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Engineering institutes across the country have a New Year wish: A decent placement season for 2014.
For, barring the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and a few other top engineering institutes like BITS Pilani, many fear they might be able to place only 60-70 per cent of their students against 80-85 per cent last year.
For instance, at the Ahmedabad-based Indus University that runs the Indus Institute of Technology and Engineering, the placement process started in September 2013, but so far it has bagged only 14 offers across its 15 branches, including six engineering branches. The batch size is around 900, with 60 seats in each branch.
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"Hiring numbers are less this year. We had invited more than 200 firms for placements but only nine-ten turned up, that too mostly from the IT, ITeS, BFSI and consulting sectors. The manufacturing and automobile sectors are facing tremendous slowdown. There will be a decline in hiring this year," said a placement committee member at Indus University. Last year, the campus had seen about 100 firms making 125 offers.
The sluggishness in placements is also being translated into compensation packages on the campus. As against the highest package of Rs 5 lakh last year, this year the varsity has been able to bag a highest package of only Rs 3.6 lakh.
"We are not an IIT which can finish their placements quickly. We are facing many challenges, even in terms of getting the recruiters to our campus. Moreover, slowdown in sectors that primarily hire engineers has led to further unwillingness among firms to come down for placements or make increased number of offers," the member added.
The IITs, on the other hand, have seen a very good first phase of placements and would begin the next phase later this month.
Mumbai's KJ Somaiya College of Engineering says placements would be possible only for around 80 per cent of students. "Placements this year are quite bad. The slowdown in certain engineering sectors is keeping companies away from the campuses," said Uday Joshi, placement in-charge at K J Somaiya College of Engineering.
Joshi added that last year too, the institute had managed to place only around 85 per cent of students.
At the Einstein College of Engineering, Chennai, the companies visiting the campus are mainly small ones. The institute is trying to attract big industry players to the college as it fears many companies may offer around 30-40 jobs this year against an offer of 150-200 candidates a year in the past.
"Large companies are not extending their search to rural areas, which they had been doing in the past. This is having an impact on placements," said Selvakumar, placement co-ordinator at Einstein College of Engineering.
At the institute, 440 students would sit for placements this year and the college is positive about placing at least 300 of them - that is 70 per cent. Placements on the campus begin this month.
The institute has invited more companies on the campus as it expects that given the economic scenario, students recruited by one company might be lesser than last year.
Sundaramurthy Reddy, professor of MBA with Rajiv Gandhi College of Engineering and Technology, said he was expecting 60 per cent of the placements to happen by February this year. About 350 students will sit for placements every year. The institute has initiated training classes to make students industry-ready.
So far Cognizant Technologies has given job offers to around 32 students out of the 124 eligible candidates. The company had recruited around 114 students from the campus in 2012. MRF and Coca-Cola have also confirmed their decision to participate.
On an average, around 225 of the total 350 students got placed on campus while the others opted for higher studies or entrepreneurial ventures, said Reddy.
Engineering institutes Business Standard spoke to said students who do not find placements on campus would either go for higher studies or would have to pick up a job in engineering branches out of their study area.
Many students have thus, in addition to sitting for placement at their institutes, have begun floating their resumes.
"I am a student of textile engineering but given most mills in Mumbai have shut down, I am finding it difficult to find a suitable placement. I have begun approaching companies on my own," said a student from Mumbai's Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI).
VJTI's placement chairperson S M Gaonkar said though the market condition was not very favourable, the institute has managed to complete around 70 per cent placement so far and was positive about achieving 100 per cent in the next few months.
