Placements at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Calcutta, have started as strongly as ever, despite fears of a global economic downturn.

The prestigious Day Zero slot — the first day of the final placements of the institute’s flagship postgraduate diploma course — on Saturday saw nearly 100 students snap up offers from top-notch foreign and Indian companies.

The salaries went up significantly, with several offers crossing the Rs 1-crore mark. The best offer in terms of salary was of Rs 1.36 crore per annum by an international investment bank. The highest salary on offer last year was Rs 1.1 crore.

The students have gone for strategic consulting offers in a big way, with over 40 of them accepting positions at BCG, Bain, McKinsey, AT Kearney and AD Little on the first day of placements.

Investment banks like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers, JP Morgan, ING, Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse also came up with lucrative offers.

“The fears that the global downturn might affect recruitment have been put to rest. Consulting and investment banking firms have been hiring in good numbers,” said Parijat Tiwari, the recruitment coordinator at the Joka B-school.

“IIM Calcutta is so far the only IIM from where students are joining Morgan Stanley’s London office,” said Krishnan Sekar, the external relations secretary at the institute.

“The recruitment coordinators are expecting 18 to 22 per cent hike over last year’s salaries,” he added.

The number of offers made before the final placements started also went up this year. The 290 students appearing for placements secured 153 lateral placement offers (made to students with work experience) and 90 pre-placement offers (made on the basis of performance during summer internships). Last year, about 200 offers were made before the final placements.

“Recruitment at IIM Calcutta has always been exceptional because of the relationships we have nurtured with companies,” said S.D. Moitra, the chairperson of the institute’s placement committee.