While India Inc looms under the cloud of economic slowdown, placements in India ?s premier technological institutes, the IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology), are seeing several different trends this year.
As regular recruiters are absent from the campus during recruitment, other companies and sectors seem to be grabbing the opportunity of absorbing the students. Though some of the top IT companies seem to recruit fewer numbers of students compared to other years, IIT-Madras has seen companies like IBM and Morgan Stanley coming to their campus for recruitment, for the first time.
?IBM and Morgan Stanley are the first timers in our campus this year. IBM has recruited students for their research unit, whereas Morgan Stanley has recruited students for their financial division,? commented Jayakumar, deputy registrar (training and placement), IIT-M. The IITs are also seeing a number of core manufacturing companies coming to the campus for the first time. ?Some core manufacturing companies like Airbus have also visited the campus for the first time this year,? added Jayakumar.
IIT-Bombay also saw a number of new companies coming to their campus. However, the placement committee refused to disclose any further information stating that it is the scenario every year.
However, as the IITs extend their placement season at least till April-May this year, the students are also showing eagerness to grab every opportunity that come their way.
?This year, the situation is different. The placement situation is tough, especially with the regular recruiters and sectors not taking as many students as they used to. Hence, a number of new companies from different sectors are coming to the campus to recruit students from the IITs,? commented Shailesh Mishra (named changed), a student from IIT-Kharagpur.
In yet another trend, the students at IIT-M have also applied for the Indian Air Force?s technical graduate entry scheme this year, showing a trend, different to last year, when not a single student was interested to apply for the same. As the Indian private sector is showing signs of uncertainty, students at IITs are also seem positive about government sector jobs. ONGC, IOCL, DRDO, Engineers India Ltd, NTPC and BPCL came for recruitment to the IIT-M campus this year.