IITs Witness a Decline in the Number of Startups Enrolling for this Year's Recruitment Program

BENGALURU: With per-placement orders catapulted up by 25-30 pct, 2016 has been a year of opportunities for IIT’s when compared to last year. But, in spite of the rise in placements, there has been 50 pct fall in the number of startups expected to appear for the campus recruitment drive. The downfall also involves e-commerce giants such as Flipkart, OlaCabs, Snapdeal, and Paytm as they have not yet registered for placement programs in any of the IITs.

This year, IITs have barred about 31 firms, which includes Grofers, Hopscotch, and Portea Medical as they revoked offer letters, delayed joining dates, and sometimes made last-minute changes in the offers already provided.  Identifying the intolerable behavior, the screening test conducted on these firms blacklisted them as “playing with the careers of students." As reported by the Times of India (TOI), the companies were effectively blacklisted by The All IIT Placement Committee as around 135 IIT students were affected by their unprofessional recruitment procedure.   

IIT Roorkee reports to TOI that, last year, 52 startups registered themselves and recruited the students; but, this year, only 35 companies registered for the program.  N P Padhy, Placement Head explains, “There is a significant decrease in the number of startups that have registered for placement drives this year due to funds crunch and other market issues.” Also, further analysis on the current situation showed that even some of the regular campus visitors such as Delhivery, Mad Street Den, Aura Semiconductor and Practo did not register. Lastly, TOI reports that the process of empanelling firms planning to recruit IIT students is open till the end of November. 

Read Also:
5 Job Profiles That Might Be Stopping Your Growth in Future
Essential Skills for a Fast-Changing Job Market