Chandigarh, April 2: It's the highest pay packet ever bagged by a Panjab University student. Ankit Singal, a student of the Department of Chemical Engineering and Technology, PU, has been offered a salary of Rs 10.8 lakh per annum, which is exclusive of perks, by Shell during the campus placements held recently in the department.

The average package this year is Rs 3.8 lakh.

"I feel proud, both for the department and as an individual. It is for the first time that a student in the department has received such a high package. I attribute my success to my family, faculty of the department and also our alumni."

Professor U S Shivhare, Training and Placement Officer, said Ankit's total package would amount to Rs 11 lakh. It is for the first time that the department achieved 100 per cent placement and its students had multiple offers.

Companies like Shell, Technip-Abu Dhabi, Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Engineers India Limited, Bechtel, Fluor Daniel, Samsung Engineering, Lurgi India Limited, Trident Industries, Tata Chemicals, Chambal Fertilizers, DSCL Energy, DSCL Sugar, DCM-SR, Pepsi, Amrit Banaspati, Accenture, Infosys, etc. participated in the PU campus placement programme.

Professor Daljit Singh, chairperson of the department, said his students were doing very well in the GRE and TOEFL examinations and several students qualify for admission to postgraduate programmes in prestigious universities abroad. The strong alumni network of the department has also helped in the placement process.