Lucknow, Nov. 23: IIM Lucknow reserved a whole day for “entrepreneurial ventures” for the first time in the history of the premier B-schools as companies queued up to hire summer interns at the institute this month.

A release by the institute on Saturday said it was an “endeavour… to celebrate the entrepreneurial talent present within our community”, though industry insiders pointed to the global economic crisis.

They said the move was aimed at helping students who would like to start their own ventures rather than accept offers with salaries below their expectations in a time of meltdown.

This was not the first time that an IIM had made entrepreneurial training a part of its placement process, but none had ever set aside a whole day for the venture.

The release said that for the “first time in its history”, IIM Lucknow had “a day dedicated” to hosting entrepreneurial ventures “based on strong student demand”.

An interim placement report from the IIM said 20 of the 114 companies that took part in the weeklong recruitment drive offered entrepreneurial ventures.

Sushil Kumar, chairman of the placement committee, said joining start-ups would help students when they later launch their own companies.

“The students are well aware of the market scenario,” Kumar said. “Thirty-five of the 330 students decided to opt for entrepreneurial ventures rather than get jobs.”

Sources said that of the 20 start-ups that offered entrepreneurial training, some half a dozen had been launched by ex-students of the IIM who “came to the rescue of the 2008 students” since job prospects were bleak this year.

The same international companies that had come with offers of high-end jobs last year looked for just trainees this year, the sources added. Some did not even give job assurances after the internship period.

Pankaj Bhatt, a student representative on the placement panel, said the entrepreneur slot had come as a “breakthrough in a bleak year” like this.

IIM authorities said the effort was to ensure “ample choice” for the students.

“Firms demonstrated their confidence in the quality of students and reaffirmed their choice of IIM Lucknow as a preferred recruiting partner,” an IIM spokesman said.