In a concerning development for graduates from top-tier institutes in India, approximately 36 percent of students from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B) who participated in the 2024 placement drive failed to secure employment.
The placement cycle at this prestigious engineering institution typically commences in December, and as per a Hindustan Times report, around 712 out of the 2,000 registered students are currently without job offers.
Dheeraj Singh, a former student of the institute and founder of the Global IIT Alumni Support Group, shared this disheartening statistic. The official conclusion of the placement season is slated for May 2024.
This year’s shortfall in placements marks a 2.8 percent increase compared to the previous year, during which 32.8 percent of students faced difficulty in securing employment. The institute attributed the job scarcity to the global economic downturn.
Furthermore, the report highlights that students from the computer science and engineering department, traditionally the most sought-after branch, have not achieved full placement success this year, contrary to the department’s usual 100 percent placement rate.
In recent times, several IITs have observed a downturn in both the quantity and caliber of job offers due to the global economic downturn.
According to a faculty member affiliated with the placement cell at one of the newer IITs, while Pre-Placement Offers (PPOs) are being extended, many international companies remain cautious about expanding their workforce and may delay recruitment until later in the season.
Some firms from the US and UK, in particular, are scaling back on investments in long-term projects abroad, which has contributed to the current scenario.
This concerning trend has also been evident at the Indian Institute of Management Lucknow, where efforts were made to engage alumni in maintaining the institution’s longstanding tradition of achieving a 100 percent placement rate.
