In a first, five IT majors - Cognizant, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and Accenture - together have made 7,947 offers at VIT University.

According to VIT officials, statistics indicate that all these companies have slightly surpassed their own records from previous years.

Cognizant which gave offers to 1,914 students had a previous high of 1,911. IT bellwether TCS has given 1,864 offers (1755) and Infosys 1,456 letters (1,452).

Around 4,000 students sat for the campus interview.  Now, the students have to decide which company they want to choose.

“Each student gets multiple offers and now they need to take a call which firm they want to work with. No bond, high salary, fast career growth, more onsite opportunities are the factors that students look while choosing a firm,” said a placement official.

Commenting on the VIT placements, Mr Sriram Rajagopal, Vice-President, Human Resource, Cognizant, said, “We recruit from wherever the best talent resides and visit dozens of premier institutions all over country to meet the demands of our industry-leading growth.”

“Well-defined career paths, rapid career progression, unique learning opportunities, and global experience of working with marquee clients make Cognizant an employer of choice,” he said. This placements season also saw a hike in salary at the entry level by 5-10 per cent. Entry level salaries remained stagnant for the last seven years at campuses. Meanwhile, recruitments are going on full swing at other campuses in the State.

B.S. Abdur Rahman University officials said 50 per cent of the eligible students had been placed on Wednesday, the first day of placement. Cognizant, Wipro and Infosys, which shared the first-day space, had recruited 270 students.

The university’s placement and training director S. Mohamed Tajudeen said the recruitment scene was better this year. “Last year, only 225 of the 550 eligible students had been placed. The highest salary component was from a Bangalore-based data analytic company, with an annual package of Rs. 6 lakh. Some core companies are offering Rs. 5 lakh to Rs. 5.5 lakh a year.”

 At SRM University, placement programme had started with four companies sharing the day one slot. Placement officials said the final outcome would be known only on October 1. Around 4,000 students are participating in the campus recruitment. Candidates have been offered a salary of Rs. 3.35 lakh per annum as against Rs. 3.21 lakh last year, said S. Ganapathy, Dean, Placement, SRM University.