Manufacturing firms lead recruitments at IITs

Electronics giant Samsung, consulting and IT services leader Accenture and manufacturing conglomerate Larsen & Toubro (L&T) are among the early recruiters at the youngest Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) this year, placement executives said. The compensation offered ranges from ₹6 lakh to ₹48 lakh.

The IITs in Varanasi, Mandi and Bhilai, are the some of the first to start placements in September.

The first generation includes IITs in Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Kharagpur, Roorkee, Kanpur and Guwahati, while the rest all fall into the second and third generation.

“Core sector companies have started coming and tests are on. This year, startups are fewer in number but manufacturing firms have shown more interest,” said a placement team member at IIT Varanasi.

Samsung is expected to make offers of ₹18-20 lakh, Accenture ₹45 lakh and above for jobs in Japan, Qualcomm ₹20 lakh, and L&T ₹7 lakh, placement executives at some of the second and third generation IITs said.

“The first few days are most crucial and as of now, we have companies coming in with offers of good compensation. Although edtechs and startups are keen to hire from IITs, students may think twice this year,” an IIT Bhilai official said. Byju’s and Unacademy are among edtech companies which have reached out to the newer IITs.

A placement executive at one of the second-generation IITs said that Google has made a pre-placement offer (PPO) of ₹48 lakh. PPOs are given to students who have interned with the company.

“The economic slump has pushed some of the firms to offer PPOs rather than come down to campus to recruit,” said a placement executive in IIT Mandi. While median salaries are around the same as last year, companies are offering stock options to woo students.

Students are favouring stability of the firm rather than high salaries, the executive added.

The recruiters are expected to raise their offers manifold when they head to older IITs in December .

Last year, a bunch of high-frequency trading and analytical companies had scooped up some of the best talent at various IITs on the first day of placements.

Trading firm Jane Street broke records with an offer of ₹4.3 crore at an older IIT.

Quant firms may return this year since demand for analysts who can estimate “market forces” is recession-proof, said a placement executive at one of the older IITs.

In 2022, companies like Microsoft did not offer international roles. IITs expect international roles to be muted this year as well from marquee recruiters.