IIT-M placements begin on strong note

CHENNAI: The first day of the placement season at IIT-Madras began on a strong note with students being offered more than the highest salary offered to students in the institute last year.Sony Corporation (Japan) offered five students between Rs 30 lakh and Rs 33 lakh a year while the highest salary offered in 2010 was Rs 28 lakh by Transocean International. Officials at the placement cell expect the season to show a more positive trend than last year, with this year’s session opening with more pre-placement offers than last year. Deutche Bank, IBM, McKinsey, Sony Corporation (Japan), HUL, ITC, Goldman Sachs, Transocean International, Shell and Boston Consulting Group have chosen 42 candidates. “There is a significant increase in the number of companies visiting us this season. More than 260 companies have agreed to come till the end of January. There may be more,” said B Nagarajan, deputy registrar, training, placement and PR, IIT-M. The placement cell had contacted more companies this time. As many as 15 companies will share space on the first day, and from the third day an average of 12 companies will visit the campus till the end of January. The number of students from BTech and MBA registered has also gone up this year.