Top recruiters at the country’s leading business schools are increasingly taking the internship route for hiring instead of final placements, as it gives them more time to assess talent.
Internship gives companies and candidates around two months to determine the right fit compared to 30-45 minutes in the final placements, recruiters and officials at Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) said.
Deutsche Bank India hires around 200 interns annually. This year, it is visiting B-schools such as IIM Bangalore, IIM Lucknow, IIM Indore and XLRI to hire interns for roles in investment banking, HR and corporate banking.
“By partnering with leading B-schools and engineering institutes, and offering best-in-class stipends, we ensure students gain meaningful exposure while we identify the leaders of tomorrow,” said Madhavi Lall, head of HR, Deutsche Bank India. Deutsche Bank relies more on the internship route as it enables both the candidate and the organisation to assess fit before making a long-term commitment, she said. “This approach ensures better alignment and retention.”
Each year, L&T onboards over 60 MBA interns from premier B-schools across India. “We increasingly view internships as a strategic gateway to full-time hiring,” said C Jayakumar, CHRO, L&T. The infrastructure major has a two-month summer internship programme for MBA students. This year it is also launching the L&T global internship programme. The campuses that L&T visits include the IIMs, XLRI, FMS, IIFT, TISS, MDI and SIBM, among others, he said. “Particularly for our MBA hiring programme, the internship route has emerged as a key strategic talent pipeline,” said Jayakumar.
The number of students receiving job offers after completing internships is increasing year on year for IIM Ahmedabad over the last three years or so. “Summer internship serves as a great vehicle for firms to see how the candidate fits their requirements, especially when companies increasingly look at candidates holistically,” said Viswanath Pingali, chairperson-placements at IIM Ahmedabad.
According to Debashis Chatterjee, director, IIM Kozhikode, industry is looking for transitional skills such as communication, problem-solving etc, which students acquire during internships while working with real organisations. Companies have begun to understand that the cost of imparting transitional skills at the end of the programme is probably much more than if they were to acquire those during the summer, said Chatterjee.
Summer placements have always found favour with companies, but now they are liked even more. As a result, the stipends are also moving north. IIM Lucknow recorded an average stipend of `1.67 lakh per month for the 2025-27 batch. IIM Bangalore, which concluded 2026 summer placements, witnessed a record 46% consulting offers, while the healthcare offers were up by 70%.
Internship gives companies and candidates around two months to determine the right fit compared to 30-45 minutes in the final placements, recruiters and officials at Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) said.
Deutsche Bank India hires around 200 interns annually. This year, it is visiting B-schools such as IIM Bangalore, IIM Lucknow, IIM Indore and XLRI to hire interns for roles in investment banking, HR and corporate banking.
“By partnering with leading B-schools and engineering institutes, and offering best-in-class stipends, we ensure students gain meaningful exposure while we identify the leaders of tomorrow,” said Madhavi Lall, head of HR, Deutsche Bank India. Deutsche Bank relies more on the internship route as it enables both the candidate and the organisation to assess fit before making a long-term commitment, she said. “This approach ensures better alignment and retention.”
Each year, L&T onboards over 60 MBA interns from premier B-schools across India. “We increasingly view internships as a strategic gateway to full-time hiring,” said C Jayakumar, CHRO, L&T. The infrastructure major has a two-month summer internship programme for MBA students. This year it is also launching the L&T global internship programme. The campuses that L&T visits include the IIMs, XLRI, FMS, IIFT, TISS, MDI and SIBM, among others, he said. “Particularly for our MBA hiring programme, the internship route has emerged as a key strategic talent pipeline,” said Jayakumar.
The number of students receiving job offers after completing internships is increasing year on year for IIM Ahmedabad over the last three years or so. “Summer internship serves as a great vehicle for firms to see how the candidate fits their requirements, especially when companies increasingly look at candidates holistically,” said Viswanath Pingali, chairperson-placements at IIM Ahmedabad.
According to Debashis Chatterjee, director, IIM Kozhikode, industry is looking for transitional skills such as communication, problem-solving etc, which students acquire during internships while working with real organisations. Companies have begun to understand that the cost of imparting transitional skills at the end of the programme is probably much more than if they were to acquire those during the summer, said Chatterjee.
Summer placements have always found favour with companies, but now they are liked even more. As a result, the stipends are also moving north. IIM Lucknow recorded an average stipend of `1.67 lakh per month for the 2025-27 batch. IIM Bangalore, which concluded 2026 summer placements, witnessed a record 46% consulting offers, while the healthcare offers were up by 70%.
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