Bangalore / Kolkata: Employers’ response to the 2010 summer internship placements at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B) and IIM Calcutta (IIM-C) surpassed the expectations of both business schools, dispelling the gloom cast by this year’s recruitment season after the global financial crisis.

The summer placements process concluded at IIM-B and IIM-C on Tuesday, four days after India’s most prestigious B-school, IIM-Ahmedabad (IIM-A), said it had placed the “largest batch size in the shortest time in recent history”.

At IIM-B, some 180 companies hired 348 students as interns over five days. “Our performance is a reflection of the support we have received from our recruiters,” said associate professor P.D. Jose, head of placements at IIM-B.

At IIM-C, around 140 companies gave internships to 408 students in seven days. “Summer placements have exceeded our expectations,” said Prafulla Agnihotri, chairman of placements at IIM-C.

A good summer placements season is seen as the harbinger of a good final placement season in February-March, when students land permanent jobs. Job and salary offers were fewer and the placements process dragged on for the class of 2009 after the global financial crisis peaked in September last year with the demise of Wall Street investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

IIM-A said on 6 November that 310 students had got internships in four days. “While we expected the pendulum to swing, we did not expect it to swing back so fast, or so far,” the institution had said in a statement.

The summer placements reflect a revival in the financial sector. At IIM-A, 44% of students got finance jobs, up from 32% last year. While exact numbers were not available from IIM-B and IIM-C, the finance sector seemed to be the biggest draw at both the institutions

At IIM Lucknow, half the recruiters have been from the financial sector so far and more are expected.

This year, there are even first-time recruiters from the finance space. The Indian arm of Singapore bank, DBS Bank Ltd, which hitherto focused on lateral recruitment, went to IIM-A, B, C, Indore and Lucknow and picked up 10 students. “We are on a growth trajectory... Going forward we will look at (going for) final placements as well,” says Sumit Sharma, head of human resources at DBS Bank India. Over the last few years the bank has grown; it employs at least 370 people and has eight branches.

“The financial sector is coming back,” said professor R.L Raina, chairman of placements at IIM-Lucknow, which drew to its campus banks such as Deutsche Bank AG, BNP Paribas SA, Citigroup Inc., Standard Chartered Plc, HSBC Holdings Plc and ICICI Bank Ltd.

poornima.m@livemint.com