IITs double pace of final placements this season

Having placed nearly 70 per cent of their students in just over a month, the IITs are hopeful of wrapping up the placements season much before March

The premier Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have managed to place between 50 and 70 per cent of students till date. During the same period last year, these institutes had managed to place only around 35 per cent of their students due to the global economic slowdown. IITs began the final placements on December 1, 2009. The process will continue till March 2010.

Consider this. At IIT-Kharagpur, of the 1,341 combined student strength, around 531 have been placed. The highest offer at the institute has been for Rs 22 lakh from Barclays Bank for placement at Singapore. The highest salary offered at Kharagpur to the batch of 2009 remains the same as last year, at Rs 22 lakh per annum, while the average salary for students dipped to Rs 6 lakh per annum from Rs 7.44 lakh per annum last year. “We have achieved around 70 per cent placements and are expecting more number of companies after the third quarter results,” said a placement offer of IIT-Roorkee.

Most IITs completed over 25 per cent of placements in the first week itself. “Though we will continue with the placements till March, we might be able to wrap it up early as response from the companies has been good,” said a placement chairperson from one of the IITs. Last year, the IITs were able to place only 75-80 per cent of their student pool due to global economic slowdown. Many students had to opt for higher studies or jobs in teaching. This season, IIT- Roorkee invited around 1,200 companies on the campus against 800 last year. The institute will place around 1,200 students this year. So far, IBM has made an offer of Rs 14 lakh — the highest till date at IIT-Roorkee.

IIT-Bombay, too, says it has placed around 40 per cent of its 1,200 students. These institutes say they see a 30 per cent increase in salary over last year. And at IIT-Kanpur, Tower Research Capital, a financial services company from New York, has made the highest offer of Rs 44.5 lakh per annum.

IITs say that IT biggies like Microsoft, Adobe, Yahoo, Amazon, Oracle and Intel have confirmed participation on the campus. Consulting and investment banking firms include names like JP Morgan Chase, Deloitte, Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse. Other firms which would participate on the campus include manufacturing major Catterpillar and FMCG major Nestle, among others. However, regular recruiter Schlumberger, one of the highest paying companies, is absent form the campus this year as it has not confirmed participation.

A total of 3,031 students from seven IITs were recruited by MNCs through campus selection in 2008, according to figures sourced from the Ministry of Human Resources (MHRD). However, in 2009, the number had almost halved to stand at 1,606 since the effects of the global slowdown had kicked in. For instance, while in 2008, 593 students were selected from IIT- Bombay, this year only 381 students of the institute were selected by MNCs. And while 633 students from IIT-Delhi were recruited by MNCs last year, the number fell to 390 this year.

However, this year, the response from companies has been so good that IIT-Kanpur invited around 200 ex-students on the campus to participate in its placement process this year. These students who passed out last year from the campus could not get placed owing to economic slowdown and thereby less participation by companies on the campus.

The institute says it did so under its one-student-one-job policy where one student when registers for placements and secures a job, is not allowed to sit for any other interview on the campus. Other IITs however follow the dream job policy where a student can sit for more than one job interview and choose the best offer.

“We registered around 200 students from the last year’s various batches who could not find themselves a job in the past six months. With our have a one-student-one-job policy will be able to accommodate these students,” said a placements committee member from IIT-Kanpur.