Hiring blues: Campus placements at IITs lose steam in phase-II

Highest salary package offered and number of students placed decline compared to those in phase-I

After a strong first phase of final placements, most Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) seem to have lost steam in the second phase.

At the IITs, the final placement process is conducted in two phases — the first in December, while the second is spread through a few months beginning January.

The IITs Business Standard spoke to said there was a decline in the highest compensation packages being offered in the second phase. Also, in terms of the number of students being placed, the momentum in the second phase is slow. A few IITs said the placement season could be extended beyond May-June 2014.

At IIT-Madras, for instance, the highest compensation package offered in first phase was $210,000 a year (about Rs 1.25 crore); this fell to Rs 16 lakh in the second phase. For IIT-Guwahati, highest domestic salary in first phase was Rs 32 lakh a year; this fell to Rs 7.18 lakh in the second phase. For IIT-Kharagpur, the highest salary in the first and second phases stood at Rs 37 lakh and Rs 21 lakh, respectively.

At IIT-Madras, compared to 785 students being placed in the first phase, the institute has placed 73 students so far in the second phase. For

IIT-Kharagpur, which placed 1,026 students in first phase, the second phase has seen 300 placements.

“Usually, we are able to place almost all students or a considerable number by this time of the year. However, this year, the hiring environment hasn’t been as good as last year, impacting the second phase. Thankfully, most of the anticipated marquee firms could make it in the first phase recruitment process,” said a placement committee member at IIT-Kanpur.

Sectors that made their presence felt during the second phase of placements included core engineering, information technology, consulting, education, teaching, finance and health care.

At IIT-Guwahati, some new firms that visited the campus in the second phase were Yodlee, HCL, UHG, SAP Lab, Housing.com, Eaton and BSB. The institute said new firms such as Oracle and SAP Labs had joined the likes of Google and Microsoft in rolling out foreign offers in the second phase.

IITs also attributed the dull second phase to the absence of public sector undertakings (PSUs). “The decline in recruitment in second phase is also due to a number of PSUs staying away from direct recruitments from IITs,” an IIT-Guwahati placement committee member said.

Though the Madras High Court had vacated a stay on direct recruitments by PSUs from campuses, a final order in this regard is pending.

IIT-Bombay said considering that many of its students wanted PSUs to come to the campus for placements, the institute had asked many of these companies to participate in the placement process. It has, however, informed the students about pending public interest litigation in this regard and cautioned against any consequences thereof.