Why IITs are struggling to get students placed this season

The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are staring at a slowed pace of placements. An average of 30-35 per cent of students at India’s premier institutions are yet to be hired this year, as per a Times of India (TOI) report.

IITs carry out placements in two phases – one in December and the second between January and June.

Let’s take a closer look.

IIT Bombay

Over 30 per cent of students at IIT Bombay have still not bagged jobs, as per a Hindustan Times (HT) report.

This year, 712 of about 2,000 students registered for placement, but nearly 36 per cent are still waiting to get hired, the newspaper said citing data by the founder of Global IIT Alumni Support Group, Dheeraj Singh.

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Speaking to HT, an official from the IIT-Bombay placement cell said, “For the first time, registered students from the computer science and engineering branch, which are most in demand, have not seen 100 per cent placement among those registered”.

In 2023, about 1,485 out of the 2,209 registered students were placed in IIT Bombay, meaning 32.8 per cent could not secure jobs last year too, as per the HT report.

Delhi, Kanpur and Madras IITs

IITs Kanpur, Madras and Delhi are also struggling with placements. As per The Telegraph report, Dheeraj Singh, an IIT Kanpur alumnus, compiled data on this year’s placement based on feedback from IIT Kanpur students and an RTI reply from IIT Delhi.

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The RTI response revealed that 1,036 IIT Delhi students secured jobs till 28 February this year. However, it did not mention how many students had registered for the placements.

The IIT Delhi has claimed that 1,050 students got job offers, of which 50 were pre-placement offers (PPOs), in the first placement phase in December. Singh, who also studied data from the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) website, found that IIT Delhi had recorded 60 per cent and 66 per cent placements in 2023 and 2022, respectively, The Telegraph reported.

IIT Kanpur clocked an estimated placement of 69 per cent this year, compared to 91 per cent in 2023 and 90 per cent in 2022, the report added.

According to Free Press Journal (FPJ), 45 per cent of students in IIT Madras remain without job offers this year. As many as 2,100 students registered for placement, but only 1,150 have been hired till now.

Other IITs

At IIT Kharagpur, a total of 2,644 students registered this year, of which 1,259 have been placed. Last year, over 1,600 students out of the 2,486 registered were hired, reported TOI.

In the Bhubaneswar campus, 212 students were placed this year out of 298 who registered. In 2023, about 263 students registered and 247 got jobs, as per TOI.

Moneycontrol reported in January this year that IIT Lucknow had reached out to its alumni network for assistance in getting jobs for 72 of its unplaced students.

Why are IIT placements poor?

Experts have attributed the downward trend in IIT placements to the global economic slowdown.

The official from IIT-Bombay’s placement cell told HT it was tough “to invite companies to the campus compared to last year due to the global economic meltdown”.

“Most companies were unable to accept salary packages pre-decided by the institute. It took many rounds of negotiations before they agreed to come over,” he said.

The official said that most of the 380 companies that came to IIT Bombay to hire talent were from the domestic market instead of international firms which traditionally surpass Indian ones, as per HT.

A faculty member from the placement cell of one of the newer IITs told News18, “PPOs are being made but not many international firms have come out so far, as they are cautious of over-hiring and may come in towards the end of the season. Some of the firms based in the US and UK are not investing as much in long-term projects outside of the home and hence are not coming down as of yet.”

Former IIT Delhi director and VC of BITS Pilani, V Ramgopal Rao, told Indian Express that he believes that overall placements have dipped 20-30 per cent this year owing to the economic slowdown worldwide.

“A lot of hiring took place during the COVID, and they are all going a little bit slow this time. They think there might be a recession and some slowdown in the economy. So right now, it is anywhere from 20 to 30 per cent lower compared to last year. But I am confident things will pick up because the Indian economy is doing very well and there is no problem with it,” he said.

IITs, which were wary of Indian start-ups till last year, are willing to give a chance this time amid the dismal scenario.

“The placement statistics are on the lower side in almost all IITs. Our students are aware of the current global economic situation and therefore, there is a bend towards domestic offers as against the previous year. For phase II, we have plans to invite new companies and start-ups,” Rajib Maity, chairman, Career Development Cell, IIT-Kharagpur, told Indian Express in January.

With inputs from agencies