IIT Bombay gets thumbs-up among JEE toppers

By Sruthi Gottipati , CNBC-TV18

Indian Institute of Technology , Bombay or IIT -B has reason to cheer. It's been the top choice for the top 100 students who've taken the IIT-JEE four years in a row.

IIT-Bombay is the most favoured destination for the top 100 IIT Joint Entrance Exam rankers. That's according to records kept by the Joint Entrance Examination Commitee. Experts say it's the location in the country's financial capital - Mumbai and the record placement figures that's kept IIT Bombay on top of the "most wanted" list of students.

IIT                                     2008             2007              2006              2005

Bombay                              54                 50                 46                   52
Delhi                                   27                 29                 28                   21
Madras                               10                  5                   6                     7
Kanpur                                 9                 15                  20                   17 
Kharagpur                            0                   1                   0                     3
Guwahati                             0                   0                   0                     0
Roorkee                              0                    0                   0                     0

While IIT-B has scooped up over 50 per cent of the top 100 rankers, IIT Delhi and Chennai are far behind at second and third place with only 27 and 10 students opting for them. IIT Kharagpur, the oldest IIT, has only been able to lure a total of four students in the last four years. And IIT Guwahati and IIT Roorkee haven't even been able to grab a single student from the top 100.

Arkss Srinivas, Director, T.I.M.E Coaching Class, said, "In the 80s and 90s, IIT Bombay was number one. Then it lost out to Kharagpur and Kanpur because they started offering many more courses. Bombay has again regained its position over the last three or four years because of better placements. We encourage students to opt for IIT Bombay because a lot of companies such as Lehman Brothers, McKinsey, etc from the finance sector go to them."

With the creme de la creme opting for IIT Bombay, the institute can now look forward to even better recruiters and top the list of IITs in placement figures as well.