Campus placement for the 2020-21 academic year at Indian Institute of Technology Madras began on Tuesday by setting a new record with 123 offers made by 22 companies during the first session of day one. This was higher than any of the preceding academic years. Last academic year of 2019-20, a total of 102 offers were made by 20 companies at the end of the first session.

Major recruiters of this year’s first session include Microsoft (19 offers), Texas Instruments (12), Bajaj Auto (10), ISRO (10), Alphonso Inc (9), and Qualcomm (8). The phase I of placements is expected to continue till December 8, says a press release from IIT-M.

Placement process
Elaborating on how the entire placement process is being conducted online this academic year due to the impact of Covid-19, CS Shankar Ram, Advisor (Training and Placement), IIT Madras, said, “The Placement team has worked with our recruiting partners to seamlessly enable this transition. I am happy to share that we have exceeded the number of offers made in the 1.1 session from the previous academic year. I am optimistic that a similar trend would continue over the next few days.”

A total of 1,443 students have registered for placements in the 2020-21 Academic Year, across different streams of study. The total number of companies registered for Phase I of Placements is 256. They will be recruiting for 472 profiles. As many as 71 start-ups have registered for recruitment, says the release.

Online system smooth
On the online placement process this year, Pranjal Jain, Undergraduate Placement Head, IIT Madras, said that the placement process, though conducted virtually for the first time, was very well organised.

The placement team and companies were well prepared and have scheduled the interviews to avoid conflicts, he said.