returnmack 
hope you dont return again with incomplete posts. As Oxy and Ketan pointed out all your posts have been shouting out loud the "astounding" placements at ISB this year. It does feel good to hear Indian MBA grads scaling new heights but it's real a mockery of sorts when you project the incomplete picture in the form of an eye catching news.
Penning my views even though this is a redundant thread
Firstly converting USD to INR and then looking at the whole picture gives it an entirely distorted outlook. Its even more ridiculous to see the institutes portraying it. Coming to ISB from a total of 425 offers 424 were laterals that speaks much about the class profile, moreover almost all the positions offered were at senior management level.
This article which appeared in the same newspaper touches upon some of the facts that one should know before gaping at that 6 figs
Chinks in the Money Machine
Record-Breaking salary figures are the only things that seem to attract attention this placement season at B-schools across the country. For those who read of these offers in the newspapers and watch them on television channels here's one small piece of advice: don't believe everything you see.
For many students the final take home salary could be nowhere near the numbers quoted to the outside world. Not all salaries will end up this way of course.
In fact, several companies are now adopting a simple structure where they offer the candidate a certain sum under two or three specified heads rather than jumble up the amounts under a plethora of areas.
A typical example is the presence of just basic salary and house rent allowance (HRA) along with the employer's contribution to provident fund in the salary break-up.
However, there are still companies that don't simplify. So, here are a couple of things that everyone must keep in mind when looking at any figure quoted at campus placement time.
When you see a figure of say Rs 8.4 lakh don't believe that the person will have Rs 70,000 coming into his bank account every month.There is quite a way to go and several items to negotiate before this becomes a reality for the actual amount earned will be lower.
Next, distinguish between a one-time figure and a recurring figure. This means that there are several items included in the quoted salary figure that are received by the individual just once and there is no guarantee of them coming in the future. This includes joining bonus, relocation allowance and even performance bonus that is contingent upon the situation each year.
To help you through the salary maze remember the 'cost to company' concept. This is nothing but the amount that a company is likely to spend on an employee and would even include items that the employee might not want.
So, in some cases, the company does not actually spend on these at all and hence they are notional. This notional figure must be distinguished from the amounts received by the employee.
Now, what companies include in the cost to company figure depends upon individual company policy. Thus, someone could include future retirement benefits in the final figure, while others will just count the current year's contribution to such future benefits.
This brings up another important point, which is that the cost to company figure will never tally across different companies. This is why, in most cases, looking at average salaries across campuses is a worthless exercise as there is no clarity on the method of calculation.
All this might seem unreal and hence here are a few examples to bring reality closer home. First is a case where a basic salary of Rs 25,000 plus a house rent allowance of Rs 10,000 and other reimbursements of Rs 10,000 a month result in a quoted CTC of a cool Rs 7 lakh. The difference in the figure arises out of expenses on a laptop computer appropriated at a certain percentage plus interest expenses on concessional loans offered by the company.
Next is an offer of Rs 9.5 lakh per annum, where the take-home after taxes is around Rs 47,500 per month, including allowances. What accounts for the difference? Well, housing provided to the employee, which is valued at a certain figure, plus training expenses that the company will incur when they send you abroad. Then there are retirement benefits added to the packet that will kick in only if you stay with the company for a certain period, usually five years or more.
If you think that such juggling is restricted to Indian companies and rupee salaries then read on. A similar situation is experienced with foreign salaries too, where the only difference would be the heads of items.
Before looking at some details here remember one basic point: never convert foreign salaries into Indian rupees and then gaze wonderstruck at the Re figure for this gives the wrong picture. Consider a figure of $75,000.
The amount may look huge when converted into rupees but this is a salary earned in New York and spent largely in New York. One has to consider a salary figure relative to the country where it is earned and then see whether it is generous or just fair after taking into account the cost of living and working overseas.
Once this is done realise that the foreign salary more often than not contains several elements that are not direct payouts and these might not be guaranteed either. This includes expected bonuses that might or might not be realised. Thus, a bad year could play havoc with the overall salary figure.
This is especially true for investment banking firms where the possibility of meeting bonus targets is high if there is a good year. Contribution to retirement funding will also be a part of the salary and thus expect that to be added to the overall figure.
Similarly stock options (if any) are also taken into consideration and these will not come in hand till they are actually vested, which could mean a wait of three-five years.
Other items to watch for are joining bonuses or relocation expenses, which are one-time payouts.After all this there are taxes to consider, which will reduce the figure even further. Once all those lakhs have been put into perspective, consider this: just a few people in a batch will manage to net those headline-making salaries.
Oxymoron, I wonder if this guy is from ISB marketing department... seems like he even dont know how to market the college 
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