Agencies

New Delhi: A number of recruiters have decided to give additional time to the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Srinagar for placing its 365-student strong BTech batch of 2020 owing to the abrupt halt in the campus recruitment process last month amid the lockdown in Jammu and Kashmir.Companies such as Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and Vedanta have decided to make an exception for NIT Srinagar, which is considering holding the placement in December when it closes for its three-month winter break, said people aware of the matter.“We are planning to hold the recruitment in the winter break in case things get normal in the Valley. We are reaching out to recruiters for the same,” said Rakesh Sehgal, director, NIT Srinagar.Placements started at the institute in August but had to be discontinued after two days.While uncertainty persists, recruiters are willing to go the extra mile for NIT Srinagar, which is one of the oldest engineering colleges in the country and was established in 1960 as a regional engineering college.“We are ready to wait for NIT Srinagar to resume placements.We will try to give them additional months but will surely hire from this institute,” said Rajeshwar Tripathi, chief people officer, M&M.The company is visiting engineering colleges but, as reported earlier by ET, plans to recruit half the number of engineering graduates it did last year.The hiring process at Vedanta is conducted keeping in mind diversity of all kinds – gender, geography, racial representation of minorities, etc – according to the company. “Geographical diversity is one of the important parameters while recruitment.Diversity is in the DNA of the company… in line with this, we would definitely visit NIT Srinagar once the recruitment restarts,” said Madhu Srivastava, chief human resources officer, Vedanta.The company is focused on hiring both entry-level talent and talent from diverse backgrounds.Vedanta is also considering interviews with students from its other offices or through video conferencing.“We will figure a way out if the institute is unable to conduct placements,” said Srivastava.A regular at campus placements, HPCL is also certain about hiring from NIT Srinagar.“We will wait for the situation to improve or else we will hold the recruitment process at our offices in Jammu,” said an HPCL executive, who did not wish to be identified.There are many natives from the state that are already employed at HPCL Jammu office.