For the second year in a row, an IIM, Calcutta student has been offered the highest placement offer among all the Indian Institutes of Management. However The state might still be struggling to attract investment, but management students from Kolkata have left their counterparts from other cities far behind. A leading international investment bank has made an offer of a whopping Rs 1.36 crore on the first day of the recruitment drive, which will continue till Wednesday. The placement coordinators are expecting an 18-22% hike over last year’s salary figures. But IIM authorities refused to disclose either the name of the company or the student.

Corporate czars from both India and abroad have lined up for the recruitments with close to 100 students being already placed in the firms of their choice. When students listen this news they said "This is great news for us. Our brand value has been reaffirmed".

The class of 2008 at IIM-C will also be the first to send students from campus to companies such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and AD Little. IIM-C is the only IIM to see students joining Morgan Stanley at their London office.
This year also saw students choosing strategic consulting roles in a big way with major consultancies like BCG, Bain, McKinsey, AT Kearney and AD Little hiring over 40 candidates at the end of the first day of placements. Top investment banks have also joined the placements.

"Consulting and investment banking offer the best placements, both in terms of job profile and compensation packages," said a student.

Although the Rs 1.36 crore offers led to much euphoria on the campus, students were not willing to take it as the final indicator. "The real indicator is the average salary hike and the profile of the recruiters," said another student.
The recruitment process has seen a great jump in the number of offers made to students by leading corporates, with 153 offers in the lateral placements. This, coupled with almost 90 pre-placement offers, has meant that over 240 offers were already made to 290 students well before the final placements began.

"The long term relationship that we have nurtured with companies has meant that recruitment at IIM-C has always been exceptional, said chairperson of the Placement Committee at IIM-C, Prof. S D Moitra."

"This strong show by IIM-C has laid to rest all fears of the global downturn affecting recruitment," said Parijat Tiwari, recruitment coordinator.