The Nandigram fracas is taking a toll on placements at the oldest Indian Institute of Management (IIM), in Kolkata, with top-notch recruiters like Goldman Sachs deciding not to visit the campus this year for summer placements. 

Goldman Sachs, a leading recruiter at the IIMs, is learnt to have been advised by its corporate advisory board to avoid going to West Bengal due to the frequent bandhs (general strike) and protests in the state.

A highly-placed source at IIM-Calcutta confirmed that Goldman Sachs had decided to stay away from placements this year on the advice of its corporate office. IIM-Calcutta was informed about this, the source said.

Another familiar recruiter at the IIMs, CitiGroup, too could not turn up at the campus for the summer placements due to the strike in West Bengal.  It decided, however, to conduct the interview with IIM-Calcutta students through video-conference.

The violence in Nandigram has claimed several lives and put the state on a high safety alert since January, when the region flared up over proposed land acquisition for a special economic zone (SEZ), which has since been scrapped.

Goldman Sachs has already recruited 17 students from the IIM-Ahmedabad and some from IIM-Bangalore over the last 10 days. 

The company started coming to IIM-Calcutta campus from last year and was expected to recruit a number of students from the institute.

A spokesperson for Goldman Sachs said: "Goldman Sachs has visited Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Kolkata this year. We have hired a record number of IIM graduates for our internship programmes at the firm in 2007 but we do not provide specific numbers or school-by-school breakdowns."

Around 100 companies have made it for summer placements at IIM-Calcutta this year which include top names like JP Morgan, Merill Lynch and Barclays.