In the past, Tata Consultancy Services needed only to turn to the top engineering schools in the country: the nine campuses of the Indian Institutes of Technology and a few others gaining admission can be more difficult than getting into the Ivy League. Today the list includes 209 institutions, many of them, like this one, brand-new private colleges that have emerged to meet the need. Mr. Rangasamy, the college’s founder, is himself the product of the Indian economic expansion. His factories produce tablecloths and bedsheets for Kmart and Marriott.

Mr. Rangasamy himself has no more than a fourth-grade education and speaks not a word of English. But the cluster of colleges he has built educate nearly 12,000 students. Of those, nearly 3,600 study software engineering, and most of them, college officials say, are the first in their families to attend college.

The imprimatur of Tata Consultancy would clearly be a prize for the college, and the campus was festooned with flowers and banners welcoming the company team. To be certified as part of the company’s pool would mean that its students would have a chance of getting a job even before graduation, and other perks for the college — faculty training, course materials, research opportunities for teachers and students.

The number of technical schools in India, including engineering colleges, has more than tripled in the last 10 years, according to the All India Council of Technical Education. Most are privately run.

A new kind of institution has emerged to offer intensive English language training and instruction in technical skills required for the workplace for those between college and career. They are called finishing schools, and Nasscom is rolling out its own by early next year.

In the end, the Rangasamy college did not fit the company’s bill. The team found deficiencies in the way basic subjects were taught and deemed the students to be average.

Higher education is still available only to a tiny slice of India’s young. No more than 10 percent of Indians ages 18 to 25 are enrolled in college, according to official figures. Nearly 40 percent of Indians over the age of 15 are illiterate.