BIT-Mesra

Downturn is a dirty word where the capital’s campus placements are concerned.

The gates of two of Ranchi’s most elite institutions — XISS and BIT-Mesra — have effectively blocked the slowdown of the global economy, if fat pay packets offered by multinational and top bracket companies are anything to go by.

Officials at XISS said two of its students, Amandeep Singh and Rajat Kerketta, each got a whopping Rs 30 lakh package. So far, Rs 10 lakh was the highest given to any XISS student on campus. The recruiter, a Dubai-based company, not only broke the ceiling, but set a formidable record.

If XISS officials are to be believed, the domestic placement season, to continue till February, is also soaring.

“The placements started on November 1. We have already had 20 top companies visiting our campus. The highest domestic salary package on offer has seen a healthy jump from Rs 6 lakh last year to Rs 8 lakh now,” said Sanjeev Bajaj, XISS placement co-ordinator.

He quickly added that though they did manage to reach the Rs 10 lakh benchmark last year, that was at the fag end of the placement season.

“If we go by the current trend, I am sure we will surpass that figure this year easily,” Bajaj said.

Prodded for a list of top pickers this year, Bajaj claimed the Tatas had picked up the maximum students this year, followed by WNS and Vedanta.

“You name the top companies and we have already had them here or have their interviews scheduled. There is such a surge in the number of companies visiting us that we are confident that the numbers will cross last year’s figures of 70 recruiting firms,” Bajaj added.

If XISS marvelled at the packages being offered to its students, BIT-Mesra also reeled off impressive numbers.

Close to 1,600 students already been picked by various companies from the tech cradle.

According to placement head of BIT-Mesra B.B. Pant, average salary by domestic companies on offer this year had been around Rs 4.8 lakh per annum mark, compared to Rs 4.5 lakh last year.

“Last year, 1,700 of our students were picked up during campus recruitment. Compared to that, we are already close to 1,600 placements this year and we still have two-three months to go. Things definitely look good,” Pant said.

Compared to last year when the highest package was Rs 14 lakh in the domestic circuit and Rs 50 lakh in the global one, this year they had already touched the Rs 14 lakh-mark as far as an Indian offer went and a whopping Rs 56 lakh offered by a global company.

TCS and UAE-based Shalina Resources were the companies who offered these prestigious pay packets, Pant added.

According to senior WNS Global Services official R. Swaminathan, the rupee slide was not a slowdown, but a temporary phase.

“This is the right time to pick quality talents,” he said.

Senior HR of JSW Group P. Vachaspati agreed. “What sets apart prestigious companies from the rest is the kind of pay they offer, slowdown or no slowdown. If need be, what we recruiters can do is to cut down on the number of hires. But we can’t compromise on what we pay. It’s a form of investment in human capital,” he said.