The summer placement season at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad has got off to a brisk start. More than 160 roles have been offered to students of the Post Graduate Programme (PGP) Class of 2028 across the first two clusters of the process, with consulting firms, investment banks and consumer goods companies all showing up in strength.
The first cluster was held on Friday, October 23, and the second followed on Tuesday, October 27. Both rounds ran in a hybrid format, with recruiters joining online and in person. A third cluster is scheduled for Friday, October 30, so the final tally for this phase of the season is still to come.
A consulting and finance heavy opening round
The opening cluster alone produced more than 85 roles across six cohorts. Consulting led the way. McKinsey and Company, Boston Consulting Group, Bain and Company, Accenture Strategy, EY-Parthenon, Kearney and Oliver Wyman were among the firms in the management consulting and advisory cohorts, alongside names such as Alvarez and Marsal, Roland Berger, Strategy& and Vector Consulting Group.
Investment banking and markets recruiters were almost as visible. Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Barclays, Citibank, HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank took part, while private equity and venture capital firms including Blackstone, Ares Management, Gaja Capital and Multiples Alternate Asset Management also recruited. American Express, Cranmore Partners and Synergy Consulting featured in the cards and financial advisory cohort.
For students watching the international market, the first cluster also carried roles beyond India. EY-Parthenon offered opportunities linked to Singapore, while Goldman Sachs and HSBC had roles linked to Hong Kong, according to the institute.
The second cluster widened the net
If the first cluster was about consulting and finance, the second cluster, held on October 27, was noticeably broader. It covered nine cohorts and produced 75 roles, taking the combined total past 160. The cohorts included advertising and media, conglomerates, consumer goods, consumer services, fashion, financial platform and services, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, real estate, and retail business-to-business and e-commerce.
Consumer goods was one of the busiest areas. Hindustan Unilever, ITC, Nestle, Procter and Gamble, Dabur, AB InBev and Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages were part of the cohort, along with Berger Paints, Dot and Key, Purplle, The Coca-Cola Company, United Breweries and Wipro Consumer Care. Kwality Wall’s, Mars, Mondelez, Reckitt and Yum! joined as new or returning recruiters.
The conglomerates cohort brought in the Aditya Birla Group, CKA Birla, Essar Group, GMR Group, Godrej Group, Mahindra Group, RPSG Group, Saint-Gobain, Tata Administrative Services and Vedanta Group, among others. In financial platforms and services, Bloomberg, FinIQ and Indxx were named as leading recruiters.
Fashion and real estate, two areas that did not feature in the same way in the first cluster, also appeared in the second round. Raymond took part on the fashion side, while Eden Landmarks and Experion Developers were among the real estate participants.
What the early numbers do and do not tell us
For MBA aspirants, a headline figure like 160 roles can be easy to misread. These are summer placement roles, which usually lead to internships rather than final jobs, although a strong internship often shapes final placement conversations later. The institute has reported roles offered, not the number of students placed, and it has not published stipend figures for this round.
What the early rounds do show is breadth. The recruiters span strategy consulting, banking, private equity, consumer goods, conglomerates, healthcare, retail and real estate. That spread matters for a batch because it means students are not depending on one sector alone for their summer options. The hybrid format has also continued, with firms able to take part online or on campus.
What happens next
Attention now turns to the third cluster on October 30. That round will complete this phase of the summer placement process for the PGP Class of 2028, and it will give a clearer picture of how the season as a whole has gone. Until then, the message from the first two clusters is straightforward: demand at the top end of campus hiring has held up, and it has come from more than one kind of employer.
FAQs
How many roles have been offered at IIMA summer placements so far?
More than 160 roles have been offered across the first two clusters: more than 85 in the first cluster on October 23 and 75 in the second cluster on October 27.
Which batch is taking part in these summer placements?
The process is for students of the PGP Class of 2028 at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad.
Which firms recruited in the first cluster?
Consulting firms such as McKinsey, BCG and Bain, investment banks including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, and private equity firms such as Blackstone were among the recruiters.
When is the third cluster of IIMA summer placements?
The third cluster is scheduled for Friday, October 30, 2026.
Are there international roles in the IIMA summer placement process?
Yes, the first cluster included opportunities linked to Singapore through EY-Parthenon and to Hong Kong through Goldman Sachs and HSBC.
informeia.com will continue to follow campus placement news through the season. Readers tracking IIMA or other business school placements can check back for updates after the third cluster.
