The computer centre at NIT-Adityapur where placement interviews were conducted. Picture by Animesh Sengupta

If morning shows the day, then the recruitment process at National Institute of Technology (NIT) will go great guns this year.

The Adityapur-based premier tech cradle has kicked off its placement season for final-year BTech students, who will be passing out next year, on an optimistic note.

On the first day of the recruitment drive on Tuesday, business analytics major Mu Sigma absorbed 18 students from various streams of engineering — metallurgical, civil, mechanical, electrical, production and electronics. The results of the interview were declared on Wednesday.

The company has offered an annual pay package of Rs 4.5 lakh, including perks and other emoluments.

Last year, Mu Sigma had recruited 15 students from the institute.

“We are happy that the placements for the 2011-2015 batch began well. The year ahead looks optimistic. We are sure that placements will gain momentum in the coming months,” said Ram Babu Kodali, director of NIT.

The placement season at the Adityapur tech hub stretches on for a year. NIT’s class of 2015 has 600 students from various streams of BTech.

Last year, a total of 91 companies had come headhunting to the institute. This year, the number is expected to cross 100, said NIT spokesperson Rajiv Bhushan.

According to Bhushan, some of the companies that have confirmed participation in the recruitment process in the next couple of weeks include Oracle Financial Services, software major Novell, Maruti Udyog Limited and Verity, a retail business analyst company.

During the last placements for the 2010-2014 batch, which concluded in June this year, TCS emerged the highest recruiter.

As many as 111 students were taken by the IT major, the largest number of students selected by a single company in the placement history of the prestigious institute.

While TCS stole the last recruitment show, the plum package honour went to Tokyo-headquartered Works Applications. The Japanese software firm handpicked computer science whiz kid Piyush Golani at an annual remuneration of five million yens (approximately Rs 33 lakh), excluding perks and other benefits.

Officials at the training and placements cell of the institute said that the portfolios of companies taking part in the campus recruitment this year were equally impressive.