During its summer placements in 2006, six start-up companies had visited the IIM-A campus for the first time, of which six students had interned with them.

Of the six, one of the students has accepted the offer of a start-up company, said an IIM-A official. The number of start-ups is expected to double for the upcoming final placements since students' have shown a keen interest in working with them.

"In spite of the hype surrounding the Rs 1 crore (Rs 10 million) packages, at IIM-A, we believe that salaries are increasing everywhere and not just in IIM-A. Therefore, the focus of the students is not just the remuneration offered but also the designation and work challenge. In this case, start-ups offer the best opportunity to the students to play a multi-dimensional role in the organisation, " said Prof Piyush Kumar Sinha, chairperson, placements, IIM-A.

Another factor working in the favour of the start-ups is the previous experience of the students. Around 57 per cent of the batch has prior experience, with seven per cent having experience of more than 3 years, around 9 per cent with 2-3 years, 4 per cent under two years and around 20 per cent under one year.

"Having acquired prior experience in international and national organisations, there are some from the current batch who are ready to start off on their own or join a start-up where they are in-charge of developing strategies from the scratch," said Sinha.

While companies wanting to recruit from IIM-A can choose from four slots--slot zero, slot one, slot two and slot three-- hardly any students are usually left over for slot three.

However, the institute believes this year will see a change in this as well. Although a few NGOs and public sector organisations have placed offers in the slot three in the past, they have been few and far between, but this year, a number of public sector organisations have come armed with better packages than before which could prove to be a draw for some of the students.

The institute has also made a conscious effort to talk to more PSUs regarding placements this year, added Sinha.

Another interesting development this year is that foreign companies are looking to hire IIM-A grads for their Indian operations while Indian companies want to recruit them for their foreign operations.

Already 8-10 pre placement presentations have been made by various companies to the PGP students since lateral placements will begin officially from January 15. The final placements are expected to begin from March 6, 2007.