International offers, packages to go up as IITs begin placements on Sunday

Microsoft, which had emerged the top recruiter last year offering a $215,100 (Rs 1.5 crore roughly) package, is expected to make a similar or a slightly higher package to IIT students on Sunday

Come Sunday, December 1, more international offers with salaries over Rs 1 crore are set to mark the beginning of final placement process at the top Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).

Moving away from an apprehension of slowdown bringing down job offers, IITs are now bullish of more offers and higher packages as they inch closer to Day One of the placement processes. Microsoft, which had emerged the top recruiter last year offering a $215,100 (Rs 1.5 crore roughly) package, is expected to make a similar or a slightly higher package to IIT students on Sunday.

What's more, Japanese companies which have been growing their presence at IIT campuses during placements are set to up the ante and even pip US firms in terms of offers, feel placement offices.

"Given the economic slowdown in India, we anticipated there might be a dip in offers. So we went on to invite a number of companies including international. But given the early trends, we are anticipating an action-packed Day One. We are looking forward to more international offers. This year we have got more Japanese companies compared to last year. It seems that given the number of offers anticipated, Japan would outperform the US," said G P Raja Sekhar, chairman, career development centre (CDC) at IIT Kharagpur and head - All IITs Placement Committee (AIPC).

At IIT Kharagpur (KGP), marquee international recruiters visiting on Day One include Microsoft and Uber from the US, among others. "Then we have recruiters from Japan, Taiwan, Singapore and Germany, among others. In all, we have 36 companies so far confirmed on Day One, which is higher than last year. As usual, we request the companies to address the inflation year on year in their packages," Raja Sekhar added.

Refusing to divulge salary package details, a student coordinator at one of the other older IITs said, "We do not publish salary data. But there are international companies visiting on Day One including Microsoft, Salesforce and Uber, among others. They are likely to make both domestic and international offers. In all, 100 companies visiting on Day One and 100 on Day Two. We give equal priority to companies from all sectors, irrespective of the package they offer."

Recruiters too are upbeat on hiring from IITs this year and several of them are looking to increase the numbers.

For instance, Samsung Electronics which recruits engineers from IIT Delhi, IIT Kanpur, IIT Madras, IIT Mumbai, IIT Guwahati, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Roorkee and IIT Indore, among others, is looking to hire more than last year for its R&D centres.

"Samsung Electronics is committed to India and investing in local R&D. We are hiring and committed to hiring talented engineers from top colleges in the country. The usual intake has been 1000 engineers in a year. This year we are going to hire 1200 engineers. Of these, 340 will be hired via pre-placement offers (PPOs), of which 200 are from IIT," Samsung Wadhawan, Head, HR, Samsung India told Business Standard.

In line with its investments in emerging areas of research, engineers from IITs will be hired for working on future technologies like AI, Machine Learning, Image Processing, Cloud Computing. Delhi, Noida and Bangalore R&D centres, said Wadhawan, adding that currently, there are 9000 engineers working at Samsung's R&D centres at Delhi, Noida and Bengaluru.

Similarly, The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) which has been one of the largest recruiters in consulting at IITs is also looking to extend more offers when it visits campuses in Day One on Sunday, December 1.

"Associate hiring especially from IITs is very important for us. Our hiring numbers for associates has not been affected by the slowdown in the economy. We continue to increase our hiring numbers from IITs. We hire from most of the top IITs including Delhi, Bombay, Madras, Kharagpur, Kanpur and Guwahati. On December 1, we will be visiting IIT Delhi, Bombay and Madras. We have been one of the largest recruiters in consulting across all these three campuses. And our expectation is to continue the same," said Natarajan Sankar, managing director and partner, BCG India.

This is evident from the company's expectations to hire over 30 in total this year, as compared to approximately 20 hired in December 2017 for the batch joining in 2018 (hired in December 2017. "This is only IITs and not our overall associate hiring which includes other pools such as CAs," Sankar added.