IIM-C Graduates offered 1.36 Crores – What’s the worth

Here is some good news for the job aspirants. Two IIM-Calcutta graduates have been offered a whooping salary of 1.36 Crore Rs. No wonder why the brand IIM is so well appreciated across the globe. Yet it’s a pity that none of the IIM’s make it to the list of top business schools of the world. Only ISB or Indian School of Business was able to make it to the list of top 20 business school last year.

It was only few days back when the news was that the Recruitment at IIMs have gone down. And today, the same news sources are going ga-ga over the highest salary paid to the IIM graduates.

It’s always fascinating and exciting to read news like this. It serves as a motivation factor for candidates not only in the colleges, but also in full-time jobs, to look for and consider adding the tag name of MBA degree from a reputed institute to their CV. As a personal case for me as well, such figures which started bloating after 2002 as the markets were going up, acted as a catalyst and I decided to give up my well paid job and take to the master’s course at a prestigious business school of international reputation.

However, we should not forget the success rate. It’s easy to look at such news items that 2 students of IIM-C offered a salary of 1.36 crores. How about the remaining studetns? These 2 students may be hardly 0.25% of the entire batch. What about the remaining 99.75% students? Obviously, majority of them will get somewhat average salary. Some of them will get above average (like these 2 IIM grads), some below average and some at average. The problem is that the HIGHEST SALARY of only these 2 students will make the average salary to be at a very high figure – much-much higher than the actual average salary. Then there are those laggards who are few in numbers and get lower salaries, but ultimately the figure that comes up to the news item about HIGHEST SALARY and AVERAGE SALARY is always a highly bloated figure.

Although the placement offices at IIM’s try to give the correct figures, by either making different reports for International placements, Experience wise, Average, mode and Median Salaries, etc. but it is we individual who fall victim to the Survivorship Bias and end up looking only at the HIGHEST figures. Rest of the task is done by the media – TV channels, News Papers – who publish what people want to read – all hyped figures.

It will be interesting to note that how many IIM graduates actually get the job they want, and the field in which they would like to work. I don’t have any figures to reveal anything, but my personal experience has been that individuals need to make compromises to certain extent. No doubt the quality of students, institutes and faculty is excellent not only in India, but all across the globe when it comes to top rated institutes, but ultimately, only a handful of individuals get the job they desire. Most of the graduates once again end up in the service industry, like IT, Consultancy, etc. – which may not necessarily fall into their preferred role and may not even give them the salary they desire.

Now let’s have a look at the highest paid salary figure – 1.36 Crores
Another interesting part is that how is this salary structured. Does this 1.36 Crore includes Stock Options plans? Let’s talk about the best of the best case and assume that you get entire 1.36 Crores as cash.

The salary is offered by an investment bank and obviously the placement is international.
So if the graduate is placed in London, then at the forex rate of 80 for GBP-INR, the 1.36 Crore translates into 170,000 GBP as annual salary or 14,167 GBP as monthly salary. I’ve stayed in Central London for quite sometime and I know that this is really-really one of the highest paid salaries with which one can afford a lavish living in the costliest parts of central London.

Now if you deduct 40% taxes on this, the figure comes down to 8,500. Still quite good & very high figure. But what do you get for this money?

London is not India where you can ask your housekeeper to polish your shoes. It’s easy to buy a lavish apartment, a luxury car, but difficult to find a housekeeper. You have to do all your work – polish your shoes, clean your toilet, iron your clothes, dust your car and basically everything. Any organization offering such a whooping salary will not allow you to just do a 9 to 5 job. You will have to spend sleepless nights in office while meeting strict deadlines. Do you expect to find time for your housework? Even if you do find time, will you be interested in doing these works with a backlog in your mind about the highest paid job?

Anyways, it’s a personal perspective. Some people like it – high stressed business life, while some like me hate it. If everyone will think like me, then there may not be any heroes in the world :- )

I hope that the point that I was trying to make is clear. Weigh your options, preferences and lifestyle before committing yourself for a career change or high level study program. Look out for minute details in placement figures.

In 2001, the same graduates from IIMs were ready to work for as low as 1.8 lakh Rs. annual salary, for want of jobs. It all depends upon market factors and terms. Being in the right place, at the right time with the right information can make a fortune for you. Just missing out on one of the factors can lead you to a distress. All the best!

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