Weak dollar fails to dent IIT placements

At a time when corporate slowdown is hitting headlines, IITians are happy that the effect of the weakening dollar has not made any impact on their pay packets.

Salaries during placements at the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) this year, has gone up 10-20 per cent. At IIT-Madras and IIT-Roorkee, global oilfield and information services company, Schlumberger, has offered salary of $90,000 and $91,000 per annum, respectively.

At IIT Kanpur, a New York-based financial services company, Tower Research Capital, has offered a job of $90,000. IIT-Kharagpur saw the highest international offer made at $60,000 this year.

Says a placement official at IIT-Madras, "Most of the companies have revised the salary to a higher figure this year compared to last year. Effect of the weakening dollar has not been seen."

"However, the IT-enabled services (ITeS) companies have recruited in lessser number as compared to previous year," said an IIT-Roorkee official.

This year, companies from sectors like core engineering and finance have visited the campus. Sectors like banking, consulting, IT, public sector undertakings and FMCG have also attracted good number of students. Companies like Chronus Corporation, TVS Capital, Keppel FELS Offshore, Renault Nissan, Tower Research Capital, among others, visited the campuses for the first time this year.

Last year, IIT-Delhi had led the pack with Pimco, a US-based speciality fixed income manager, offering $100,000 per annum package to its BTech graduates.

At IIT-Bombay and Kanpur, the highest offers were made for $92,000 per annum and $90,000 per annum by Mercer Oliver Wyman "" a Boston-based financial consulting firm and Lime Group, a US-based financial and technology conglomerate, respectively.

Number of students opting for international placements at IITs more or less remained the same. At IIT-Madras, 29 students opted for international placements against 31 students last year. IIT-Kanpur, though did not reveal the number of students who accepted international offers, said the number, however, doubled this year.

While IIT-Roorkee had two students opting out of placements to set up their entrepreneurial venture, other IITs say they do not keep a record of the students who opt for setting up their own ventures. Says an IIT placement official, "We have a few students who like to set up their own ventures, but we do not have any record of them."

Also, IITs attracted a lot of new companies this year. While IIT-Kanpur saw 20 new companies on the campus, IIT Roorkee had 40 new companies visiting it.