Home advantage: Domestic recruiters score big at IIMs

New Delhi | Bengaluru: Homegrown companies have ramped up hiring during the final placements for the Class of 2025 at several Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), topping last year’s salary packages in many cases.

Some of these domestic companies are first-time recruiters, said officials at various IIMs including Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Indore, Kozhikode and Mumbai.

“Indian firms, including startups, manufacturing and industrial companies, boutique firms and homegrown fintech and BFSI companies have hired about 40% more than foreign multinationals,” said Roopak Kumar Gupta chairperson, CARE (Corporate Access Readiness & Engagements) at IIM Kozhikode, which is currently conducting its final placement.


Rapid economic growth, increased demand in fintech, consulting, manufacturing, and infrastructure, along with government schemes, digitisation, and expanding domestic market opportunities have fuelled this uptick, Gupta said.

Agrees Neeraj Pandey, chairperson, Career and Development Services (Placements), IIM Mumbai. “This year, domestic hiring has been stronger at IIM Mumbai, with Indian companies offering more roles and competitive salaries,” he said.

At IIM Mumbai, e-commerce and quick-commerce companies hired more, including Blinkit (14 offers with packages of Rs 30 lakh), Meesho (7 offers, Rs 49 lakh), Zepto (6 offers, Rs 33.5 lakh) and Delhivery (6 offers, Rs 24 lakh). “The hiring and packages are better at these companies, primarily driven by rising consumer demand, digital adoption, and improved logistics,” said Pandey.

As a result, overall job offers at IIM Mumbai are up by over 10% and there’s been a 5% increase in average salaries compared to last year, with 198 companies participating in the placement process.

The retail and e-commerce sector saw a 47.73% rise in hiring, with offers increasing from 44 to 65.

Domestic companies are offering highly competitive packages and well-structured career programmes at IIM Indore, said director Himanshu Rai.

It is the same for IIM Ahmedabad. “Initial data analysis suggests that the Indian firms have indeed shown more appetite for our students. Students, too, have responded in a similar manner,” its chairperson-placements, Viswanath Pingali said. According to Pingali, Indian firms across sectors--including finance, marketing, operations and supply chain--are hiring more this year. IIM Lucknow’s placements highlight a surge in domestic roles with competitive packages, driven by innovation in tech, consulting, and emerging sectors, said its chairperson, student affairs and placement, Priyanka Sharma. Indian firms that hired for the first time from IIM Lucknow include PhonePe, Purplle, Vector Consulting Group and established PSUs such as BPCL and HPCL. Top packages for international roles have come down. At IIM Ahmedabad, in the lateral process Maharashtra-based FinIQ Consulting (financial engineering) made the highest number of offers at 11, followed by Bengaluru-based Navi with 10 offers.

At IIM Calcutta, the average and highest salary packages have increased significantly, said Ritu Mehta, chairperson, Career Development and Placement Committee. Top offer at IIM Calcutta crossed the Rs 1 crore mark and the median salary has risen about 15% compared to last year.

Indian firms including TCS, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Navi and Zomato were among those that rolled out the highest number of offers at IIM Calcutta alongside foreign MNCs like Accenture, American Express, BCG, EXL, EY-Parthenon, Goldman Sachs and PwC.

The packages at IIM Indore have seen an increase due to more finance companies visiting the campus. “The increased economic growth and interest in the niche sectors, energy, EV, etc. have brought unique recruiters to our campus,” said Rai of IIM Indore.

The finance sector hired the highest number of candidates, he added. The banks that hired from Indore include Goldman Sachs, JPMC, and Deutsche Bank, and Indian Banks like Kotak Mahindra, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank.