The Jaipur-based National Institute of Agricultural Marketing (NIAM) has posted a record placement of the students of its post-graduate programme in agri-business management this year with the highest package offered at Rs. 7 lakhs per annum.

NIAM -- functioning under the Union Ministry of Agriculture -- has achieved successful placement of all the students of 2004-05 batch at top positions across the country. It has recorded almost 175 per cent growth in the average package at Rs. 5.5 lakhs per annum for the batch.

The Director General of NIAM, Anurag Bhatnagar, said here on February 28 that the students had been picked up by the multinational giants such as Bunge India Pvt. Ltd., domestic heavyweights like Reliance, ICICI, HDFC, etc., commodities majors such as NCDEX and IL&FS, and some of the known names in the industry such as Godrej, Kotak Mahindra, JK Agri-Genetics, Agrovet and DSCL.

The highest offer in terms of annual salary was made by Bunge India Pvt. Ltd. Mr. Bhatnagar pointed out that agri-business was adopting global proportions as a dynamic industry and becoming technologically sophisticated. The degree in agri-business will provide the students with skills leading to continued professional growth as the industry progresses.

The focus areas of this year's placements were commodity trading, retailing, and rural financing and management.

(www.hinduonnet.com)