IT firms give IIT campuses a miss

IT firms' decision to hire fewer students this year has hit Masters of Technology (M Tech) students at the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) hard. The IITs say only 25 to 40 per cent of the M Tech students have been placed so far in contrast to last year when most IITs had achieved around 90 per cent placements by this time. IT firms are the largest employers of M Tech students. The IITs on their part are telling students to take up higher studies or join start-ups. Some are also considering extending the placement period, which began in the first week of December, to April 2009. The placement figures so far have been from their 23rd day of placements. "We have around 450 M Tech students of which only 20 per cent have been placed so far. A few IT companies declined to visit the campus given the current financial meltdown," said P K Jain, placement director, IIT Roorkee.

Wipro Technologies, which used to recruit around 50 students on an average from IIT Roorkee, has declined to visit the campus this year. The institute is in talks with Patni Computer Systems and Satyam Computer Services for campus visit. This year, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) hired only 13 students against 36 last year and Infosys Technologies only four against seven last year. International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) also lowered recruiting, hiring just nine students this year against 12 students last year.

IIT Guwahati says it has not heard from TCS and Wipro. "We are facing problems placing M Tech students. Big IT firms that used to frequent our campus have not shown up," said an official. The institute has registered around 30 per cent placements for its M Tech students and 80 per cent for B Tech students. At IIT Kanpur, 45 per cent of M.Tech students have been placed so far against 73 per cent per cent last year. TCS has recruited 13 students but Wipro, Satyam and Infosys , which recruited five or 10 students each, did not visit campus at all. The institute has, however, placed around 76 per cent of the students for its dual-degree programme.

"The placements might have to be extended by some more time," said B Lohani, placement chairperson, IIT Kanpur. At IIT Roorkee, IT companies have offered students Chief Technical Officer (CTO)-level posts with an annual salary of around Rs 6 lakh. Students have also been recruited for general profiles at an annual salary package of Rs 3.5 lakh.