Setting aside all apprehensions and speculations in probably the most volatile economic scenario in recent times, the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) has reaffirmed its position as a premier destination for hiring the best business talent in India.

Conducted over nine days starting February 25, the final placements of 2009 at IIM-A ended on Thursday. About 252 students of Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGPM) and 21 students from PGP in Agri Business Management (PGP-ABM) took part in the placement process. Seven students from PGPM and one student of PGP-ABM have opted to start their own ventures.

For the graduating batch of PGPM, 109 firms participated across the sectors, of which 95 recruited. The students drew an average domestic salary of Rs 12.17 lakh while the average international salary stood at 83,000 US dollars (exclusive of bonus).

Finance saw the highest percentage of acceptance at 39 per cent despite being the worst hit as well as the most vulnerable sector, at present. This was followed by consulting (24 per cent), marketing (13 per cent), general management (9 per cent), systems (6 per cent) and others including media, rating agencies and the manufacturing sector, also 6 per cent.

IIM-A authorities said that approximately 34 per cent of the batch was placed in the ‘slot zero firms’ with several offers of more than Rs 1 crore. Overall, the highest number of offer was made by Union Bank of India (18) with positions across various verticals of the bank.

Other prominent recruiters were Bain and Company (8), McKinsey and Co (8), Boston Consulting Group (7), Tata Administrative Services (7) and first time recruiters like Frost and Sullivan (5) and Jaypee Capital (12). Similar offers were made by Unicon Securities (12), Alcatel-Lucent (5), and IOCL, SEBI, BPCL, ICRA, IFCI and STCI.

This time, IIM-A also witnessed two dominant trends with respect to location. These were — lower number of offers from international banks, and even lower international offers from Indian firms, including TAS and the Aditya Birla Group.

Interestingly, Kavithalaya (a film production house based in south India) has recruited two students to help in film production and business development.

From the non-government sector, Chennai -based IFMR Trust has recruited two PGPM students, IIMA’s Placement Committee said.

For the PGP-ABM students, 25 companies participated in the recruitment, and the average compensation package stood at Rs 8.50 lakh.