Start-ups ruled the roost at IITs after first phase placements

After the first phase placements at the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) start-ups ruled the roost on campus this year, while offering most of the job offers with handsome pay packages, pushing the average salary figures higher and overall 85 per cent of students placed after the first phase.

Placements at IIT Bombay this year have been better than last year's. The institute has already placed 1,000 students of the 1,200 registered for placements. Nearly 50 start-ups participated against 15 last year. “Salary packages from start-ups have been good. Like last year opened Day 1 slot to manufacturing companies this year. The response from these companies has been tremendous. The institute has placed 271 students already against a total of 274 placed last year. It is expecting a few more companies on campus in the next two days and then Phase II of placements,” said a placement official.

IIT Guwahati saw a decent number of start-ups visiting the campus for recruitment. IIT Guwahati has already seen over 60 per cent of its batch being placed. As against 109 firms last year, this year the institute saw over 150 firms making offers during the first phase. IIT Guwahati also saw a 12 per cent rise in international offers and over 15 per cent in domestic offers. "While the share of offers made by start-ups may not have risen significantly, some of the established start-ups did make their presence felt on campus. However, it was the marquee tech firms that continued to make a large number of offers. The manufacturing sector too had a decent show this year," said an official of IIT Guwahati.

At IIT Ropar, the institute has seen number of start-ups this year against last year and the average salaries have gone up by 10 per cent. "We did not have any international company participating due to the H1B visa issue. We saw many core companies participating and we are happy with the outcome so far. We,” said an official of the Institute.

While sources from IIT Gandhinagar said that the several companies, including Texas Instruments, Samsung, Tata Motors, HSBC, ZS Associates, Wipro Ltd, Arvind Infrastructure, Cognizant and others took part in the recruitment drive. While giving the information, an official said, "Close to 200 students are taking part in the placement this year. A large proportion of the placement will be over by around the end of the first quarter next year and by then, we will be able to provide you more insightful details.”

IIT Madras there has been an overall increase of 10 per cent in the compensation packages. Normally the packages include a one-time signing bonus, first-year bonus, medical insurance, ESOPs and relocation allowance, apart from basic salary.