The latest placement statistics for the Class of 2025 at India's prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) indicate that the overall number of students securing jobs will show only a slight increase from the previous year. This comes despite an optimistic beginning to the placement season, which began more than four months ago.

In the first phase of placements for the 2024-25 academic year, institutions such as IIT Delhi, IIT Bombay (Mumbai), IIT Kanpur, IIT Madras (Chennai), IIT Kharagpur, IIT Roorkee, IIT Guwahati, and IIT Varanasi (BHU) experienced a promising influx of big-ticket job offers. Campuses had high hopes of achieving a significant boost in placements compared to the previous year, during which many placements were adversely affected by various market uncertainties. However, as the season progresses, that initial optimism has begun to wane amidst ongoing economic concerns.

To combat these challenges, various IITs are intensifying their efforts to attract a broader range of companies, including many that are new to the campuses. They are tapping into their extensive alumni networks and actively encouraging students to seek off-campus opportunities as the placement season nears its conclusion, which typically wraps up in May or June for these institutions.

The first phase of placements concludes in mid-December, followed by a second phase that often sees a slower pace. Sushant K Shrivastava, who coordinates the training and placement cell at IIT-BHU, commented on the situation, saying, This year has been challenging due to several factors including a slowdown in the core and analytics sector and the US market downturn affecting placement trends.

While IIT-BHU has reported a modest increase in placements for the Class of 2025specifically a 7-8% rise in job offers within the IT and IT-enabled services (ITeS) sectorsthe situation is not without challenges. Shrivastava noted that approximately 20% of the current batch still remains without job offers, despite the schools ongoing initiatives to expand company outreach and diversify job profiles to secure placements.

A report presented to the parliamentary standing committee on education, women, children, youth, and sports on March 26, 2025, indicated that in the previous academic year (2023-24), between 12% and 27% of students in the flagship Bachelor of Technology (BTech) programs at the older IITs went unplaced. For instance, IIT Hyderabad reported a BTech placement rate of 69.33% for the previous year, while postgraduate programs like MTech and PhD had even lower placement percentages.

At IIT Guwahati, placement statistics for the current batch are largely in line with those of the prior year, according to John Jose, head of the Centre for Career Development, who remarked, This year has been particularly challenging for postgraduate students, as companies are increasingly showing a preference for undergraduate students, who typically have a longer tenure on campus and are perceived as more adaptable.

The latter part of the placement season tends to attract companies that offer lower salary packages, which may discourage students from actively participating. In light of this, institutes are advising students to pursue off-campus opportunities as well as lateral hiring options.

Dheeraj Singh, an alumnus of IIT Kanpur and founder of the Global IIT Alumni Support Group, shared insights on shifting job dynamics, noting that software roles are being increasingly replaced by advanced artificial intelligence (AI) models. He stated, Data analyst jobs are being most impacted by advanced AI models. There is also a hiring freeze in many large companies due to AI-induced layoffs at the entry-to-mid level. That has impacted overall hiring to an extent.

Meanwhile, IIT Kharagpur has opted not to disclose specific placement numbers at this time, citing the dynamic and market-driven nature of the placement process. Rajib Maity, chairperson of the Career Development Centre at the institute, said, As the number of registered students at IIT Kharagpur is the highest across all IITs, including non-engineering fields, the placement figure achieved to date is encouraging as compared to last year. Hopefully, at the end of the session, we will achieve our targeted placement percentage. More and more companies are being invited to be hosted at the campus.

A student representative from one of the older IITs noted that their campus has seen a 25% increase in company participation for the Class of 2025. We approached a mix of new companies and those that hadnt visited us in a couple of years. This has resulted in about 10% more offers, he reported.

At IIT Hyderabad, over 65% of the approximately 900 students who participated in the placement process have secured jobs. The institute acknowledged that while market fluctuations and industry requirements posed initial challenges, the Office of Career Services (OCS) team has intensified its outreach efforts to companies, improved student preparedness, and better leveraged alumni networks. The institute stated, We are actively engaging with a broader pool of companies, including startups, medium-sized companies, and MNCs across diverse sectors. Additionally, placed students have extended their support for unplaced peers and are exploring off-campus and rolling opportunities to cater to varied student preferences.