The report said that barring a few institutions like the Indian Institute of Management (IIMs), there is an unusual decline in placements in IITs and Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) between the years 2021-22 and 2023-24.
The committee observes that a similar trend is also visible in the National Institute of Technology (NITs) and notes that the data also shows a decline in the average financial package secured by each student placed between 2022-23 and 2023-24.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth, and Sports, chaired by Congress Rajya Sabha member, Digvijaya Singh, in its 2025-26 demand for grants report for the Department of Higher Education, tabled in Parliament Wednesday expressed concern on the decline in placements at the country’s premier engineering institutes.
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“There could be various reasons for this decline like students opting for higher education or pursuing start-up ventures. The panel noted that though the placement is dependent on market trends, the department should find out ways and take measures to enhance employability accordingly,” the panel said.
According to the data given in the panel’s report, IIT-Delhi saw a 17-percentage point drop in placements with 72.81% students getting placed in 2023-24, as compared to 89.88% in 2022-23. Of the total 938 students who sat for placements in 2023-24, only 683 got jobs. These figures stood at 675 students of the 751 sitting for placements in 2022-23 being placed.
Similarly, IIT-Roorkee also saw almost an 18-percentage point drop with only 79.66% of those sitting for placements getting jobs in 2023-24, as opposed to 97.76% in 2022-23. IIT-Jammu, a third-generation IIT saw a 19-percentage point drop in placements with 70.25% being placed in 2023-24, as compared to 89.93% in 2022-23.
Data shows that at IIT-Bombay 83.39% students were placed in 2023-24, as compared to 88.07% in 2022-23. Of the 819 students who sat for placements in 2023-24, 683 accepted the offers. In 2022-23, 598 of the 679 students who sat for the placement rounds got jobs. This figure stood at 96.11% in 2021-22, when the economy opened up post-pandemic. In 2020-21, 87.15% students found placements.
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News18 had earlier reported that the year 2023 saw a global economic slowdown, with a major drop in job opportunities across the spectrum. The economy, however, recovered to an extent in 2024, but the average pay packages offered to students remained on the lower side, as compared to 2022 when the economy had just opened up post-pandemic and companies had hired massively.
At IIT-Madras, another top-ranking IIT, there was almost a 10-percentage point dip in placements with 73.29% of students being placed in 2023-24, as compared to 83.94% in 2022-23. Of the total 1041 students who sat for placements in 2023-24, only 763 accepted the offers, as opposed to 847 students getting placed of the 1009 who sat for placements, the previous year, as per the report.
IIT-BHU saw a 7 percentage point drop in placements in 2023-24, as compared to 2022-23. IIT-Dhanbad and IIT-Mandi also had 10-percentage point decline in 2023-24, as compared to the previous year. IIT-Hyderabad saw a 13-percentage point drop with 69.33% being placed in 2023-24, as opposed to 82.48% in 2022-23.
The report mentions that the placement season for the current year 2024-25 is still going on and will continue tentatively till June 30.
