Fine, Infosys missed the game at the IIMs this placement season. But V.V.S. Nathan isn't complaining. On Day Zero (the first day of recruitments at B-school campuses), the 25-year-old, IIM-A grad landed a job with the London office of Lehman Brothers. The package offered to Nathan: a cool $225,000 (Rs 1 crore-plus) a year. Nathan, who interned with the firm in New York, is but one of the 24 that Lehman snapped up from four Indian campuses (IIM-A, -B, -C, and XLRI) at comparable salaries.

For B-schools fearing the worst in the wake of the dotcom meltdown, 2001 turned out to be a dream year. A total of 209 companies made a beeline to the top 14 B-schools, making an average of seven offers each during their 549 visits to the campuses. The big news? Old-line companies were back in vogue. While Placements 2000 saw a lot of grads opt out of jobshops (tents at B-schools where the interviews are done) and head straight into VC offices, there were few dotcom wannabes this time round. So much so that not one of the graduate students BT-Cool Avenues spoke to wanted to venture out on his own at least in the next five years. Instead, they seemed more interested in lucrative careers in investment banking, consulting, finance, and marketing. ''(The graduates) are still interested in technology companies, but only those with a revenue stream,'' says a recruiter with a technology firm.

As always, though, the top recruiters made most of the kills. For instance, the top five recruiters picked up more than a fifth of the outgoing batches, and by the time the next top five were through, a third of Class 2001 at the 14 institutes had been cleaned out. With so many companies chasing a relatively handful of B-school cream, average salaries shot up. The highest Indian salary offered touched a staggering Rs 14.5 lakh at IIM Kozhikode. Thanks to bulge-bracket banks like Lehman and Goldman Sachs, dollar salaries soared too, touching a new high of $225,000 at IIM-A and -c, although the average at the two institutes was well under $100,000.

Foreign postings were a big draw with the grads. At IIM-C, 84 overseas offers were made, while a and b pulled in 70-plus each. Even IMT-Ghaziabad managed five such offers. The star overseas recruiters: i2 Technologies, Lehman Brothers, BristleCone, JP Morgan, iMaritime, and Hewitt. ''Money isn't everything,'' says Neil Barve of IIM-C and a Lehman recruit. ''I had always wanted to work on Wall Street with Lehman Brothers. In that sense it's a dream come true.''

That Class 2001 was chasing more than just money was evident from the way it went about sifting through the recruiter pile. The most important criterion in accepting or rejecting an offer was the job profile; more and more wannabe managers wanted to know what they would be doing once on the job. Says Rahul Varma, hr Manager, Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting): ''A few of our recruits passed up on overseas offers to join us, because our work profile was more interesting.''

Consultancy: The Gravy Train

Hi-profile consulting jobs continued to be a hot favourite on the campuses, although this year there was plenty of competition from Wall Street I-banks. Nearly 27 per cent of the class at IIM-A, -B and -L opted for a career in consultancy. Michael Porter's company, Monitor, made its debut on Placements 2001. It short-listed about 10 candidates from across the IIMs and XLRI, although it finally settled for the XLRI grad, paying him a hefty Rs 13 lakh per annum, besides a house in Mumbai. Other leading recruiters were Accenture, McKinsey, A.T. Kearney, KPMG, PWC, and Arthur Andersen. Says Janmejaya Sinha, Recruiting Director, BCG: "We have found students here to be of the highest calibre, and their talent helps our practice greatly."

Among IT consulting companies (yes, they are still sought after), i2 Technologies was a clear favourite, followed by Deloitte Consulting, which made six offers at IIM-B. i2, on the other hand, made more offers at IIM-C and -L (15 and 10, respectively), probably because of the high engineering mix at these institutes.

Finance: Making A Return

After a few seasons in the wilderness (blame it on the dotcoms), Finance was back on track. During Placements 2000, the sector had to share the spotlight with marketing, venture capital firms, it and consultancy. But this year it only had consultancy firms to joust with. At IIM-B, nearly 40 per cent of the class chose finance and banking, and at IIM-A and -C, almost a third. Sure, the markets aren't booming, but with the industry major players planning an aggressive push into retail banking and insurance, there was huge demand for talent. For instance, ICICI made offers to 67 passouts (excluding IIM-A), HSBC more than 50, and Citibank made 41-plus.

Like in consulting, there were a few debutantes in banking and finance. Barclays Capital and Capital One (a leading credit card player in the US) showed up for the first time, with the latter making six offers at IIM-B. The filtering down effect was visible in this sector too, much to the delight of B-schools such as Jamnalal Bajaj, S.P. Jain, and XLRI. Just another reminder that money, do what you may, never goes out of fashion.

Dotcom and IT: Lying Low

The biggest surprise at Placements 2001 was Infosys dropping out of recruitment at the last minute. Initially, it created quite a scare, but by the end of Day 1 it was clear that Infosys wasn't being missed. Some of Infy's peers such as HCL Technologies, Ramco Systems, and Polaris Software, were undaunted. HCL Tech not only recruited from the IIMs, but also Bajaj, FMS, and S.P. Jain. Ramco and Polaris focused more on the second rung. There were some first-timers too, including BristleCone, Seranova, ebiz Consulting, iMaritime, and Cognizant Technology. The only internet companies to be seen on the prowl at all were the biggies like Mphasis, Mindtree, and Planetasia. Guess what, though? The recruits were for support services, not marketing or strategy.

Marketing: A Lot of Hardsell

Until a few years ago, they were at the top of the recruiters heap. But at Placements 2001, marketing companies had to bend backwards to lure the best minds. That meant, one, having to increase their pay offers and, two, settle for the sub-60 rankers at the IIMs. At IIM-C, a bare 12 per cent of the class opted for marketing/sales/advertising; at IIM-B it was no better at 14 per cent, while -A and -L still found a fifth of the class each taking the bait. IMT, a breeding ground for marketers, saw a third of its Class 2001 sign up for a future in the sector. The new haven for marketers could turn out be IIFT, where almost half the class fell for the hardseller's pitch.

After more than 27 offers and visits to nine campuses, FMCG giant Hindustan Lever managed to rope in 27 grads (exlcuding IIM-A). But the slowdown in the sector took its toll on the recruiters. Nestle, for instance, hired just four. While that may be the marketer's loss, the Class of 2001 leaves the campuses much richer. Predictions are that 2002 will see more of the big guns (SSB; Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette; Bear Sterns; and Chase) make their passage to India. Looks like the grossly overpaid MBA isn't about to get any cheaper.

IIMs vs Ivy League

Let's get something straight right away: IIMs are tougher to get into. Just five in 1,000 applicants to the Indian Institutes of Management make it, while 13 out of every 100 applicants get through at Harvard. It's no surprise, then, that top Indian and foreign companies are falling over each other to hire the best brains. Consider: Like last year's, Day Zero of placement at IIM-A saw premier Wall Street bulge-bracket banks like Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Deutsche Bank Global, and JP Morgan queue up. Of course, there were top consultancy companies too, such as McKinsey, BCG, MMG, and at Kearney, among others. What's striking is that these are the very companies who make Day Zero at US b-schools too. Besides, pay packets at the IIMs are inching up year after year; this year's top dollar offer of $225,000 from Lehman Brothers is world-class by any standards, and neither are the job offers restricted to their operations in India. More imporantly, the reason why the biggies keep coming back is their good experience with IIM alumni. But Ivy League-like communication skills and slick self-marketing is something that IIMs still seem unable to teach their students.

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