The placement drive of Indian Institutes of Management attracted impressive response from  industries like automobile, consultancy and manufacturing, according to B N Srivastava, dean academics of IIM, Calcutta.

"Public sector behemoths like Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp also showed increased interest,” he says.

Of the total offers, 40 per cent came from IT firms, while non-traditional recruiters like Air India and Greenpeace also made a showing.

In terms of functional areas, sales and marketing accounted for 33 per cent of jobs on offer, followed by consulting and general management with 24 per cent. Finance accounted for 21 per cent and systems 18 per cent.

At IIM, Lucknow, placements in sales and marketing led in terms of numbers, with 37 per cent students recruited for the sector.

IT consulting retained the lead by attracting more management graduates. The number of consulting jobs was marginally greater than last year, with McKinsey, TSMG, PwC and Triniti Corp recruiting students.

IIMs attribute better placements in some areas to certain specialised courses they offer. IIM-C believes that its post graduate diploma in computer-aided management helped draw the IT industry to it. IT and IT enabled services accounted for more than 30 per cent of the jobs on offer.

IIM, Bangalore, on the other hand, attributes the growing number of recruiters from companies based in Singapore and Hong Kong to the sharp international focus that its international business practices course offers.

A large number of lateral placements also took place this time. Lateral placement is meant for students with significant work experience. At IIM-C, 54 lateral offers were made, which is 30 per cent higher than last year. At IIM-B, lateral placements were only introduced last year. Yet this year, 25 lateral placement offers were made.

The average annual compensation package for offers based in India was Rs 611,000. For offers abroad it was $76,500.