Despite getting blacklisted, startups still rock at IIT placements

Startups are unaffected by getting banned and are recruiting top talent at IIT placements this year. Regardless of the fact that many of the startups are being blacklisted by the institutes, many international companies that have just started in India are providing the students great offers and some big recruiters' individual hiring numbers.

Many like Flipkart and Snapdeal are amongst the blacklisted ones, their rival likes Amazon and Paytm are hiring aggressively at several Indian Institutes of Technology, and commanding premium slots in placements along with the likes of logistics startup Rivigo Services and enterprise software developer CodeNation.

Amazon is planning to visit 17 IITs this year and is looking forward to hiring more engineers than last year. It is making its first Jodhpur, Indore and Bhubaneswar IITs.

"We firmly believe that as we expand and grow in the country, talented engineers from these institutes will play an instrumental role in driving Amazon's growth in India. We continue to be aggressive in our hiring outlook as we scale up our operations in India,” Raj Raghavan, HR director for APAC at Amazon, told ET.

Paytm, after being benefited by the government’s demonetisation scheme, is now looking forward to increasing its intake from IITs this year.

"Paytm is expanding quickly and we are constantly on the lookout for talent to help us keep the momentum,” Amit Sinha, senior VP at Paytm, told ET.

The Noida-based ecommerce and digital payments provider has hired from Guwahati, Roorkee, Madras, Bombay and Varanasi (BHU) IITs this year. Besides these biggies, several smaller startups, too, have joined the rush to attract top talent from the country's premier engineering campuses.

"Startups are far from disappearing from the campus. For us, they hold a good share in the placements this year. Where 55 startups have registered for placements this year, up from 50 last year, and they've already handed out more offers than last year,” NP Padhy, professor-in-charge for training and placement at IIT Roorkee, told ET.

There are many new comers in the placement league and the list includes Smartprix, FlyNava Technologies, Clustr, Hike and Buyhatke.

"There are still many startups coming. While most hire in small numbers, they still find takers, especially among students who have a risk appetite,” a senior person involved in IIT placements, told ET.

The IITs also blacklisted a list of startups over a list of numerous reasons. Despite some startups revoking offers in previous years, several students are still eager to join such firms.

"Students are now more aware about the uncertainties associated with startups, and more informed. Many are eager to join them, especially those who want to start something of their own in the future and want to gain the experience,” B Venkatesham, placement-in-charge at IIT Hyderabad, told ET.

Even in campuses where the number of startup recruiters is less than last year, such firms are among the popular recruiters. IIT Madras has given premium slots to companies such as Amazon, Next Education, CodeNation, Rivigo Services and Paytm in the placement process.