“Domestic market is growing, they claim, but where are the jobs?” asks Dheeraj Singh, Founder of the Global IIT Alumni Support Group. Singh had filed a Right to Information (RTI) request seeking student placement data from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur for the years 2021 to 2024. The data reveals concerning trends, including a significant reduction in both the number of candidates securing placements and the median CTC (Cost to Company) offered.
According to the RTI data, in 2022, out of 1,391 students who registered for placements, 177 remained unplaced. The following year, 167 out of 1,362 students were unplaced. By 2024, 372 out of 1,417 students were still seeking jobs (as of May 15), which means 26% of the registered candidates are still unplaced.
Singh notes that fewer students at IIT Kanpur register for placements compared to other IITs. “Around 60% of graduating batch students register for placements in IIT Kanpur due to the very high number of students opting out of placement due to Civil Services. Whereas, the corresponding number is 70-80% in other older IITs,” Singh explains.
Over the past three years, a total of 716 students have not secured jobs, averaging 239 unplaced students per year. While the number of students registering for placements increased by 2%, the number of those unplaced surged by 110%.
The RTI data also indicates a troubling decline in the average cost to company (CTC) for placed students. The median CTC was Rs 20 LPA (lakh per year) in 2021-2022, Rs 19.7 LPA in 2022-2023, and dropped to Rs 18 LPA in 2023-2024. Singh remarks, “If IIT Kanpur, one of the top institutes in the country, is facing this issue, imagine the situation at lower-ranked colleges.”
Singh also questions the claim that the domestic market is growing, pointing out that this supposed growth is not translating into job creation, especially amid the global recession and inflation. He calls this a “double whammy” for the youth. “There is ongoing inflation, but salaries are decreasing. This is a double burden on young people,” he says.
IIT Kanpur is not the only institute with such declining trends, earlier Singh had also revealed similar instances in IIT Gandhinagar, IIT Hyderabad and other elite institutes through the RTIs he filed.
In a previous RTI filed by Singh, who is an alumnus of IIT Kanpur and IIM Calcutta, it was revealed that in the current academic year 2023-2024, 46% of students are yet to secure placements at IIT Hyderabad. Also, 23% and 22% of students were not placed in the year 2023 and 2022, respectively.
