While IIM Calcutta officials refused to divulge details of the companies, they said the packages are calculated on the basis of CTC (cost to the company) that includes year-end bonus as also the relocation allowance for the employees.

The average salary for the new recruits rose by 20 per cent this year, touching an average of Rs 15.32 lakh compared to last year’s Rs 12.7 lakh. This year, 113 companies turned up for the placement process as against last year’s 86.

However, the flip side of the turnaround story was that the Public Sector Units (PSUs) virtually put up a no-show — Bharat Heavy Electrical Ltd (BHEL) was the only one to have picked up a student from this year’s batch of 286 — in sharp contrast to last year’s placements when PSUs stole the show by lining up to hire in troubled economic times.

One of the highest recruiter last year was Union Bank, which picked up 14 students. The total number of students that took PSU offers last year was 34.

This year, the IIM-C has raised its benchmark for companies offering minimum salary from 6 lakh to 8.5 lakh, almost touching the pre-recession figure of 8.25 lakh.

“PSUs were also interested to hire students this year. Companies like NTPC and ONGC approached us but by the time they could come to the campus, all students were placed,” said Prafull Agnihotri, the chairperson of the placement committee at the IIM-C.

This year, the highest recruiter in the finance domain was Yes Bank with 13 offers, while ICICI bank made 10 offers followed by six from American Express. Of all recruiters, Accenture Business Consulting made the highest number of offers, picking 15 students for six different positions. Other recruiters on campus were United Bank of Switzerland, Tesmark Holdings, an investment arm of the Singapore government, and some new recruiters like Aviva Insurance and Escorts.

The sectoral preferences indicate about 36 per cent of students went for jobs in finance, 27 per cent chose consultancy, 18 per cent marketing and 16 per cent general management portfolios.

“The placement process is not about the salary but the aim is to offer a career of his or her choice to a student. We feel we have satisfactorily achieved this,” said Anup Sinha, professor of economics and acting director, IIM-C.

Sinha said along with other parameters, this year’s placements signal a revival of economy.

Meanwhile, the pre-placement offers (PPOs), which mean jobs offered to students from companies where they did their summer training, has dropped considerably — from 90 in 2007-08 to 56 in 2008-09 and 36 in 2009-10.

Professor Agnihotri said most of the students did their summer training in investment banks in the West, which are not keen to recruit them. This year, the finance portfolio also shrunk from 40 per cent in 2008-09 to 36 per cent in 2009-10.