Here's why unicorns might stay away from IITs this placement season

IITs are now encouraging students to go for core sector companies and PSUs; 50% fewer companies interested after blacklist episode earlier this year

This year, the Indian Institute of Technology have seen a 50 per cent fall in the number of start ups registering for hiring. Flipkart, Snapdeal, OlaCabs and Paytm are yet to sign up for hiring.

However, pre-placement offers have risen by 20-30 per cent compared to last year, which makes the hiring atmosphere positive.

One interpretation of this aloof approach can be that IITs banned 31 firms from hiring earlier this year. The firms got blacklisted for paying with the careers of the students. The firms made last minute changes in their offers, delayed joining dates, revoked offer letters. Firms such as PepperTap, Portea Medical, Hopscotch, Grofers, Stayzilla, Roadrunnr and Zomato, among others, were barred from participating in placements for a year.

Despite all this, several start ups are being screened by the placement committee before they come to the campus for hiring. According to sources, 54 start ups have lined up at IIT-Madras, compared to 98 last year. Same goes for IIT-Bombay. "We are screening the companies that want to recruit from our campus," said a placement team member of IIT-Kanpur. "Their funding, cash flow and the year of founding, essentially their stability, is what we are checking," he added.

"Until last year, most of the startups used to sign up early on. Also, the firms that were blacklisted made up about 30%-40% of the startups that used to visit all the IITs. So it was certain that the numbers would fall this year," said a placement dean.

IITs are now encouraging students to go for core sector companies and public sector undertakings (PSUs) this placement season. The IITs are scrutinising other start-ups closely. 

"The message that we are trying to bring home is that only those start-ups which are serious about recruiting should come to IIT campuses. The message that we are sending through blacklisting should be a sufficient deterrent. Moreover, companies where feedback is not good from the alumni with whom the students are in touch, automatically get moved further down in day-slotting," V Babu, advisor for training and placements at IIT-Madras, had told Business Standard earlier.