IIT: As placements dip, students look beyond campus

The trends, based on data obtained by The Indian Express, come against the backdrop of a shifting tech landscape, global economic uncertainties, and an increasing number of Indian Institute of Technology graduates competing in a dynamic job market.


IIT Delhi is the only institution that bucked the trend, maintaining a consistent placement percentage of 84 per cent to 85 per cent since 2018-19, except for fluctuations during the pandemic years of 2020-21.

In an indication of the changing hiring trends from the Indian Institutes of Technology, at least four older IITs have seen a decline in their campus placement percentages in recent years, even as surveys indicate the number of students getting jobs independently may be on the rise.

The trends, based on data obtained by The Indian Express, come against the backdrop of a shifting tech landscape, global economic uncertainties, and an increasing number of IIT graduates competing in a dynamic job market.


Five of the seven first-generation IITs responded to The Indian Express’s request under the RTI Act for placement data spanning six years, from 2018-19 to 2023-24. IIT Madras and IIT Guwahati did not share details and instead referred to their annual reports.
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Among the institutes that disclosed placement rates (the percentage of students receiving job offers) across undergraduate, postgraduate, and research programs, IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, and IIT Roorkee recorded declines ranging from 5 to 16 percentage points (see chart).


IIT Bombay provided data only for 2022-23 and 2023-24, showing a drop from 82 per cent to 75 per cent. While IIT Guwahati’s placement percentage for 2023-24 (71 per cent) is higher than the pre-pandemic level of 2018-19 (67 per cent), it is seven percentage points lower than the previous year, 2022-23 (78 per cent).

IIT Delhi is the only institution that bucked the trend, maintaining a consistent placement percentage of 84 per cent to 85 per cent since 2018-19, except for fluctuations during the pandemic years of 2020-21 (80 per cent) and 2021-22 (75 per cent).



The factors — and some riders

While the IITs refused to comment on the record, students and teachers associated with the campus hiring process attributed the drop to a combination of factors: the aftereffects of post–Covid mass hiring in 2022, a slowdown in key sectors like tech and software, and increasing batch sizes.


“In 2022, there was a spike in placement percentages as the market recovered after Covid, with rates exceeding 85 per cent. This spike followed a two-year hiring freeze. Hiring in 2023 was more conservative, with fewer top MNCs coming in and a decline in software and tech recruitment. Placements this year might improve over last year, but are unlikely to match 2022 levels. The numbers may normalise by 2025,” said a source from IIT Kanpur.

Another person associated with placements at IIT Kharagpur pointed to growing batch sizes as a factor. At IIT Kharagpur, the number of students registering for placement has increased from 1,757 in 2018–19 to 2,668 in 2023–24, while those placed grew from 1,375 to 1,662 during the same period.

“Placements in 2022-23 were among the best for the institute, but there hasn’t been much improvement in the market since then, and the companies coming for placements this year haven’t met expectations,” the source said.

“The intake of students has been increasing gradually, with nearly 3,000 students sitting for placements this year, making it a challenging task to place everyone. While most JEE entrants are placed, companies have fewer roles for PG students,” the person said.


IIT Guwahati too said that placement outcomes are better for B.Tech graduates. “Most IIT placement data focuses on B.Tech students. In 2022, the B.Tech placement percentage was 83 per cent, and in 2023, it was 80 per cent,” an official from IIT Guwahati told The Indian Express. “PG students often prefer higher studies – they register for placements but do not pursue them further. The actual placement scenario is best reflected in undergraduate placements, where close to 80 per cent of students secure jobs, while 10 per cent go for higher studies, 5 per cent opt for civil services, and others pursue MBA programs.”

The official said that around 600 and 650 BTech students were placed in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

Though the placement percentage at IIT Bombay dropped from 82.16 per cent in 2022-23 to 74.53 per cent in 2023-24, an official said it would be misleading to draw conclusions solely from this data as it only reflects on-campus placements and not other career paths. “Many students shown as ‘not placed’ take routes like higher education or off-campus placements or entrepreneurship. The dip does not offer a true reflection unless compared with the exit survey,” the official said.

A newly introduced exit survey revealed that from 2018 to 2022, 57.1 per cent of students were placed through campus placements, 10.3 per cent found jobs independently, 1.6 per cent initiated start-ups, 8.3 per cent entered public services, 6.1 per cent were still seeking jobs, and 12 per cent pursued higher education in India or abroad.

Of the six IITs, only three shared data pertaining to the average salary package offered to placed students. IIT Kanpur’s average salary rose from Rs 22.1 lakh per annum (LPA) in 2020–21 to Rs 25.9 LPA in 2022–23, but dropped to Rs 23.7 LPA in 2023–24.

At IIT Kharagpur, the average salary increased from Rs 14 LPA in 2020–21 to Rs 18 LPA in 2022–23, before declining to Rs 17 LPA in 2023–24.

IIT Bombay recorded an average salary of Rs 21.50 LPA in 2021–22, slightly rising to Rs 21.82 LPA in 2022–23.

Why IIT Delhi stood out

The increase in students availing themselves of IIT Delhi’s placement services rose from 1,471 in 2021-2022 to 1,531 in 2023-2024, largely due to a significant rise in participation from PhD scholars.


Nearly 190 PhD candidates, a sixfold increase, sought placements for the first time, affecting the overall placement percentage since regular job profiles for B.Tech and M.Tech graduates are not suitable for PhD scholars.

To address this, IIT Delhi conducted a special recruitment drive for PhD students in June 2024, resulting in a sevenfold increase in offers as compared to the previous year. An official said: “If you notice, the number of offers received in 2022-2023 (1,287) and 2023-24 (1,222) are comparable and only about 5 per cent less than the previous year. Despite difficult market conditions and placements across the institutions in the country during 2023-2024, IIT Delhi managed to do reasonably well last year. We are striving to get our PhD and other students jobs to achieve a very good overall placement this year. We have a number of profiles lined up for this year and are hoping to cater to all aspiring students.”

In an exit survey conducted by IIT Delhi this year, 1411 (53.1 per cent) students confirmed that they had received a job offer. On the other hand, 224 (8.4 per cent) students responded that they were self-employed, whereas 45 (1.7 per cent) students informed that they are working for a start-up and 66 (2.5 per cent) students were involved in entrepreneurship.

Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/express-exclusive/iit-placements-dip-students-look-beyond-campus-too-9763771/

AICTE and MyAnatomy Establish Strategic Alliance, Initiating a New Era for Skill Assessment and Development

In a groundbreaking move to enhance technical education and skill development, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and MyAnatomy have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to address the evolving needs of India’s workforce. This strategic alliance signifies a substantial leap towards bridging the gap between academia and industry, fostering a globally competitive talent ecosystem.

For nearly Eight Decades, AICTE has been at the forefront of technical education in India, driving innovation, excellence, and employability through visionary initiatives. The council’s internship and job portals have connected over 550 million students with opportunities across 76,000+ companies, while its Global Developer Corps (GDC) program and Post-Doctoral Fellowship scheme have further strengthened India’s position as a leader in AI technologies and cutting-edge research.

AICTE has taken a humble yet transformative initiative to incorporate skill assessments into its internship portal. By partnering with MyAnatomy, a leading AI-driven digital talent platform, AICTE aims to enhance skill diagnosis, competency mapping, and career progression. This collaboration leverages MyAnatomy’s advanced assessment technologies to create industry-aligned skill development programs, personalized learning paths, and job-role-specific assessments like the National Competence and Employability Test (NCET).

MyAnatomy is a cutting-edge digital talent platform that leverages AI and automation to seamlessly connect employers, job seekers, and educational institutions, revolutionizing the talent landscape. With a skill-first approach, MyAnatomy offers comprehensive solutions such as Skill Assessment, Recruitment as a Service and Learning-as-a-Service, along with an end-to-end Recruitment Process Management System. The platform empowers candidates by identifying skill gaps, creating personalized career roadmaps, and enhancing employability. MyAnatomy is committed to fostering a balanced and thriving talent ecosystem that meets the dynamic demands of today’s workforce.

This collaboration marks a significant milestone in addressing the evolving needs of India's workforce. By combining AICTE's vast network and regulatory framework with My Anatomy’s innovative technology, the partnership aims to:
1. Empower individuals across various professional profiles with highly advanced, scientifically designed AI-driven assessments and interviews for accurate self-diagnosis of skills.
2. Enable professionals to create personalized career progress plans, paving the way for successful futures in an increasingly competitive job market.
3. Provide organizations with enhanced tools to identify the right candidates, ensuring a perfect match between skills and job requirements.
4. Bridge the gap between academia and industry by aligning skill development programs with current market demands.
5. Optimize campus placements, Internships and Career progression plans with well-designed Learning paths, enhancing the employability of fresh graduates.

Dr. Chandrasekhar Budha, CCO, AICTE stated, “Our partnership with MyAnatomy represents a significant technological leap in skills assessment. We're committed to preparing India's youth for tomorrow's workforce through holistic, diversified skill evaluation.”

Mr. Chinmay Kumar Dash, CEO, MyAnatomy, emphasized, “This collaboration combines innovative AI technology with AICTE’s educational expertise to nurture India’s talent ecosystem and drive global competitiveness.”

As India continues to cement its position as a global technology and innovation hub, this partnership between AICTE and MyAnatomy stands as a testament to the nation’s commitment to developing a skilled, adaptable, and world-class workforce. This initiative aligns with the vision of Viksit Bharat by enhancing employability- building a developed, empowered and globally competitive India.

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Source: https://cbs4indy.com/business/press-releases/ein-presswire/770054162/aicte-and-myanatomy-establish-strategic-alliance-initiating-a-new-era-for-skill-assessment-and-development/

The big deal

ON OFFER Students graduating from the Arts, Commerce and Science streams are being offered hefty starting salaries in campus placements. The big selling points, say companies, are their soft skills and analtyical capabilities

There’s a rapidly growing number of positions that require data crunching or analysis, for which students from maths, statistics and economics backgrounds are well-equipped. DEVASHISH SHARMA, founding member of HR consultancy PeopleStrong

It’s not just engineering, management and law. Highly paid campus placements offers are now being made in fields beyond the professional and technical courses, to students graduating in arts, science and commerce too.

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This year, a final-year Economics student at Delhi’s Lady Shri Ram (LSR) College received a salary offer of Rs 38 lakh (all salary figures are per annum); last year a Commerce student from Sriram College of Commerce (SRCC) got a starting offer of Rs 31 lakh. In Mumbai, arts and commerce students got offers averaging Rs 6 lakh, with the highest going up to Rs 19 lakh.

Companies are offering better packages because they would rather hire young people who are easy to train than experienced people who need to unlearn practices and come with a higher price tag, says Smita Sharma, placement advisor at SRCC.

Another big draw is the fact that these students tend to be equipped with good soft skills.

The average engineering student, for instance, is less likely to have good communication skills, says Devashish Sharma, founding member of India’s largest HR Technology and Talent Acquisition solutions company PeopleStrong. “There’s a rapidly growing number of positions that require data crunching or analysis, for which students from maths, statistics and economics backgrounds are well-equipped,” says Soni George, placement convener at St Xavier’s College, Mumbai. “Students from other departments are also eligible to apply for these. We have had students from life sciences take up analyst jobs too.”

At both Xavier’s and SRCC, campus recruitment picked up around 2004-2005 and has been growing steadily since. “This year, we added 20 more companies. Some startups have started coming to campus too. Though they don’t offer huge pay packages, they do offer a lot of exposure,” says Smita Sharma, placement advisor at SRCC.

The brighter job prospects in these subjects have now allowed more students to choose freely when it comes to picking a stream. “I chose economics because I really wanted to study the subject. I did not even know whether I wanted to do a job right after college or not,” says Yashovat Saharia, who graduated from SRCC in 2017. He received among the highest salary offers of his year, according to his college, and has worked with that company, Parthenon EY, ever since.

Saharia says he doesn’t plan to study economics further but he’s glad he picked it to begin with. “I now firmly believe that one should study the subject one likes and not look for one with ‘better job prospects’ because it gives you a strong foundation when you specialise in one field,” he says. At Parthenon EY, his job is that of a senior associate; it involves crunching data to explain to companies why a deal or acquisitions is or isn’t a good idea. “My background in economics and my grooming in presentations made me both good with numbers and capable of communicating what those numbers say, effectively,” Saharia says. Economics has been on the top of recruiters preference for a long time but now recruitments in good honours courses in both sciences and humanities have a lot of takers too, says Sharma of PeopleStrong. “Whereas campus recruitment for general science courses are increasing in fields like pharmaceuticals and chemical research, in the humanities and social sciences there is a rise in recruitment from among psychology students, by corporates and institutions like hospitals and schools. Also, the services side of new age Internet companies are employing humanities graduates with good communication skills in their customer support teams,” Sharma adds.

Source: Hindustan Times (Mumbai edition) e paper dated 20 March, 2019.

Vacancy in St. Francis Institute of Technology for Professor, Associate Professor and Assistant Professor

Source: Maharashtra Times dated 14 March, 2019

Vacancy in St. Francis Institute of Technology for Workshop Instructor, Workshop Attendant and Lab Assistant

Source: Loksatta dated 13 March, 2019

Vacancy in St. Francis Institute of Technology for Professor, Associate Professor and Assistant Professor

Source: The Times of India (Ascent) dated 13 March, 2019