The annual ritual of B-school placements in India reaches its dénouement this week at IIM Ahmedabad. And to make a case for poetic justice, the best has been saved for the last.

Day Zero on Monday, March 10th, saw 20 jobs being handed out, to add to the overseas investment banking offers that had been doled out much before the start of placements, of which 18 were accepted.

14 people notched up dollar and sterling salaries in Deutsche Bank, Lehman Bros, ABN Amro, Capital One and Citigroup (making a debut in India); while 4 landed the ferociously contested Indian jobs at McKinsey and BCG. Foreign recruiters whose offers had already been snapped up prior to placements were Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, HSBC, Lehman Bros, ABN Amro and Deutsche Bank.

Already, without counting the overseas placements up for grabs at the next round of placements on Thursday, the total number of foreign offers at IIM-A is streets ahead of the corresponding complete figures for any other Indian business school.

Going into Thursday, 67 people out of a batch of 180 already have a first job in hand - through pre-placement offers, lateral recruitments and Day Zero recruitment.

Over the subsequent four days of placements, around 70 more companies are expected to set up shop on campus, handing out jobs in sectors ranging from Strategy Consulting to Healthcare.

DETAILS OF JOB ACCEPTANCES AS OF NOW

From domestic pre placement offers*

GE Capital	India	4
Coke	India	3
Citibank	India	1
HLL	India	1
Total acceptances		9