IIT campus placement begins, Microsoft makes Rs 1.39 crore offer

Microsoft made offers to students on IIT Roorkee, Bombay, Madras and Guwahati campuses (File Photo)

The first day of placements at the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) saw a good start on Friday as offshore offers with pay packages above Rs 1 crore were made to students.

IT giant Microsoft, which came to shop for talent on several IIT campuses, has made offers for offshore positions and pay packages of around $215,000, which roughly converts to Rs 1.39 crore per annum. Microsoft made offers to students on IIT Roorkee, Bombay, Madras and Guwahati campuses. While it offered to hire three from Roorkee, two offshore offers and eight domestic ones were made at Guwahati. Bombay and Madras refused to divulge details.

Apple also made its debut at IITs this year for domestic positions. According to placement officers, the tech giant made offers worth Rs 15 lakh per annum and visited Madras and Guwahati campuses. Nasdaq also recruited students from the Madras campus for the first time.

Last year, the first day of placements saw a slump in the number of offers, but this year’s Day 1 has been promising, said placement officials. The number of offers and pay packages have slightly improved. Investment banking firm Blackstone, which had made the highest offer for domestic positions at Rs 35 lakh, upped its offer to around Rs 44 lakh. The highest packages offered for domestic positions varied between Rs 35 lakh (at Guwahati) and Rs 45 lakh (at Bombay).

“We hope this momentum continues into the next session and in the days to come,” said Manu Santhanam, advisor, training and placement at IIT Madras. “By the end of the first slot at 4 pm, 99 students were placed, up from last year’s 77. At Guwahati, 100 students were placed by 8 pm and another 40 offers were in the pipeline. By 8 pm, around 263 offers had been rolled out at IIT Roorkee,” said N P Padhy, professor in-charge of training and placement. Of these only 22 were from startups.

Kaustubha Mohanty, convenor of the All IIT Placement Committee and in-charge of T&P at IIT Guwahati, said, “Startups have made fewer offers, as usual.”