India's MBAs Face Dismal Job Market

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"The numbers are definitely down, especially at the top three IIMs," Nagaraj said. "Last year, each of the banks would take more than 10 students, but this year it was the low single digits."

Alternative Options

With fewer financial firms and consulting groups hiring, students are turning to other sectors for jobs, most notably government-owned corporations known as public-sector undertakings. Students are accepting positions in the oil and energy, insurance, and telecom sectors at companies such as Bank of Baroda (BKBAF.PK), Steel Authority of India Limited (LAUF), and Bharat Heavy Electricals ( BHHEF.PK). Hiring in this area accounts for 15% of all offers this year, up from just 5% last year, the report says.

"Since this sector is growing, they can afford top MBAs at a price that suits their budgets," Kumar said.

At the International Management Institute in New Delhi, the country's first corporate-sponsored business school, career placement officers are trying to find jobs for all 155 students in time for the mid-May graduation ceremony. The recruiting season suffered because many multinational corporations did not participate in recruiting this year, said Amrish Sharma, the school's manager of corporation relations, in an e-mail. Those that did participate were "prudent" when it came to making offers, hiring on average 1.5 students, as opposed to the four they would have taken last year, Sharma said. Many chose to hire only summer interns and did not come to campus this fall for regular recruitment.

Only about two-thirds of the class has found jobs so far, but the career office is optimistic the school will be successful in helping students find employment, he said.

"We're going to keep trying until the last student is placed," he said.

Damast is a reporter for BusinessWeek.com.

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