Bangalore: As there is a tough competition to select the best talent, recruiters who are hiring at the top B-Schools are compensating the fresh talents who are graduating in 2012 with hefty joining bonuses in a year of moderate hikes, reports Devina Sengupta and Writankar Mukherjee from the Economic Times.

At present, premier B-Schools like IIMs, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade [IIFT], XLRI and Faculty of Management Studies [FMS], Delhi have already received bonuses ranging from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 3 lakh this year. It was a different situation a year back where the 2011 graduates had just got joining bonuses ranging between Rs 40,000 and Rs 50,000 and sometimes a lakh on rare occasions.

Sandeep Chaudhary, the Regional practice leader, compensation consulting, Asia-Pacific, Aon Hewitt said that, in the leading institutes, there is still a struggle for talent, but it is only in the institutes which are considered to be the lower order institutes  where the companies can relax a bit.

Elango R, the HR head at MphasiS told that the competition level has remained high to choose the best talent among all the companies. Currently, the IIM-Ahemadabad, IIM-B, IIM-L and Indian School of Business’s 10 students are been offered joining bonus of Rs 1-2 lakh by the ITeS firm. But the company has not raised its compensation package this year that ranges between Rs 9 lakh and Rs 20 lakh.

As the bonus gives a competitive edge, consumer goods and hospitality major ITC Ltd has offered joining bonus of Rs 3 lakh to campus recruits for the first year. The company has already hired 70 students from management institutes that include the IIMs and FMS Delhi and the IIM-Calcutta has confirmed the joining bonuses to the ITC recruits.