Placements at India’s top engineering colleges, including the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), have gotten off to an uncertain start with recruiters adopting a cautious approach. Mint explains why the batch of 2025 has reason to be worried.
How are you doing on the hiring front?
Of the 23 IITs, the first generation schools—in Kharagpur, Chennai (called Madras), Mumbai (Bombay), Delhi, Roorkee and Kanpur—begin the placement season in December. The second and third generation IITs, along with the National Institutes of Technology (NITs) begin placements in August-September Many companies have told universities that recruitment figures are yet to be decided. Some have even said they would prefer to take the pre-placement route, offered to students. selected at the end of an internship, and not coming to campus at all for the final internship.
Why are companies so cautious?
Campus placements for the 2022 and 2023 batch were completed in record time as companies absorbed new students after two years of pandemic and a sudden surge in business and digital demand. But many companies overhired. Subsequently, some companies were affected by the global slowdown. This was a problem for the batch of 2024. Now there are even more headwinds: wars are raging in Europe and Western Asia; There are inflationary pressures and presidential elections in the United States. The outcome of the elections will determine the policies around offshoring. Companies exposed to global markets are being cautious.
Will only IITs be affected?
No. Although the information technology (IT) sector, the mass recruiters, are more positive about their campus numbers this year, startups, manufacturing and banking companies are expected to hire in measured numbers. Older IITs, and possibly management schools (their internships start in February), need to prepare for a slow job market.
How are universities responding?
Universities look for companies and don’t expect them to communicate with the campus. Early recruiters on IIT campuses this year include Samsung, Accenture and Larsen & Toubro. Knowing that well-paid recruiters can target established IITs and NITs, other universities are looking for startups, while asking their alumni for help. The 2024 season is still unsettled: a significant number of graduates from both older and newer IITs did not have offers even in May-June this year, when the placement season ended.
What salaries can students expect?
The average of new IITs can be $12-13 lakhs; for the elderly $20-55 lakhs. Even with the visible slowdown, some of the newer universities expect salaries to increase by 3% to 4% this year. However, demand for certain positions is higher. Recruiters believe that project manager roles or those well-versed in artificial intelligence (AI) are expected to have a competitive advantage. High-end trading companies and software companies offered salaries of $80 lakh to $1.4 crore in 2024 and this year it could be repeated, but in smaller quantities.
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