Despite a negative market sentiment, pre-placement offers (PPOs) and pre-placement interviews (PPIs) at National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE) have seen a marked improvement this year.

The average salary too is up nearly 18 per cent.

Experts said this was an indication of a good hiring season ahead.

“Despite the grim economic scenario, pre-placements at NITIE have been impressive. For the first time, students have got three international PPOs from HUL and Kraft-Cadbury,” said Rohit Roy, media relations coordinator, NITIE. Over 50 PPIs have been conducted and and 64 PPOs made to 110 NITIE students since the process started at Nov-end.

Salaries are up by Rs 3-4 lakh. Amazon has offered Rs 21 lakh per annum, HUL Rs 20 lakh and Colgate-Palmolive Rs 19.67 lakh.

The trend has been consistent across city campuses.

While final campus placements at IIT Bombay started on a good note on December 1 and the institute is expecting 10-30 per cent pay rise this year, the recently concluded summer placements at Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies saw an increase in average stipend over 2011 and return of old recruiters.

NITIE students have got offers from consulting, IT, FMCG and manufacturing, among other sectors.

Some of the recruiters include Cognizant Business Consulting, Deloitte Consulting, E&Y, KPMG, P&G, Marico, Godrej, ITC, Britannia, Amazon, GE, Dell, Capgemini, Tata Motors, Cummins, Hero Motocorp, Citibank, Asian Paints and GSK.

“The profiles are also varied and include marketing, supply chain management, finance roles in corporate banking and IT,” Roy said.