Data points to placement ache for IIT Delhi and IIT Kanpur

IIT Delhi and IIT Kanpur appear to have had a poor placement season this year compared to the previous two years, which experts believe could be because of jobs getting concentrated among a handful of companies at the expense of smaller firms and the unorganised sector.

Dheeraj Singh, an alumnus of IIT Kanpur, has compiled data for both the IITs for the past three years from the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) website, a government database created from the numbers provided by the institutions.

For the current year, Singh has relied on the estimates based on feedback provided by IIT Kanpur students and an RTI reply from IIT Delhi on their placement status.

IIT Delhi’s RTI reply stated that 1,036 graduating students were provided placements till February 28 this year. The reply, however, did not mention the number of students registered for the placements.

Singh, however, used last year’s registered students’ data as a ballpark figure for this year. If the registered number of students remained at 1,987 like in 2023, then 48 per cent did not get placed in 2024.

Based on the NIRF data, Singh derived that IIT Delhi had recorded 60 per cent and 66 per cent placements in 2023 and 2022 respectively.

Similarly, IIT Kanpur witnessed an estimated placement of 69 per cent this year.

“I relied on the data provided by the students who were not placed. They have access to a website that the institute maintains on placement details,” said Singh, who has been mentoring final-year students from Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe
(ST) communities.

According to the NIRF data of the previous two years, IIT Kanpur recorded 91 per cent and 90 per cent placements in 2023 and 2022 respectively.

“The IITs are not disclosing the data on placements. I used an estimation based on students’ feedback to get an idea of the placements. A substantial portion of the placement exercise is over. In March and April, very few companies may come which is unlikely to change the trend set in the first round,” Singh said, adding that the IITs, being the premier technology schools in India, parents expect their children to get placed.

Labour economist Santosh Mehrotra, a visiting professor at the University of Bath, a leading university in the UK, said India is witnessing skewed growth, as bigger companies are prospering at the cost of the smaller ones, and the smaller firms are functioning at the expense of the unorganised sector.

“Job creation depends on growth in demand for consumption which leads to growth in investment, leading to expansion of manufacturing and service sectors.
In recent years, we saw the biggest companies making high growth at the expense
of the smaller ones, which somehow grow at a slower pace at the cost of the unorganised sector. The overall demand is low. Jobs are growing in certain sectors, and in certain companies, not all,” Mehrotra said.

The Telegraph sent emails to IIT Delhi director Rangan Banerjee and IIT Kanpur officiating director S. Ganesh to understand their perspectives on the allegations of poor placement. Their responses are awaited.