New Delhi: The barometer of recession seems to seep down with the placement drive at the Delhi University (DU) already setting new benchmarks while the hunt for the young recruits is still underway.

With domestic packages as high as Rs.32 lakhs, one student each from Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) and St. Stephens were the chosen one as they broke the university’s records of the highest placement ever offered to a student.

Another example is that of a student of the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) bagging an all time high international offer of USD 1,50,000.

IIFT has observed an upsurge of 50% in the average salaries and 10% of all placements have been abroad.

IIFT's corporate and placement advisor, Munish Bhargava said that, "With the highest ever international offer of USD 1,50,000 from Olam International, IIFT has set a new benchmark. Along with the highest salary offer another record of 17 overseas offers were made to our students. The average salary over the past year saw a major leap of 53% at Rs.11.54 lakh."

"Students are all set to reap the benefits of the economy which is now on the path of recovery," said the Director of IIFT, K.T. Chacko.

An economics student Adit Mathur from Deutsche Bank bagged the 32-lakh package at the SRCC. The placement season in the university usually concludes by December, but this time it is still on with 27 companies, which is 10 more than the last year, visiting the college since last August.

Aparna Keswani, a member of the college placement cell said that, "With the economy receiving a boost from the regressing recession many companies are coming forward to recruit this time. The rush is so much so that we had to deny them as they were even ready to come in March."

She further added that, "Out of 450 students, 150 have been recruited with their average pay package standing at Rs.4.75 lakh. Many of the students have opted for either higher studies or scholarships."

Institutes like Management Development Institute (MDI) Gurgaon, Delhi Technological University (DTU), Jamia Milia Islamia (JMI) are also not far behind.

PSUs made their presence felt in the campus after the recession with 58 DTU students absorbed by PSUs such as NTPC, IOCL and BHEL while 10% of the total recruitment at MDI had PSUs like SBI and Rural Electrification Corporation.

Even Jamia, which had an average placement record now, has an average annual salary package of Rs.6 lakh for its B.Tech graduates.

Jamia's placement in charge Rihan Khan Suri said that, "Various companies like HDFC, Dell, Genpact, Wipro, L&T and HCL this year have already recruited from our campus and we are looking forward to more of such offers."