The Hyderabad-based Indian School of Business (ISB) has announced its post-graduate programme placement results for the batch of 2006. And it has every reason to go to town about them. A total of 425 offers were made to the 328 students who participated in the placement process (from a batch of 345 students), an increase of 36% over last year.

Quick Facts

Highest International Salary $ 233800 (Rs 1.04 crore)    Average International Salary $ 120,700 (53.5 lakh)     Highest Indian Salary Rs 30.33 lakh    Highest Indian Salary Rs 11.77 lakh

However, to put things in perspective, placements at the ISB cannot be compared with placements at other Indian b-school campuses. This is because students at the ISB have a minimum of two years of work experience prior to joining the programme unlike the largely fresher profile at other Indian schools.

What the numbers don't tell you

Of the four people who received (the highest) offers of jobs paying more than $200000, two were women.     The highest international and domestic salaries were offered by Indian technology companies.     Atleast 30 students chose careers over money.     Jobs were offered in new sectors like real estate consulting, retail, health care services, rural education and media apart from the usual suspects – management consulting, finance and IT.

Students who gave up high paying offers for jobs that are a 'better fit' are getting anywhere between Rs 3 lakh to Rs 26 lakh less because of the choice they've made.

Evidence of the continued momentum in the media sector can be found in the action on the ISB campus. Media companies like ABP, GBN and RPG Saregama recruited 15 students in strategic and business development roles. Kartik Ramakrishnan gave up his dream job of becoming a consultant when he was offered another job to launch a radio channel in India.

According to deputy dean Ajit Rangnekar, "women have finally broken the glass ceiling. Not only in terms of salaries but also in terms of diversity. In the past healthcare companies like Johnson and Johnson picked a lot of women students, this year they've found jobs in all sectors."

Some students have bagged leadership roles in positions of COO, VP-international marketing, head of marketing and international country manager. Interestingly, the student who bagged the VP-international marketing position used to own and run a detective agency before coming to the ISB. Talk about diversity.