‘Infy, TCS recruiting less from IIT-B, smaller firms popular’

MUMBAI: The Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay is gearing up for placements. A look at the institute’s placement report from the last academic year indicates

MUMBAI: The Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay is gearing up for placements. A look at the institute’s placement report from the last academic year indicates several changing trends, such as fewer engineering jobs but more recruitment by IT firms.

HT Image

Recruitment by the engineering and technology sector, which was on an upward trajectory since 2012-13, hit a plateau in 2015-16, the report said.

Ninety engineering and technology companies offered 371 jobs, down from 381 job offers by 88 companies in 2014-15. But, despite the slowdown, these companies remain the largest recruiters at IIT-B.

Analytical firms, which saw increased recruitments in the past, offered fewer jobs in the last academic year. Recruitment by such firms grew from 27 companies and 94 job offers four years ago to 47 companies and 155 jobs in 2014-15. The placement report showed only 38 such companies visited IIT-B last year and selected 91 candidates. But IT and software companies, which were hiring fewer and fewer IIT-B graduates the past few years, came back with many jobs offers in 2015-16 —75 software companies hired 270 of the 1,143 candidates selected during placements.

When it comes to the IT sector, experts said big IT service companies such as Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services are eyeing colleges other than IITs. It was the smaller, ‘product-driven’ companies that produce original software that are driving IT recruitment at the institute.

Kamal Karanth, MD, India, Kelly Services said the decline in analytics jobs was a result of a slowdown in the financial market.

“It is a temporary phase. The market is likely to pick up next year. Till then, the analytics companies are simply looking to replace their existing employees,” he said. Among other sectors, little variation was seen in recruitment by financial and consulting firms. The data shows 23 financial companies hired 113 students, a little more than last year, while 27 consulting firms recruited 105 candidates, a little less than last year. Despite many e-commerce firms and start-ups visiting the campus, IIT-B did not create a separate category for them.

Experts said trends reflect the market situation to some extent, but in many cases the students simply followed the latest trend. Salary packages and career prospects trump the opportunity to work in a core company.