The summer placement process for the first year students of the Post Graduate Programme and PGP-Agri Business Management (ABM), 2009-11, started at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) on Monday. Institute officials preferred to be non-committal on whether this year’s spell was better than last year’s in wake of receding recession.

Regulars like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Barclays remained a familiar presence this year too.

The Royal Bank of Scotland hired more than 10 summer interns in investment banking profiles for its operations in Hong Kong, Singapore, New Delhi and London. Other investment banks which visited the campus were JP Morgan, Nomura, HSBC, Deutsche Bank and Citigroup.

The official IIM-A release claimed, “Day zero of the summer placement process saw enthusiastic response from our regular partners from the fields of investment banking and consulting. Most of the students today were placed in the two sectors,” said Himanshu Nema, Secretary, Placement Cell.

“Top consulting firms, our long-time recruitment partners, were back on the campus on Monday,” said an institute official. The Boston Consulting Group and Bain and Co. each took 3-5 students for summer internships. Among other companies that took students were AT Kearney, Booz and Co and Arthur D Little.