'Students prefer IT, banking jobs over core sectors like process industries:' IIT Roorkee Director

Students are not keen on joining the "process industry" and are instead heading towards IT, banking, and consultancy jobs — influenced by "pay packages and job comfort"—a trend that worries IIT Roorkee Director Prof. Kamal Kishore Pant.

Students are no longer opting for hard-core jobs, which is a sort of concern. They consider IT jobs, banking, finance, and consultancy. Initially, they consider the (pay) package, and the job comfort…so, whether they have an office, computer, AC room," Prof Pant said, on the sidelines of the institute's convocation this week.

Prof Pant was answering a question about placements at IITs.

Although we are promoting students to opt for this discipline, they are not willing to join the process industry. Companies are visiting the institute, and we are establishing solid relationships with MSMEs and large-scale companies. Computer, IT…these are the jobs which may provide good pay packages; however, if you consider long-term, then these hardcore industries also provide similar pay scales," he said.

This is the type of lessons or training we have to provide the young generation and their parents when they come to the institute. They must not glance at just one branch; they have to glance at other branches as well…mechanical, electrical, chemical…because these are equally vital," he said while emphasizing that process industries and MSMEs are vital to the progress of the country as far as GDP and development are concerned.

Pressed for the hesitation to enter process industries and whether it was due to pay packages, Prof Pant replied: "Yes, of course…because when you mention multinationals tech firms like Google, Microsoft, etc, their packages differ from core industries. On average, hardcore industry salaries are in the range of Rs 20–25 lakh annually.". But in these firms, the packets can go up to Rs 1–2 crore because salaries are paid in dollars at times though the employee is in India.

He added that these kinds of offers are "quite low" and one should not expect all students in a given branch to receive 100 percent placement with such a packet. "There will always be some kind of Gaussian distribution," he added.

Prof Pant became the Director of IIT Roorkee in 2022. Though the institute came to be known as IIT Roorkee subsequently, it is the nation's first engineering college.

Earlier this year, statistics included in a report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports, indicated that in more than half of the nation's 23 IITs, BTech placements fell by over 10 percentage points in 2023-24 from 2021-22.

Statistics in the report indicated that 98.54% of 822 students who appeared for placement in 2021-22 at IIT Roorkee were placed. In 2023-24, 1052 students appeared for placements and 79.66% of the students were placed.

Clarifying the recent dip in IIT placements, Prof Pant stated: "I would not call it a decline, because on average about 85% of those who appear for placements are getting jobs.". If you compare with the entire number of graduating students, the number appears lower, as many of them do not sit for placements. That is the wrong benchmark. The proper measure is how many of the ones who had registered for placements were picked—and that number is well above 85%.

With entrepreneurial and skill development training, students are motivated to start start-ups, he added.

When asked if fewer students are sitting for placements, he replied: "Yes. Students nowadays think differently. Some want to start companies of their own, some are going for higher education—though that figure is now coming down—and a lot of them prefer doing something on their own in the country. They are coming together in groups and starting various types of start-ups, so that trend is also forthcoming."