Corporates in a rush for campus recruitment is old hat. What is not is a management graduate being hired for an annual salary of Rs 50 lakh (Rs 5 million). This placement season is indeed proving to be bountiful for graduates at the Indian Institutes of Management.

An IIM-Ahmedabad student is reported to have got the highest-ever annual salary of Rs 50 lakh from one of the leading global investment banks on Day Zero itself, as corporates converged on the institute campus today. The highest salary offered last year was around Rs 43 lakh (Rs 4.3 million).

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The scenario was same at IIM Bangalore, where placements concluded way ahead of schedule.

At IIM-A, a record 250 students are seeking placements, and roughly 180 graduates, comprising those from the class of 2005, have been given offer letters at IIM-B.

While IIM-A officials, including director Bakul Dholakia, are tightlipped, sources said 2005 had witnessed an unprecedented surge in the number of new companies entering the campus recruitment fray.

While representatives of several firms were head-hunting at the campus, many others preferred to pick graduates through tele-conferencing and telephonic interviews. The huge response shows that Brand IIM-A had gained in strength, said an IIM-A source.

While investment banks remain the top attraction, FMCG majors made a comeback.

At IIM-B, around 120 companies confirmed their participation for this year's campus recruitment. "This is a record of sorts. In my time, I have never seen placements being concluded during Day Two itself," said YLR Moorthi, chairperson, placements, and professor of marketing, IIM-B.

"This year was exceptionally good partly because the market has been booming. In such an overall positive scenario, the tendency of companies is to hire one more person when they come for placements," he added.

According to Moorthi, due to the rapid pace with which graduates were given placement offers, many companies had to be told not to come since there was nobody left to hire. He added that the placement cell was still in the process of collating data and therefore, would not be able to give salary details for these graduates immediately.