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The average pre-placement salaries offered to students of India's foremost technology schools (IITs) are lower by about half this year as compared to the same time last year, according to sources.

A drop of 36%. IIT Kharagpur has registered 10 compared to 38 a drop of 35% and Lucknow has registered 8 compared to the 25 registered this time last year a drop of 47%. IIT Kanpur has seen a drop of 48% with 12 companies registered so far when compared to 37 in October last year.

The number of companies that have registered for final placements, too, has gone down by around 45%, they said on condition of anonymity.

Pre-placement job offers at IITs have seen average salaries drop by nearly 50% since last year. For example, sources say that in IIT Bombay, average salary for PPOs has dropped from Rs 9 lakh per annum to Rs 5 lakh per annum –– a 55% drop. IIT Kharagpur has seen its average salary for PPOs drop from Rs 9.5 lakhs to Rs 4 lakhs, that's a 65% drop. Other IITs have received PPOs but there's no commitment of salaries.

Sources say that the number of companies registering for final placements so far have also seen a significant fall this year. The IITs are even considering reducing the registration fees charged to these institutions.

Experts say one main reason for the drop in registrations could be that some large companies like Accenture, Wipro and Infosys may visit campuses only in March next year.

Many public sector companies, particularly in the core sector, have shown interest in placements. IITs also expect big recruiters like Larsen & Toubro, Gas Authority of India, Tata Motors, Oracle, JP Morgan and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), who pick up 10-15 students, to return this placement season.

Schlumberger, the world's largest oilfield-services provider that gave the highest package of $100,000 last year, is also expected.

Adobe Systems, will recruit 4-5 graduates from each of the seven IITs, while finance companies Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank have already made some offers.