IIT Placements 2024: As job offers dip by 50%, students allege favouritism by placement teams

NEW DELHI: With the placement season kicking in, it’s a grim picture across all Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT). To add to the low turnout of companies at the first session of IIT placements 2024, students have alleged that the IIT placement teams, which are run by students, are resorting to favouritism and are helping friends over others.

“A few students have mailed the dean and the chairperson of the placement committee but no one is taking any action,” a student from IIT Kanpur said on conditions of anonymity. Students from IIT Bombay have also reported similar instances at their campus placements.

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“The instances of placement team members favouring their friends is an every-year affair, but then the majority of students get placed. This year the favouritism is more evident with less than 50% students getting placed,” said a student of IIT Bombay.

In IIT Kanpur, 891 students have been placed so far, including PPOs, of approximately 1,500 registered students. In IIT Delhi, 749 offers have been made by 218 companies till December 4, according to a source. In 2022, 1,800 job offers were made with 1,150 students getting placed from IIT Delhi by the end of Phase 1 placement.

Only 840 have been placed this year out of 2,000 participating in IIT Bombay placements so far. This number was around 1,500 by day-nine at IIT Bombay last year. The Phase 1 of IIT placements 2024 ends on December 15.

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IIT Placements 2024: 'Favouritism'

A final-year BTech student from the chemical engineering department of IIT Kanpur alleged: “On the second day of Phase I placements, a student was shortlisted for three companies. On the day of the interview, the placement office released another list of shortlisted candidates which did not mention the name of the student selected earlier. This happened for all the three companies. No reason was given for the name removal. This is one incident among many. A few students are not even getting a chance to sit for placements this season”.

Many students are not getting placement offers as they do not have “connections” in the placement office, alleged a student from IIT Bombay. “One of the reasons which has led to the situation is the fewer number of roles companies are offering this year. Due to extreme competition, the placement teams are choosing candidates based on their biases,” he said.

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In an email response, Sameer Jadhav, professor-in-charge, IIT Bombay, said: “Shortlisting students for placement tests and interviews as well as selection of students to whom offers are made is decided by the recruiting companies and not by the placement team. The placement policy for recruiting organisations clearly states that ‘recruiting organisations are requested not to involve anybody from IIT Bombay in the decision making process while either shortlisting or selecting candidates’”.

He added, “Since placements are still on-going, we will not be able to officially release the placement statistics. We will do this at the end of phase 1 of the current placement season.”

In a response sent after this story was published, Raju Kumar Gupta, chairperson and professor, Students’ Placement Office, IIT Kanpur said: “It is important to underscore that IIT Kanpur refrains from interfering in the selection procedures conducted by participating companies. Companies independently make decisions about who receives interviews and job offers, free from any influence from the administration. Additionally, any last-minute changes to the candidate list are autonomously managed by the companies themselves.”

IIT Placements: Few companies, fewer PPOs

"Overall, we have seen only 450 companies till now", a student from IIT Kanpur said. “The situation was far better last year. Every year, a better number of students bag PPOs, which makes way for other candidates to have a better shot at placement when the season begins,” said the student. Till the end of Phase 1 last year, 1,128 students were placed with 208 PPOs extended by companies.

Another student from BTech electrical engineering department from IIT Delhi added, “Unlike previous years the placements are not going well this year. Fewer roles have been offered by companies this year in comparison to last year. Many companies have rolled out only one to no offers this year,” he said. A student also received an offer of Rs 18 lakh per annum this season.

Update: This story has been updated to include IIT Kanpur’s response to Careers360’s queries on placements.