Are Placements at IIT-Delhi Defying India’s Economic Slump?

IIT Delhi says that at the end of Day 1 of placements, there was a 15-20% rise in packages compared to last year.

As a job crisis grips the nations in its claws, Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs ) have managed to stay unperturbed it seems.

(Photo: Kamran Akhter/The Quint)

“I can confidently say that the economic situation of the country has not affected the placements at IIT-Delhi. These are political statements that I don’t want to get into,” Professor Dharmraja, Head of Office of Career Services (OCS) at IIT Delhi, told The Quint.

As a job crisis grips the nation, Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs ) have managed to stay unperturbed it seems.

IIT Delhi, in particular, witnessed the highest number of offers at 419, including 175 Pre Placement Offers (PPO) on Day 1 — 1 December 2019 — of their much-awaited placement season.

Microsoft has awarded the highest package so far, with a student bagging an offer of Rs 1.2 crore. The company made 30 placement offers to students at IIT-Delhi, including offers to two students to be placed abroad.

Placements Better than Last Year?

Were the placements better this year than in 2018?

Prof Dharmraja said, “As compared to last year, this year has been better. Our day 1 results are really good. We have already seen over 500 offers by companies, and the data for 3rd and 4th day of the placements will be out within a few days.”

An IIT Delhi official, Suresh* stated, “We thought the economic situation in the country might affect the placement season and a few good companies which usually have smaller offers haven't turned up yet. But there's not really an impact because the net result is better than last year.”

At the end of Day 1 of placements, IIT Delhi says there was a 15-20 percent rise in first-day packages compared to last year.

‘Got Placed Where I Wanted to Be,’ Say Students

The questions that get lost among the high and hype of the placement season are, what do the students want? More importantly, are they getting what they want?

Aditya Jetha, a Computer Science student, got placed with Quadeye on Day 1. Talking about the psyche of the students, he told The Quint, “Students are driven towards big companies like Uber, Microsoft and Cohesity, especially their US profiles as they offer packages of more than one crore.”

He added, “In Computer Science, apart from these companies, students also go for high-frequency trading companies like Quadeye, Graviton and the like.”

Meanwhile, Ramgopal Rao, IIT-Delhi Director, said, “We are happy to see a large number of IIT Delhi students preferring domestic careers over international placements. Another interesting aspect is also about students choosing careers in core sectors. These trends indeed augur well for the country.”

Data for 1 December show highest number of placements in Core (Technical) sector, followed by IT and then Consulting.(Photo Courtesy: OCS, IIT Delhi)

Another student, Pratham Mehta, a Chemical Engineering student, expressed his happiness over his placement, saying, “I was aiming for a consulting company and I have gotten placed at Boston Consulting Group (BCG).”

Mehta adds, “In consulting, students are driven towards BCG, in coding, it's Tower Research primarily, and Microsoft Redmond as well. These top notch companies came early and from thereon, the salaries keep decreasing in general.”

Another student Harsh* pointed out that the students are driven towards tech companies because they offer higher salaries and the number of core companies for branches like Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, Textile Engineering are less.

No Google, Apple Among Major Recruiters This Time

The official had stated that across all the IITs, the major companies remain the same.

“Over 400 companies that come during the placement season, around 150 of them are the major ones. It also varies by sectors as, like how in Computer Science there is Microsoft, Goldman Sachs and Google. These are the major recruiters,” the official added.

Talking about the companies that gave the placement season a miss this time, Jetha said, “As compared to last year, there have been lesser number of companies in core, technical and consulting sectors. Some big names like Google and Apple haven’t shown up.”

Mehta stated that Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) also did not come this year. “Flipkart came again this year, this time for the product manager profile,” he added.

A few other notable names which missed this year’s placement are Schlumberger, and Tower Research, Harsh* pointed out, while DE Shaw made two PPOs at the campus this time.

Jetha and Mehta also confirmed that there, however, have not been any differences in the offered packages.

Harsh* stated, “The thing is that a few good startups came this year, hence there wasn't really a dearth of good companies.”

It is worth noting that IIT Delhi is usually very strict in disclosing a lot of information about the companies that come or the packages that are offered. The administration made sure to share limited details.

Rakesh Kumar, former registrar at IIT Delhi (2010-15) and currently the Vice-Chancellor of Graphic Era University in Dehradun, pointed out a very important factor that the media usually misses out on while reporting on placement across universities.

“A lot of students don’t sit for placements, they go for higher studies instead. The National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) also seeks data for graduation outcome and consider a) those who have been placed and b) those who go for higher studies. Apart from that, some even go for entrepreneurship or join family business,” he said.

Other campuses of IITs such as Mumbai, Kharagpur, Roorkie have also seen a robust start, with students being offered fat packages and more companies like Sony, Google, Honda, Optiver made their way in.

*names have been changed as per their requests