IIT Madras placements begin, 123 offers on Day I first session

The campus placements at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras took off with a new record this year.

A total of 123 offers were made by 22 companies covering 43 job profiles during Session 1.1 on Day 1— higher than any of the preceding academic years. During the last academic year of 2019-20, 102 offers were made by 20 companies at the end of Session 1.1.

The big recruiters of this year’s first session include Microsoft, Texas Instruments, Bajaj Auto, ISRO, Alphonso, and Qualcomm. Phase I of the placements is expected to continue till December 8, 2020. Session 1.1 of placements at IIT Madras began at 7am and concluded at 2pm on December 1.

In the second and final slot of Day 1 (Session 1.2), 24 companies with 48 profiles are scheduled to participate. These companies include TSMC, KLA Tencor, GE and Wipro.

Elaborating on how the entire placement process is being conducted online this academic year because of the impact of COVID-19, C.S. Shankar Ram, adviser (training and placement), IIT Madras, said, “The IIT Madras Placement team has worked with our recruiting partners to seamlessly enable this transition. I am happy to share that we have exceeded the number of offers made in the 1.1 session from the previous academic year. I am optimistic that a similar trend would continue over the next few days.”

Top recruiters of Session 1.1 at IIT Madras

• Microsoft: 19 offers
• Texas Instruments: 12 offers
• Bajaj Auto: 10 offers
• ISRO: 10 offers
• Alphonso Inc: 9 offers
• Qualcomm: 8 offers

A total of 1,443 students have registered for placements in the 2020-21 academic year, across different streams of study. The total number of companies registered for Phase I of Placements is 256. They will be recruiting for a total of 472 profiles. As many as 71 start-ups have registered for recruitment in the ongoing academic year 2020-21.

Sharing his experience on the online placement process this year, Pranjal Jain, undergraduate placement head, IIT Madras, said, “The placement process, though conducted virtually for the first time, was very well-organised. The placement team and companies were well-prepared and have scheduled the interviews to avoid conflicts.”

Sharing his experience in participating in online placements, Dhruv Sriram, a student from the department of aerospace engineering who secured placement in McKinsey this year, said, “The placement session of 2020-21 at IIT Madras was definitely a challenging experience for students, organisers and companies alike. Three words that best describe this placement season for me would be empathy, technology and collaboration. Overall, a fantastic experience that would serve as a template for how placements may be conducted in the future across the country!”