The 49-year old IIM Calcutta, the 1st national institute for post-graduate studies and research in management set by the Government, may take a re-look at its existing placement model as it may not optimally support the 462 students who are expected to pass out from the B-school next year, said a top official on Friday.

"This year 278 students passed out. So far we did not need a change. But next year around 462 students are expected to pass out. This is compelling us to have a re-look at the placement system and adopt a better model. Just going by usual numbers, we will be having at least 230 companies in the campus during placement season. The present infrastructure is not there to accommodate all in a way which will benefit students, recruiters and also the institute," said Dr. Prafulla Agnihotri, Chairperson, Career Development and Placement, IIM-C.

He said IIM-C may not follow IIM Ahmedabad's new cohort-based model, where it hosts firms offering similar roles and opportunities. Dr Agnihotri declined to discuss options which the institute might consider but agreed to announce some details during June this year.

Meanwhile, the placement report for the IIM-C batch of 2008-10 was made public with all 278 students receiving job offers. This comprised of 26 women students. In terms of experience, 35 per cent were freshers and 65 per cent students had prior work experience. The final placement process kicked off on March 6 and concluded on March 10.

More than 37 per cent of students chose to join the financial sector with salaries considerably higher than last year. The major recruiters in finance were Yes Bank and ICICI Bank but offers were also made from American Express, UBS, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Nomura, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, RBS, Macquarie Bank. Temasek also hired just like HSBC, Allegro and Edelweiss Capital.

Consulting remained a preferred sector with 27 per cent students set to join firm offices across te world. Accenture Business Consulting made the highest number of offers (15), Cognizant extended 14 offers while others such as Oliver Wyman, Diamond Consultants, Opera Solutions, Mckinsey & Co., Bain & Co., and Deloitte also hired.

Marketing profiles were chosen by 18 per cent of students with HLL, P&G, Johnson & Johnson, ITC, Godrej, 3M and Medtronic hiring pass-outs. General management profiles were preferred by 16 per cent of students with Tata Administrative Services making 7 offers.

International offers were made to 17 students in the 2008-10 batch with a total 91 offers excluding pre-placement offers (PPO) made by a set of companies collectively referred to as Slot Zero.

With the economy on its recovery path, salaries were expected to go up and they have, said Dr Agnihotri. "The most impressive aspect is that the average salary has seen a 20 per cent rise over last year with average domestic compensation (Excluding year-end bonuses) rising RS 15.32 lakh this year as compared to Rs 12.7 lakh last year. The highest (domestic) package offered increased to Rs 75 lakh compared to Rs 60 lakh last year. Similarly, average international package (exclusive of bonus) this year was US$ 123,450 as against US$86,785 last year. A total of 5 students received Rs 1 crore packages," he said.

In terms of lateral placements, the minimum amount of work experience needed to be eligible was set at 10 months. 170 out of the 278 students were eligible for the process. Lateral placements started in the 1st week of January and continued till the last week of February.