With global financial firms going extremely gung-ho about India, this year, the number of international firms visiting B-school campuses for summer placements has grown manifold. With this, B-schools have seen an overall increment of about 25-30% in stipends this year as compared to last year.

Firms like Blackstone PE, General Atlantic, Audax, Greater Pacific Capital, ChrysCapital, Goldman Sachs PE and IDG Ventures, turned up at the various Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) across the country.

Xaviers Institute of Management – Bhubaneshwar (XIM-B), has reported a 30% rise in stipends, while Indian Institute of Management – Kozhikode (IIM-K) saw a 25% rise as compared to last year. At IIM K, the average stipend this year is pegged at Rs 25,000 per month. Accenture Business Consulting and Boston Analytics offered the highest domestic stipend of Rs 50,000 per month at this institute.

At XLRI Jamshedpur, domestic stipends have reached astronomical heights of Rs 5 lakhs, offered by Lehman Brothers. Also, JP Morgan Chase, Hay and Microsoft offered stipends of more than Rs 1 lakh each for domestic offers at the institute.

An increase in stipends for B-school students contradicts with the current trend among IT firms to crop salaries of their employees. Nimisha Rana Pathak, a senior analyst with Accenture, says, ?Paying such huge amounts doesn?t come to us by choice. With the influx of foreign companies in India that offer huge stipends, we are too pressurised to do so, keeping in mind that the best students go away in the initial days of summer placements.? Accenture was initially paying Rs 15,000 as a stipend, but is now paying Rs 50,000.

Dhananjay Bansod, chief people officer, Deloitte, says, ?We too will look at the market and accordingly increase the stipend, because people are our biggest assets and we want them to be the best. At the same time, we want these people to join us in final placements, too.?

So, will employers keep on increasing the stipends in the coming years? ?We are not thinking to go beyond this even if others want to,? Pathak added. Contradictorily, Deloitte is ready to pay increased sums for the coming years, too. Whether the firms will continue to pay or not cannot be predicted at this stage, but there are firms like Crisil who still pay Rs10, 000 per month as a stipend and intend to continue the same.

By choice or not, the high demand and low supply ratio of talented individuals, the booming economy and influx of international players in India have all added up to stipends at stratospheric for management students.