Flipkart might lose 'day one' slot in IIT campus placements for deferring joining dates: Report

With an ongoing restructuring, the e-commerce major has similarly deferred the joining dates of new IIM recruits

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E-commerce giant Flipkart is likely to lose its 'day one' status in Indian Institutes of Technology's (IIT's) campus placement programs, reported the Economic Times on Thursday.

The cause, according to the report, is Flipkart's recent decision to defer the joining date of its most recent batch of campus recruits from June to as late as December. Additionally, the IITs are not the only one's displeased, as Flipkart has similarly deferred the joining dates of new Indian Institute of Management (IIM) recruits.  

Flipkart has claimed that it has taken this step because of ongoing restructuring in its business.

Citing multiple sources, the report says that the e-commerce major is "almost certain" to be take off the "prestigious" day one slot at various branches of the top institute. The financial daily adds that the All-IITs Placement Committee (AIPC), comprising placement cell heads across all IITs, will meet in the next few days to take a decision on the matter.  

Speaking to Economic Times, one AIPC member said, "Flipkart's day one slot at IITs will be affected for sure. Our next AIPC meeting was scheduled for October, but we are planning to have a video conference in the next few days to decide on how to sort out the problem," the member added. 

The day one slot across IITs, according to Economic Times, is normally reserved for the most reputed companies, a list which includes Google and Microsoft. The report adds that barring a couple of campuses such as IIT-Bombay, Flipkart has so far been accommodated in the day One slot across almost all IITs.

The IITs are unlikely to blacklist Flipkart, the report adds. Last year, the online restaurant search and discovery service Zomato was blacklisted by the prestigious institute.

Speaking to Economic Times on the matter, an IIT placement head, who refused to be named, said: "It is a delicate situation. Many of our alumni are still at Flipkart and it would be unwise to have a kneejerk reaction." 

IIT-Bombay in particular is planning to send a mail to the company, asking it to either reduce the deferment period or increase the compensation amount, which is currently Rs 1.5 lakh. The report adds that Flipkart has hired seven students from the institute in its most recent recruitment round. 

Additionally, according to the report, the institute has asked the company to "provide surety that it plans to onboard all students once Flipkart's restructuring is done with". 

Speaking to the paper, the placement chairperson of an older IIT said, "We are looking to rethink our strategy about this entire space as a whole." He added, "We are seeing more interest in big MNCs (multi-national companies) and more stable companies." 

Among the IIMs, so far, IIM-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) is the only one to have expressed concern. 

The authorities at IIM-A have sent a strongly worded letter to Flipkart, marking other premier business-schools such as IIM-Bangalore (IIM-B), IIM-Lucknow (IIM-L) and the Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi.

Both IIM-B and IIM-L confirmed they have received a communication from Flipkart, and were mulling further action.

Flipkart, in a public statement, has said that the delay in the joining dates of new campus recruits was because of ongoing organisational restructuring that involves creating new business units and merging some. It cited examples of integrating its engineering organisation while creating a new unit — the customer shopping experience group.

“As a part of this ongoing restructuring, the campus program will also go through a comprehensive overhaul to ensure that it is in line with our new business structure and that our campus recruits start working towards larger company goals from day one,” the company said.