While Indian Institutes of Management at both Bangalore and Calcutta have finally managed 100-per cent placement, the process has taken a record nine days instead of the usual five. Average salaries too have dipped, though IIM-C claims the drop is just 12 per cent.

Last week, IIM Ahmedabad, widely regarded as the best of the B-schools, announced that it too had taken nine days to find jobs for students in its graduating batch and that average domestic salaries on offer had fallen 32 per cent to Rs12.17 lakh a year.

At Bangalore - where the process had taken just three or four days last year - the 'slot zero' the number of placed is 64, which is less compared to last year's 133.

Both salaries the average and number of offers too have taken a beating. "The average salary has gone down as high paying companies have stayed away from the campus. Also, the companies have reduced the number of offers,'' IIM-B placement cell's chairman Sourav Mukherjee said.

The recession has in a way proved a bonanza for small companies and start-ups, who hitherto could only dream of hiring graduates of the top B-schools. A total of 97 companies participated at IIM-B, of which 39 were new firms.

Overall, 25 per cent of the batch accepted positions in consulting businesses. The recruiters of this class who visited the IIM-B campus were Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey & Co, Bain & Co, Arthur D Little, Deloitte, Accenture, and Diamond. Consulting major Booz & Co was recruiting students here for the first time.

Private equity firms such as ChrysCapital and Baring Private Equity too recruited. Some of the major banks that recruited this year were Standard Chartered, American Express and Citigroup.

The other sectors that have seen significant number of positions being offered include finance (29 per cent), marketing (16 per cent) and general management (16 per cent).

Over 50 offers were made during the lateral placement process. For the first time, sectors such as clean energy, education and pubic sector undertakings recruited the students. Companies like Career Launcher and TIME represented the educational sector, while firms in the green energy sector were Ecologix and Enzen, which even offered international postings.

Companies that recruited in the oil and gas field included the Gas Authority of India Ltd, Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum, Castrol, and OWSc. PSUs have made 25 offers, of which 15 were accepted.

Seven students opted out of the final placements to pursue entrepreneurial ambitions.

Boston Consulting Group was the single largest recruiter among the consulting firms in this year's placement, inducting ten IIM-B graduates in their fold. Another company to make the same number of offers is Jaypee Capital. Boston Consulting also offered associate positions at par with international B-schools.