Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) are elated at the good response from corporates to the summer placements. Last year, with the downfall of Lehman Brothers and economy slowdown, some firms stayed away from the campus while those who participated in the placement process reduced the number of offers. But it is a different story this year.

Students of batch 2009-11 of IIM, Ahmedabad heaved a sigh of relief after over 150 of a total of 315 students were placed for the summers by the end of second day. "Marketing was a hot favourite with some of the most sought after recruiters being Diageo (of Smirnoff, Johnnie Walker and Guinness fame), Nokia and Coca Cola," said Nissim Nabar, member of IIM-A media cell. Summer placements at IIM-A, which was the first among the IIMs to take off, are being closely watched because this will set the trend for how various sectors fare in the coming season.

The second day of the summer placement process at IIM-A had students finding place in top notch consulting, marketing and general management jobs. A few finance firms also were picking students. "Hindustan Unilever and Procter & Gamble, which are on top of the preference list of students looking at a career in marketing, were back on campus to recruit summer interns for 2010," said Nabar.

The mood is exuberant at IIM-Bangalore where summer placements are expected to begin from November 6. Though there is some amount of nervousness, students are optimistic. IIM-Calcutta, where the summer placement begins on Wednesday,, the challenge is getting all the 408 students placed. "All of last year's firms are expected back along with a good number of new firms," Paul Savio, external relations secretary, IIM-C, told TOI.

Following the crash of global banking and financial sectors, the IIMs, last year, focused on tech service firms to explore job opportunities. "This year, we have all our regular IT and IT consulting firms returning again. Many companies across all sectors are participating in the placements. This year's surprise is start-ups. We even have some NGOs and sports-based companies showing interest," said Savio.

IIM-Kozhikode too has a lot of new sectors in micro-finance and NGOs. "These can add up to nearly 15% of the placements," said Rohan Jaikishen, placement committee member, IIM-K. The placement process is expected to start this week or early next week. IIM-Lucknow placements chairman R L Raina said, "The offers are expected to go up. This is a sign of economic growth."

Firm response

What can be expected from the placements?

* Better response from the firms compared to last year

* Increase in number of firms, intake

* Firms that participated last year are expected to turn up this year too

* Participation from international firms

source: TOI