CHENNAI: In another indicator that campus placements are tepid this year, Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTS) may skip direct hiring at colleges and universities altogether this time around.According to sources, CTS, one of the biggest campus recruiters, issuing offer letters to more than 5,000 engineering graduates last year, has informed colleges that if it does choose to go to campuses, it could be only in December or January. Tech majors usually start campus hiring in August.Engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu churn out two lakh graduates each year and product firms and startups get into recruitment mode early. Large recruiters like IT services companies follow suit in August or early September. This year, IT companies or mass recruiters are only now entering colleges, after a delay of two to three weeks. While some companies have started placements at colleges such as VIT this week, tech companies are yet to visit many campuses.“CTS has said it may visit in the 8th semester (December),“ VIT University director of placement Samuel Rajkumar said. CTS declined to comment.With dream and super dream placements almost wrap ped up, colleges are now waiting for mass recruiters.At SASTRA University, mass recruitment will start next week with TCS.“A two-week delay is not a great concern. Companies are being realistic about the external environment and its uncertainties. At one point they used to hire for future projects.Today they are bundling internships with offers for real time recruitment,“ SASTRA dean, planning and development, Vaidhya Subramanian said.Accenture, Wipro and Infosys started visiting campuses, including Velammal Engineering College , this month.“Colleges are not expecting a great turnout with mass recruiters. They are trying to bring in more companies including startups,“ said K Ramachandran , head of strategy, 361 Degree Minds, an edtech company. “Product companies are playing a big role this season, especially those in high-growth areas like fintech. Students competent in areas like artificial intelligence and deep learning will be rewarded for proven capability.“In the past, IT firms have taken 200 to 400 students from campuses like VIT, SSN and Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering. But sources estimate that no more than 100 students per college will be placed with these companies this year. Wipro was among the first to enter colleges and has taken 139 students from VIT under a turbo hiring model with packages of Rs 6 lakh per annum for niche digital-related roles.While two companies have confirmed participation at SRM University in the third week of September, VIT Chennai has hosted Infosys recruiters. Infosys will visit the Vellore campus over the the next few days, while TCS will go to both VIT campuses (Chennai and Vellore) next week.“We are very happy with the Wipro turnout. More than 100 super dream offers have already been made and we are bringing in more companies,“ VIT's Rajkumar said.