Hard times are often the right times for innovation.

The outcome of the summer placements at the two premier Indian institutes of management — Bangalore and Calcutta — bears out this fact as the B-school boys and girls, shedding their penchant for finance and marketing jobs, have signed up for sports and management companies, public sector majors and even NGOs.

“In the run-up to the summers, senior students held counselling sessions urging this batch to broaden its horizons and include other options in the consideration set…. That has worked,” said Paul Savio, the external relations cell secretary at IIM Calcutta

In the backdrop of downturn fears, placing the biggest ever batches — 407 in Calcutta and 328 in Bangalore — for two months’ internship was a challenging task. But both the B-schools claimed that they were happy with the outcome.

“We had to have a proper strategy in place with such a large batch at our disposal,” said a relieved Prafulla Agnihotri, the chairman of the placement cell at IIM Calcutta.

P.D. Jose, his counterpart in Bangalore, welcomed the return of recruiters to the campus. “Last year was not a great year. This year they have come in greater numbers,” said Jose.

The variety of assignments — from drawing up promotional plans for sponsors at FIFA World Cup 2010 to booking profits at the bourses for high networth individuals — has been one of the “biggest successes of this summers”, said placement cell representatives.

But the main reasons behind the feel-good factor on both campuses was the return of the finance companies, primarily the investment banks, known for picking B-brains with big bucks. “We definitely saw a very welcome jump in offers from investment banks,” said Vineet Sharma, the placement representative at IIM Bangalore.

Many students in both the B-schools have opted for internship offers from investment and financial services companies. The number of international postings, down because of the financial meltdown last year, has jumped back.