It is turning out to be a very promising placement season for IITians. Not only were opening day job offers up by 16-48%, depending on the campus, but so were the salaries on offer. Microsoft (US) has reportedly emerged as the highest paying firm this year, offering students a package of around Rs 1.4 crore, inclusive of bonuses and stock options, for profiles in their Redmond headquarters. Uber, which has picked up one candidate each from IIT-Bombay and IIT-Madras, is next on the generous pay masters list, having offered a package of Rs 99.8 lakh. Foreign firms are not only making headlines for the salaries being offered, but also for their record numbers participating in the placement season. International offers, which had plummeted during placement season 2016-17, have already more than trebled at a couple of campuses this year. In the first three days of placements, IIT Madras saw 22 overseas offers compared to six last year while at IIT Kharagpur the numbers have jumped from just 9 to over 30. At IIT Bombay, international offers, including pre-placement offers, have gone up to 60 from last years 50. Moreover, this season has seen several big names make a debut on the list of recruiters, like Apple Inc, Nasdaq and Rubrik.