Placements drop by over 10 percentage points in more than half of IITs since 2021-21

IIT Bombay saw a drop of around 13 percentage points in placement in 2023-24.

More than half of the country’s 23 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have seen placements for BTech students dropped by more than 10 percentage points in 2023-24 compared to 2021-22.

Among the IITs that saw a drop of more than 10 percentage points were the older IITs – Madras (drop of 12 percentage points, from 85.71% to 73.29%); Bombay (drop of around 13 percentage points, from 96.11% to 83.39%); Kanpur (drop of 11 percentage points, from 93.63% to 82.48%); Delhi (drop of around 15 percentage points, from 87.69% to 72.81%).

22 of the 23 IITs have seen a drop in placements in 2023-24, in comparison to 2021-22, while more than half of these IITs have seen an over 10% drop, as per the information provided by the union government to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports, a report by The Indian Express stated.

The parliamentary panel report recommended that the Education Ministry takes steps to “enhance employability".

In its report on the Department of Higher Education’s demand for grants 2025-26, the Parliamentary Standing Committee headed by Congress MP Digvijaya Singh noted that there is an “unusual decline” in placements in IITs and IIITs between the year 2021-22 and 2023-24.

In 2021-22, the percentage of students who secured jobs out of those who appeared for placements ranged from 83.15% at IIT Varanasi to 98.65% at IIT Goa, with 14 of the 23 IITs recording over 90% placements. In 2023-24, only three IITs – Jodhpur, Patna, and Goa – recorded over 90%, with the highest percentage of 92.98% at IIT Jodhpur and the lowest of 65.56% at IIT Dharwad, IE reported.

IIT Dharwad saw the sharpest drop where placements fell by around 25% in 2023-24 vs 2021-22 (90.20% to 65.56%), followed by IIT Jammu (92% to 70%).

Government data also showed that at some IITs, placements improved in 2021-22 compared to the previous year. The figures then dropped in 2022-23, and fell further in 2023-24. At IIT Kanpur, for instance, around 81% of those who appeared for placements secured jobs in 2020-21. This jumped to around 94% in 2021-22, but fell to 89% in 2022-23, and dropped further to 82% in 2023-24.

The committee observed that a similar trend is also visible in the National Institute of Technology (NITs) and notes that the data also shows a decline in the average financial package secured by each student placed between 2022-23 and 2023-24.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth, and Sports, chaired by Congress Rajya Sabha member, Digvijaya Singh, in its 2025-26 demand for grants report for the Department of Higher Education, tabled in Parliament on Wednesday expressed concern on the decline in placements at the country’s premier engineering institutes.

“There could be various reasons for this decline like students opting for higher education or pursuing start-up ventures. The panel noted that though the placement is dependent on market trends, the department should find out ways and take measures to enhance employability accordingly," the panel said.