The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are set to shut their campus recruitment doors to 22 companies for the next two placement cycles after the firms failed to take on students despite making job offers to them. The decision comes after the September 15 deadline fixed by the All IITs Placement Committee (AIPC) for companies to honour their commitments to students graduating this year. The companies will be informed of the decision by September 30.
Professors within the placement committee, on the condition of anonymity, described this measure as "non-cooperation", rather than "blacklisting". The affected companies will not be allowed to participate in campus recruitment across the IIT system for the next two placement seasons.
The scale of the issue has also grown sharply from last year. More than 150 offers made across 23 IITs are involved in the current cases, according to officials associated with the placement committee. Some companies are understood to have withdrawn between 10 and 15 offers each.
According to faculty sources, Oracle is among the companies facing the two-year non-cooperation period. The company is claimed to have not honoured around 40 offers made to IIT students.
The final list of companies and the exact number of offers involved is still being compiled. IITs have been asked to provide the AIPC with updated details of individual cases. The list is also understood to include several startups.
The move comes as IITs prepare for another placement season amid continued uncertainty around entry-level hiring, particularly in the technology sector.
Last year, around 10 to 11 companies faced similar action from individual IITs over unfulfilled job offers. This year, the number has increased to 22, prompting the placement committee to take a coordinated approach across the IITs.
For students affected by the withdrawn offers, placement offices are seeking alternative opportunities. Their resumes have been shared with companies that are already recruiting on the campuses, with recruiters being asked to consider them for vacant positions.
The institutes, however, do not have a consolidated figure for students who are still seeking jobs. Some students may have found employment independently through off-campus applications or their own professional networks without reporting the outcome to their institutes.
The AIPC's decision is therefore not limited to barring the 22 companies from future campus hiring. The IITs are also attempting to find fresh opportunities for students whose recruitment prospects were disrupted after companies failed to follow through on their offers.