Quality is not an act, but a habit with Indian School of Mines.

The prestigious Dhanbad cradle, which deservedly earned the IIT tag, has created placement history with 700 of its total 1,314 eligible students landing jobs this season and the queue of headhunters still long.

Allaying fears of the Coalgate scam shadowing careers, Coal India Limited (CIL) alone creamed off 83 BTech brains on Sunday, each for an annual package of Rs 8.5 lakh. While 23 are budding mining engineers, 13 are from applied geology, 11 from environmental engineering, nine from electronics, eight each from electrical and mechanical engineering, six from computer science, four from applied geophysics and one from mining machinery engineering.

ISM placement officer Amit R. Dixit said 250 students from different BTech disciplines had appeared for the campus interview on Sunday and the results were announced around 9pm.

'We have attained the highest placement figure (of 700). The season began in August last year and may roll into May. Leading business consultancy firm Zigsaw held telephonic interviews today (Monday) while companies like Sterlite Technologies are in queue. We expect more students to bag plum jobs,' Dixit said, attributing ISM's achievement to both industrial upsurge and enhanced performance of students.

Student co-ordinator in the placement cell Prashant Sharma said CIL's coming was by far the greatest accomplishment in the wake of the uncertainties in the mining industry over irregularities in coal block allocation.

'Our alumni, placed in various mining majors, played a crucial liaisoning role here. The company (CIL) has lapped up 83 students at one go. It is a big thing,' he added.

Among software giants, IBM has been the major recruiter this year. It has offered an annual package of Rs 3.8 lakh to 74 students while Infosys has headhunted 44, each for Rs 3.5 lakh per annum. The world's largest oilfield services company Schlumberger had handpicked three students from petroleum engineering earlier this year with the highest package of this season - Rs 34 lakh per annum.

Mining student Amit Kumar, who will join CIL after his finals, said he was looking forward to the new mission. 'I am very happy to have been selected by the PSU. It is a great career start for me,' said the native of Ranchi.

Anuj Dubey, also from mining engineering and a native of Chindwara in Madhya Pradesh, said they were a little worried about placements this year because of the Coalgate scam. 'But things are looking up now with CIL here. I am glad I have bagged a job with the coal major.'