A salary offer of Rs32 lakh by a domestic company is the highest in the current year’s placement programme at Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Indore.

This year’s highest offer is Rs2 lakh less than best one last year. Without disclosing the details of the employer, an IIM spokesman said the highest package of Rs32 lakh per annum was offered to a student of PGP 2012-14 batch for appointment in India.

Various companies that took part in the placement programme offered jobs to all 475 pass outs of the 2012-14 batch. The average annual package offered was Rs12.13 lakh to the participants, he said.

A total of 152 companies showed interest in taking part in the placement process and out of them, 41 came for the first time.The maximum (26 per cent) jobs were offered in the sales and marketing line while 24 per cent were from the consulting side.

20 per cent students bagged the opportunities in financial sector, 13 per cent in general management, human resources, 10 per cent in IT and seven per cent in operations.Earlier, IIM-Indore chairman KV Kamath distributed diplomas to nearly 638 students of different programmes during the annual convocation ceremony in the presence of noted historian and writer Ramchandra Guha.

Addressing the pass-outs, Guha said the country is facing challenges in various fields and the nation badly needs good leaders in every field.Kamath also addressed the young managers and called upon them to become good leader in their respective fields as this is the right time to do so. He also expressed regret over collapse of a dais yesterday during photo session before the convocation in which nearly 24 students suffered injuries. Five seriously injured students were admitted to a hospital in Indore.

Kamath has constituted a committee to probe the mishap which will submit its report within two weeks.