CIMP students celebrate at their convocation ceremony in Patna on Sunday. Picture by Jai Prakash

The need of the hour are job providers and not job seekers, said Sam Pitroda, the chairperson of National Innovation Council, on Sunday at the third convocation ceremony of Chandragupt Institute of Management, Patna (CIMP).

Pitroda was the chief guest at the function. He said: “Students should try to develop entrepreneurship skills and become job providers and not job seekers.”

Graduates of the management institute this year will, however, not have to worry about getting employment, as all 38 of them have been placed. Some have even got astronomical pay packages.

V. Mukunda Das, the director of CIMP, said: “This year, our students have done better. The average pay package has gone up compared to last year. While only one student got a Rs 12-lakh per annum salary last year, two of our students have managed the same amount this year.”

Nandan Kumar, one of the students to land a lucrative job, told The Telegraph: “It is a great achievement for me — a student from a rural background. I owe my success to the excellent faculty at CIMP.”

Gold medallist Gargi Pragya Vacaknavi said: “When I joined the institute, I was a bit sceptical if I would get a job at the end of the course. However, the guidance of the teachers and the efforts of the placement cell helped me to get a good job.”

Gargi has bagged a pay package of Rs 5.5 lakh per annum at National Dairy Development Board.

The students also got valuable advice from Pitroda, known as the father of the telecom revolution in India.

He said it was essential to change the mindset of the people to bring about change and development. He also said Bihar had experienced significant development in the past few years but there was still potential for a lot more.

“During the 1970s there were two million telephone users in India. The number has now risen to 800 million. Mobile connectivity can be used for development in all sectors, from agriculture to education and health,” said Pitroda.

He added: “At present, Bihar will need a lot of people with management skills. CIMP can fulfil that need.”

When asked about the special package for the state, which chief minister Nitish Kumar has been demanding, the adviser to the Prime Minister on public information infrastructure and innovations preferred to abstain from commenting. “This issued does not concern me, I cannot speak on it,” he said.

Pitroda, later, called on chief minister Nitish Kumar. Chief minister secretariat sources said it was a courtesy visit.