Patna, Nov. 25: This winter, it will be raining jobs for the students of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) here. But before the campus interview starts from December 2, six students of the institute have been placed. Among them, three have bagged jobs with Microsoft India Development Center with an annual package of Rs 16 lakh each.

The pay packet is more than the highest annual package of any student from Birla Institute of Technology (BIT), Patna, and National Institute of Technology, Patna.

Final-year computer science student Nishant Kumar, who bagged a job offer from Microsoft India Development Center, said: “It is a great moment for us. Getting a job with Microsoft India Development Center at a time when the global economy has slowed down and companies are going for layoffs is a great boost.” Nishant hails from Bokaro in Jharkhand and has done his Class XII from DPS, Bokaro.

Earlier, Davesh Kumar, a computer science student of BIT, Patna, got a job with Amazon India with Rs 14.5-lakh annual package. It was the highest salary offered ever to an engineering student in Bihar.

Suresh Prasad, the in-charge of training and placement cell of IIT-Patna, said: “Our first batch of students’ placement will start from the first week of December. However, before the placement session starts, six students have been placed officially. Three computer science students have been placed with Microsoft India Development Center and three with Hero MotoCorp Ltd.” The three students placed with Hero MotoCorp Ltd have been offered Rs 5.86 lakh per annum each.

Prasad said: “We have divided the companies visiting the institute for the placement into three categories on the basis of the students’ cumulative grade point average.”

Around 25 companies have given their consent to participate in the campus interview. Around 90 students would appear for the placement interview this year.

The annual package on offer would range between Rs 4 lakh and Rs 20 lakh, Prasad said. Search engine Google has also agreed to participate in the campus interview offering jobs at an annual package of Rs 20 lakh, he said. Amazon India, too, would offer jobs with an annual package of Rs 15 lakh to Rs 18 lakh.

Apart from these companies, several IT firms, including Infosys, TCS, Tata Technologies, and Bank Bazar and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited have agreed to visit the institute. BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited, a joint venture between Defence Research and Development Organisation of India and Federal State Unitary Enterprise of Russia, has also agreed to visit the institute to interview students.

IIT-Patna is one of the new IITs, which came up in 2008 with IIT-Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Gujarat, Punjab, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.

The IIT-Patna is at present functioning from Polytechnic College, Patliputra. This year, Union human resource development minister Kapil Sibal laid the foundation stone of the new IIT campus at Bihta.

The institute director, A.K. Bhowmik, said: “The new campus would come up at Bihta on 500 acres. The boundary wall of the campus has been completed. The institute will shift to the new campus in 2013.”

At present, mechanical, electrical and computer science courses are being offered at the institute.