IIT Placements 2024-2025: Startup surge, diverse job roles raise hopes for a comeback season

NEW DELHI: Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) placements are showing promising signs of recovery as premier institutes, such as IIT Delhi, IIT Kharagpur, and IIT Kanpur, gear up for the 2024-2025 recruitment cycle.

With emerging startups and established tech firms expanding their recruitment strategies, IITs anticipate better hiring opportunities characterised by increased job roles across diversified fields during the first phase of the placement season, starting on December 1.

Key placement trends highlight a 20% increase in job roles at IIT Delhi with more companies coming for the phase 1 of the placement season. A student from the IIT Delhi placement team, speaking anonymously, told Careers360, “From last year, the number of companies is on the higher side. There are 20% more roles coming this year from last year.”

Similarly, a student working on the IIT Kharagpur placements drive said: “As the overall market has improved, students are expecting a good jump in terms of offers and placements this year.”

The IIT Kharagpur student explained: “While last year's companies offered competitive compensation packages, this year brings an expanded array of job opportunities. Although the complete placement scenario will become clearer during the first week of phase 1, we've noticed an interesting trend. Companies that previously conducted pre-placement interactions are now actively participating in the main placement phase. This shift might be attributed to the recent US presidential elections. Companies that might have temporarily paused their hiring processes during the electoral period, have now renewed their recruitment efforts”.

Careers360 earlier shed light on the significant shift in IIT placement strategies with the institutes deciding not to disclose high package details to mitigate student stress. For the last academic year, many IITs witnessed a decline in placements with a low turnout of companies in phase 1. Even the most popular branches of BTech, including computer science, electrical and mechanical engineering, weren't able to place all students across IITs and the National Institutes of Technology (NIT).

IIT Placements: Mixed response, market improvement

Despite the positive signals, challenges persist. While a few IITs are receiving more job roles this year, some others are struggling to reach even last year’s numbers.

Currently, IIT Kanpur is witnessing a potential shortfall in job proformas with around 315 roles registered through 125 companies. Until the end of phase 1 last year, this number was 450, added a BTech student participating in IIT Kanpur placements this season.

“It might be difficult to reach last year’s number. But the overall number of companies visiting the campus this season is slightly better than last year, particularly in the software sector,” he added. Job proformas are the job role forms filled by companies while registering at IITs for placements.

IIT job roles for placements 2024-25

Institutes this year are also getting diverse companies. A student from the placement team of IIT Delhi stated: “Despite a difficult season last year, diversity is never an issue at IIT Delhi. We are getting investment, consulting firms, software companies, product companies, business, product analysts. Compared to non-core branches, more electrical and non-electrical core companies are also participating.”

The institute is hosting 40%-50% more companies than last year and hiring is also expected to improve for each role as companies have vacancies, he added.

At IIT Madras, there is some growth in the number of companies this year. A student from the placement team said, “While the market is recovering, it's not what we expected. We are seeing a little growth of 5%-10% in terms of the number of companies this year. The number of job proformas or roles are the same as last year and packages are distributed throughout the range.”

The student added that this year more startups and small and medium-sized companies are participating as compared to the previous years.

IIT Kharagpur, IIT Kanpur: Decline in salary packages

At IIT Hyderabad, this year's placements are not that promising. “Many companies this year have reduced their packages for both undergraduates and postgraduate hiring due to market requirements. This trend is seen across all IITs,” a student from the placement team stated. “We do have a lot of companies, almost the same as last year.”

At IIT Kanpur, the average packages are the same as last year. “Some new companies are participating this year, including startups and foreign firms from Japan and the US. But when it comes to non-tech, it's not that great,” said a student listing a number of “key companies” in consulting, ecommerce and fintech that are “not there”.

In phase 1, IIT Kharagpur has registered companies with minimum annual compensation ranging from Rs 10.5 lakh to Rs 12 lakh, depending on the company. “This year we are seeing diverse profiles with good packages. Students are hopeful for a good placement season,” said a student from the placement team.

IIT Placements 2025: Students hopeful

Placements for the past year have been declining due to the global economic slowdown. Last year, many students failed to get placed in phase 1 and struggled both on and off-campus.

But this year, students are cautiously optimistic. A student from the IIT Kharagpur placement team said, “While we are nervous, we feel positive seeing an overall improved growth.”

Emails were sent to the placement officials of all the institutions represented here. No response was received till the time of publishing.