7 Lac+ applications received, the Institute admits 385 students, making it one of the world’s toughest programmes to get into. Students from different backgrounds and professions get admitted, which brings about enormous diversity.

Please visit below link to understand the selection process in detail :

https://www.iima.ac.in/web/pgp/apply/domestic/admission/selection-process

2. Post Graduate Programme in Food and Agribusiness Management (PGP-FABM): The Programme has been ranked as the best food and agribusiness programme in the world by Eduniversal Best Masters ranking. The programme has been constantly evolving, starting as a special program in Agriculture (SPA) in 1974, becoming a Post Graduate Program in Agri Business Management (PGP-ABM) to a Post Graduate Program in Food & Agri Business Management (PGP-FABM) in 2014.
   
   Please visit below link to understand the selection process in detail :

https://www.iima.ac.in/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=9dd6691f-8e23-4ebe-b269-5e78720e9e50&groupId=59276&filename=PGP-FABM%20CAT%20Write-up%20valid%20from%20December%2027,%202019

3. Post Graduate Programme in Management for Executives (PGPX): The PGPX is a one-year full-time programme residential for executives with substantial work experience. The programme allows students to bridge the gap between their current skill level and the desired skill level and provide an opportunity for them to make a career shift. Students are admitted to the programme through the GMAT.

Please visit below link to understand the selection process in detail:

https://www.iima.ac.in/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=f53282cc-d34e-4d6f-8cb5-5dfec4c9e428&groupId=169420

4. Fellow Programme in Management (FPM): The doctoral programme of IIMA, FPM seeks to provide students with necessary skills to identify and research complex issues in the field of management. FPM students typically spend a little over four years at the Institute, including 2 years of course-work. Students admitted to FPM receive a comprehensive fellowship which covers all costs of education in addition to an allowance for living expenses. 
5. Armed Forces Programme (AFP): The AFP is a six-month full-time business management course designed to equip officers of India’s armed forces with contemporary management skills through IIMA’s time tested pedagogy.
6. Exchange Programmes: IIMA has affiliations with 100+ leading business schools across the world. The Institute has a Dual Degree programme arrangement with a few business schools such as HEC Paris, University of Bocconi, ESSEC Paris, University of Cologne and ESCP Europe. Some of the students going on exchange receive scholarships from the Institute, DAAD Germany, the French Government and participating schools.

In addition to the above, the Institute conducts several executive education and faculty development programmes through the year. In January 2017, IIMA launched India’s first online management course called e-Post Graduate Programme in Management targeted towards working executives and entrepreneurs.

Placements

The placement process at IIM Ahmedabad is a student driven process that institutionalises placements for the entire batch. The Placement Committee elected by the students liaises between the institute administration, students, and recruiters. Placements for the PGP and PGP-FABM courses are characterised by two phases – summer placements for the first-year batch and final placements for the graduating batch. The placement process for the graduating is conducted in two stages: 

The first stage is the laterals process where firms interview students with prior work experience and offer them mid-level managerial positions.

The second stage is the final placement process. Companies from multiple sectors across different geographies hire candidates for a wide range of functions. 

Top firms from diverse sectors such as Analytics, Banking & Financial Services, Consumer Services, Internet & E-commerce, Management Consulting, Pharmaceuticals and Technology participate in the laterals process. The campus witnessed recruitment participation from top firms in cohorts like Strategy and Niche consulting, Banking & Financial Sector, PE/VC, Sales and Marketing, General Management and Leadership, Internet and E-commerce, and Technology sector etc.

Placements for 2017-19 Batch (Audited & verified)

Highlights as seen in the Press Release:

1. About 123 firms participated for 184 roles in the placement process across different sectors.
2. 143 dream applications were witnessed this year.
3. Accenture was the top recruiter with 23 offers, followed by BCG with 17 and PWC with 14 offers
4. 2 students opted out of the placement process to work on their own ventures under the guidance of Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE), IIM Ahmedabad.
5. The average domestic salary for the batch was 25.83 Lacs

Job offers across major sectors

Job offers across major functions

Summer Placements for 2018-20 Batch (Audited)

Highlights as seen in the Press Release:

1. BCG was the top recruiter with 23 offers followed by HUL and Amazon with 14 and 10 offers respectively
2. Samsung electronics offered most roles across consumer electronics section
3. More than 100 firms participated to offer roles for 386 students across sectors

Internship offers across major sectors

Internship offers across major functions

Notable Alumni of IIMA

There are plenty of notable alumni from IIM A with many being the CEOs of Top BSE 500 firms. Many alumni have also become part of diverse fields like literature, arts, entrepreneurship etc. Below are a few of those alumni:

• C. K. Prahalad – Author of ‘The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid’
• Raghuram Rajan – Former RBI Governor and economist
• Shekhar Chaudhuri – Former Director, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta
• Atul Tandon – Former Director, MICA
• Samir Barua – 10th director, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad
• Deep Kalra – CEO, MakeMy trip
• Ajay Singh Banga  – Global President and Chief Executive Officer, MasterCard
• Shikha Sharma – Former MD & CEO, Axis Bank
• Mahendra Mehta – Former CEO, Vedanta Resources plc.
• Harsha Bhogle – Cricket Commentator
• Rajesh Gopinathan – Chief Executive Officer, TCS
• Chetan Bhagat – Author and speaker
• Arvind Subramanian – Chief Economic Adviser, Government of India

Financial Assistance/Scholarships, Housing and Fee structure

Housing– There are 25 student dormitories with a total capacity to hold about 740 occupants. Apart from the dormitories there are 120 flats for married students. The dorms have ten single rooms on each floor arranged around a stairway and a tearoom. Stay in the dormitories is compulsory for students. Both vegetarian and non-vegetarian meals are served. The rooms are fully furnished including a telephone connection. The dorms also have a T.V., washing machine and refrigerator.

Fee Structure– The Fees and other charges payable by the PGP students of the 2018-2020 batch for their 2-year course is approximately Rs.23 Lacs. Laptop, personal expenses ,on boarding expenses travel, clothes, and laundry is not included.

Financial Assistance/Scholarships IIMA gives an opportunity to pursue its PGP & PGP-FABM programmes to all the eligible applicants, who are in need of financial assistance and have thus instituted a Need-Based Scholarship Scheme to complement the various scholarships provided by the industry and government. The scholarship amount is decided based on several criteria such as annual gross family income, ownership of assets, and the number of dependents in the family. The applications for these scholarships are invited every year in the month of July/August. There are many commercial banks and financial institutions which provide educational loans to students.

Student Bodies of IIM A

The Student Affairs’ Council (SAC) is the umbrella student body at IIMA that helps in the administration of the 40+ clubs and committees on campus. Below is a partial list:

1. Abacus – The Quant Club: Also known as the “club that counts”, Abacus conducts several games, workshops and lectures with an aim to generate interest in mathematics

2. BETA – The Finance Club: IIMA’s Finance and Investments Club aims to cultivate interest in finance careers.

Cultural Committee – The Student Cultural Committee (Culcom) has the pulse of campus life. Be it festivals or parties, Culcom adds color to events. ‘Unmaad’, one of the most popular cultural fests in the country, is organized by Culcom.

3. Consult Club: The Consult Club seeks to help interested students pursue a career in management consulting.

4. Eloquence: The Club seeks to help members of the IIMA community to improve their communication skills. Eloquence uses panel discussions, debates, creative games, book and movie reviews, press interviews and extempores in a supportive environment to enhance students’ public speaking skills.

5. Entre Cell: The Entrepreneurship Cell promotes and supports entrepreneurship among students at IIMA. They organise an Entre Fair annually to connect start-ups with students interested in pursuing entrepreneurship.
6. Equipoise – The Economics Club: This club focuses on cultivating an interest in economics among the student community at IIMA.
7. Finesse: An interest based club, Finesse promotes several forms of art on the IIMA campus. It seeks to create a platform for members of the IIMA community to be in touch with their creative side and organises a number of activities to hone their skills in arts and crafts.

8. Forum for Industry Interaction: FII acts as a link between students of IIMA and industry and comprises India’s largest student consulting body. Students form teams and provide solutions to problems faced by a number of companies across sectors, both domestic and international. Students also increasingly assist startups and social sector organisations.

9. General Management and Leadership Cell: The GMLC creates awareness about a career in general management for students at IIMA. It also organises industrial visits for students across a number of sectors.

10. Heritage Club: The Heritage Club is a platform for exploring Ahmedabad’s heritage, culture, food and art forms. It organises heritage walks, picnics and visits to local fairs and nearby sanctuaries among other things

11. IIMA Cultural and Theatrical Society (IIMACTS): One of the oldest clubs on campus, it produces a number of street and stage plays every year for the IIMA community, encompassing a range of ideas and themes in Hindi and English.

12. Literary Symposium Desk: It is mostly referred to as LSD, is IIMA’s quizzing, debating and literary club.

13. Niche – The Marketing club: It provides a common platform for faculty, IIMA alumni in marketing roles across the world and students interested in the field of marketing.

14. Optima – Operations Club: It is aimed at creating awareness about operations among students and discuss new opportunities in sectors like e-commerce.

15. Prakriti – The Nature Club: It was established with the objective of providing a meeting ground for nature lovers. It is now a hub for nature appreciation and environmental consciousness in the IIMA community.

Events Organised by IIMA

1. Confluence- Annual International Management Symposium – This flagship event was started in 1999. The primary events at Confluence include Masterplan, the business plan competition; a business quiz event; a business simulation event and a business strategy simulation event. The speaker series at Confluence has seen eminent speakers in the past including Ratan Tata, Vijay Mallya, Mukesh Ambani, Kiran Bedi, Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chandrababu Naidu, Rakesh Sharma etc.
2. Chaos- Annual Cultural Festival – Chaos is one of the biggest in the region. Its yearly editions have been centred on themes like diversity, colour or going green. The cultural festivities draw footfalls of around 50,000 visitors from Ahmedabad over four days and participation from institutes across the country. ProNites are especially a huge success with a large number of top artists coming and performing on one stage. In the past, Chaos has witnessed musical performances by Jagjit Singh, Amit Trivedi, Raghu Dixit, Mohit Chauhan and Shankar Ehsaan Loy to name a few.

3. Insight- Annual Market Research festival– It is one of the oldest events organised by the institute. Insight is known for its application of innovative marketing research tools.

4. ConneXions- Knowledge Summit – ConneXions is the flagship event for the PGPX program at IIMA. It is an event that epitomizes the vibrancy and buzz of a business school. ConneXions has seen a lot of eminent speakers from the industry including Suresh Prabhu, Kiran Karnik, Ramaswami Balasubramaniam, Ram Sewak Sharma, Tamal Bandyopadhyay, Shyam Srinivasan etc.

In addition to the above, the Institute organises:

Amaethon- an international food, agribusiness and rural summit.

Convergence- a management conference organised by the Armed Forces Programme; Sangharsh (on a rotational basis with IIM Bangalore, Calcutta and Lucknow) and Shaurya – the two sport fests.

IIM A Alumni Reviews

1. Academics and Faculty -The intensity of the academic rigor at IIM Ahmedabad is not one of those old wives’ tales. The pedagogy is completely based on case studies, and these cases gives students an insight into management ideas involved in running a small grocery shop to a big corporate firm. They are challenging and daunting, and the decisions you are forced to make builds or destroy corporate empires. They make you think, they make you sweat and they make you introspect. They prepare the student for the real world. It is not just the things you learn at IIM-A which make the difference but the way those things are taught. One day you will have all the time in the world and on another you will find yourself with a short deadline for virtually impossible tasks, ranging from dozens of assignments to endless quizzes. You are taught to survive in a realistic managerial atmosphere even when you are only learning what it takes to be a CEO one day. The faculty at IIM-A are one of the best and having handled the best minds of India every year through and through, they know how to keep us on our toes. Their research credentials are impeccable, and each faculty has their own approach to introducing management concepts, which makes everything more interesting. – Suresh, MBA/PGDM, batch of 2017

Most of the academic rigor is only in the first year where there are so many courses and pop-quizzes. But overall, the curriculum is quite manageable. In fact, it gives ample time to pursue your interests. No lectures post 1 PM during the first year means that you have the remaining part of the day for assignments, group activities and preparing for the next day. Second year is a little more relaxed (if you want it to be). Assignments are more fun assuming that you choose courses that you are interested in. Faculty seems a bit more relaxed (some were deemed very strict during our first year, but I personally have never faced any issue). Faculty members are excellent and very understanding. – Anil, PGDM, batch of 2011

The academic schedule at IIMA is rigorous and trains us to think on our feet. The entire curriculum is case study based which gives us good insights into what had happened in the past and what are the current trends in the industry. The professors at IIMA are very knowledgeable and provides us food for thought. they are very approachable and are just an email and some just a call away – Ashar, MBA/PGDM, batch of 2016

2. International Exposure IIM-A has tie ups with nearly a hundred foreign universities from all parts of the world, including many in the top 100 of the Financial Times. One in every three students usually travels on exchange programs, and the selection criteria involves academic performance and choice of interest. English is the sole medium of teaching, and students commonly communicate with each other in English and Hindi, though some also use more regional languages like Telugu and Tamil. An average cost of two to four lakh rupees is common for student exchange programs, and it depends on the student’s personal preferences. IIM-A has excellent exposure in the global scene of international MBAs, and has many students coming from top business schools abroad to study in exchange programs. Students living abroad also apply to join IIM-A, which increases the diversity of students in the courses. – Suresh, MBA/PGDM, batch of 2017

3. College Infrastructure IIMA is the best B-school in India and its infrastructure lives up to its reputation. The campus is a green campus and is split into two – old campus and new campus. Campus has all kinds of facilities and amenities from a 4-story library to huge auditorium. There are courts for all sports enthusiasts. Situated in the heart of the city, the campus is very close to the airport, railway station, bus stops and is surrounded by many nice eating joints. – Ravleen, MBA, Batch of 2011

I was dazzled at first (simply due to the hype of the architecture of the campus buildings); after a point I thought the campus was quite small. Other campuses have bigger and better (newer) facilities for sports and leisure activities, but that is mainly due them being located at the outskirts of the city. The new campus although has good facilities. AC rooms were also being planned, but I had already graduated by then. For sports: no ground big enough to hold a proper Cricket Match (it is too small), same goes for football as well. New badminton courts were being planned, but until then we had only outdoor courts. Basketball and Tennis courts were decent enough. But I guess not many were using it, so no harm done. – Anil, PGDM, batch of 2011

4. Societies and Associations College life is full of fun, enjoyment, celebration etc. at IIM A All festivals are celebrated in the campus. -Sachin, MBA/PGDM, Batch of 2016

Life at campus is fantastic. There are clubs for literally everything. From Anime to Astronomy and Zen philosophy to Zumba, there is a club for everything. Students play, sing and dance. There is regular activity in all clubs and interested students participate religiously by maintaining an excellent balance between their academics and hobbies. Students manage to play cricket, football, badminton, tennis, and other sports in the campus, although the requirements of their courses do not give them a lot of leniency for sports activities. – Suresh, MBA/PGDM, batch of 2017

5. Placements and Internships IIMA is ranked as the best B-school in India and has the record of best placements. IIMA has the reputation of offerings placements to its students -within India and overseas. IIMA is the first choice for all top tier consulting firms (McKinsey, BCG, Bain, Booz (now Strategy) and investment banking firms (Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan). IIMA is also known for best marketing job offers. The leading FMCG firms (HUL, P&G, Nestle) come to IIMA for branding and marketing roles. Students at IIMA often convert their internships into pre-placement job offers. The average stipend and salary offered at IIMA is amongst the highest in the country. – Ravleen, MBA, Batch of 2011

In the November of the first year of their PGP, students go through what are called summer placements. These are basically internships secured by the students for the summer break after the gruelling first year. Final job placements happen later in their second year, but one in three students also get pre-placement offers from the company they interned with. All major companies and industries come to offer domestic and international offers in all major areas such as consulting, finance, marketing, operations and so on. Popular recruiters include McKinsey, BCG, Bain and Company, Goldman Sachs, P&G, Tata Steel, Yes Bank and many other big names. The alumni network of IIM-A is renowned for being tightly knit and extremely well-placed & helpful to assist fellow alumni. Regular official events are organized every year, and even every month on a regional basis, for alumni across different batches to meet, interact, relax, and make acquaintances. – Suresh, MBA/PGDM, batch of 2017