IITs beat the slowdown blues

The slowdown clouds seem to have steered clear of the Indian Institutes of Technologies (IITs) this placement season. The premier engineering institutions are off to good final placements with IIT Bombay bagging the highest job offer so far from Microsoft for over Rs 52 lakh ($100,000) for a position at the company's head office in Washington.

“The students are gung-ho about the placements this year. There is no sign of any slowdown. We have received a good number of offers from international companies including some good startups. Microsoft has toppled Facebook by offering the highest salary at $1,00,000. Facebook offered $90,000, similar to last year,” an IIT Bombay student aware of the offers made told Business Standard.

The IITS will begin their final placements on December 1 which will go on till June, 2012.

IIT Bombay placement chairperson, Ravi Sinha said “The interest among companies for IIT students remains very strong. We are very satisfied with the response we have received from companies. We see anywhere between a 10-20 per cent increase in salary levels for students.” Sinha however, refused to divulge further details.

At IIT Bombay, over 1300 students will sit for placements where 200 companies will participate.

At IIT Roorkee, the highest offer so far is Rs 32 lakh from Schlumberger, an international supplier of technology, integrated project management and information solutions to energy companies. IIT Roorkee has received confirmation from over 140 companies which will be on campus to recruit over 1,200 students.

IIT Roorkee placement chairperson said, “Response from companies have been very good. Though salary levels more or less remain the same as last year, more number of companies are participating on campus this year.”

IIT Delhi has had around 300 companies confirm participation for placements so far. The institute will place around 1,200 students. “Response from companies is very good. But we do not see any drastic change in the salary levels. While it may not decrease, a slight increase could be a possibility,” said jump. Kushal Sen, placement chairperson at IIT Delhi.

At IIT Madras, companies from Korea and Japan will also participate in this year's final placements. Over 1,200 students will seek jobs during the placement season. Placement Advisor N Ramesh Babu said there are no signs of a slowdown visible.

IIT Kanpur and IIT Kharagpur officials declined information at this point. They explained that the placement figures could be given only after the process was over.