IIT placement season kicks off to good start

Brand IIT is keeping pace with the economic turnaround, with top recruiters making a beeline on day one of the placement season on Tuesday.

Brand IIT is keeping pace with the economic turnaround, with top recruiters making a beeline on day one of the placement season on Tuesday.

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The Indian Institutes of Technology attracted the virtual who’s who of the job market — Microsoft, Intel, ITC, Shell, Morgan Stanley, Tower Research, HUL and British Gas, among others.

The average salary offered this time is also expected to rise by 20 to 30 per cent, the IIT authorities said.

The IITs had been badly hit by the meltdown last year, with the number of multi-national recruiters dropping by 53 per cent from 3,031 in 2008 to 1,606 in 2009. The placement season that began in December 2008 dragged on till June 2009.

While a global major offered nine IIT-Kanpur students Rs 25 lakh a year, Kharagpur posted the highest salary of Rs 22 lakh a year.

Although IIT-Bombay was reluctant to reveal the salaries notched up on day one, Ravi Sinha, placement in-charge, said, “This year too, it got off to a good start with some good offers.”

In the wake of the meltdown, the information technology sector, however, seems to have lost some of its charm.

“This year, 50 per cent are core engineering companies and we expect them to make some good offers,” said S.K. Srivastava, placement in-charge at IIT-Kharagpur.

Abhishek Malhotra, India partner and in-charge of recruitment of global management consultancy firm, Booz and Company, said the company had improved the number of offers and salary offerings this time.