mumbai

Updated: Sep 13, 2017 10:44 IST

The jobs offered by core engineering and information technology (IT) companies, which hire students in large numbers during campus recruitments at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B), have dwindled over the past one year.

The annual placement report released by the IIT-B reveals that 64 IT companies that visited the campus in 2016-17 offered 184 jobs — a 32% drop compared — as compared to 270 jobs offered by 75 companies in to 2015-16. Similarly, job offers made by engineering and technology firms dipped from 371 to 345 — a fall of 7% .

On the other hand, financial, analytical and research and development (R&D) sector have picked up last year, with more companies visiting the campus and more offers being made.

The placements at IIT-B often serve as an indicator of the direction of the market and the preferences of the students at the premier institute. “The period after economic depression is usually a correction phase, with more emphasis on qualitative work than large-scale hiring,” said Girish Tilak, director, Resume Management Consultants, a human resources (HR) consultancy.

Tilak said that the IT companies are still trying to fully absorb the graduates which were hired earlier. “This year, the IT-based start-ups and e-commerce are hiring fewer students. Due to automation, the recruitment capacity of generic software companies has also reduced,” he added.

A placement coordinator at IIT-B, however, said that the students are increasingly going for R&D and analytical companies, as they provide better opportunities for career advancement and exit options.

Kamal Karanth, an HR executive said that most of the analytical jobs are being offered by financial services firms, whose capacity has increased in recent years. “Many banks have opened their global in-house centres in India, where IIT graduates are being inducted. Meanwhile, the scope for R&D is also increasing in the country. Top multi-national auto companies are performing R&D activities here,” he said.