Sengupta said at XLRI there is a uniformity in package compared to other management schools where the gap between the highest and lowest salaries offered is huge. The number of offers per candidate was approximately 1.5.

Participation of consultancy firms saw a significant increase this year with 10 companies locking horns against four last year. This year, 21 per cent of the students were placed in consulting companies, 26 per cent got jobs in the banking, finance and insurance sector and 27 per cent signed up with fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and manufacturing firms.

Secretary, placement committee, Sandeep Murthy, said the break-up of the information technology sector could not be obtained as many students have opted for IT-based consulting firms.

XLRI?s decision to introduce dual specialisation of finance and economics from last year has also paid dividends as the banking, finance and insurance sector saw a significant increase in the number of jobs and nature of roles as compared to last year. As many as 22 students took up the specialised subjects. Among the recruiters were Citibank, HSBC, ICICI, Standard Chartered, Lehman Brothers India and Goldman Sachs Equity Research. Eleven students were picked up by insurance majors AIG and ICICI Prudential.

In the FMCG sector, top outfits like Asian Paints, ITC, GSK, Coca Cola, Cadbury?s, Marico, Nestle, Pepsi, Reckitt Benckiser and Seagrams bagged a large chunk of the students while four were snapped up by business conglomerate TAS.

The number of lateral offers (for working students) was 82. Fifty-three candidates were offered pre-placement offers and another 18 got pre-placement interviews.

XLRI director Father Casimir Raj said the overall picture was satisfactory and the decision to start elective courses like economics and finance had paid off. ?At XLRI, we also take feedback from the recruiters on the progress of students and then plan our strategy accordingly,? he said.