Unimpeded by the coronavirus pandemic, students of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras bagged over 182 pre-placement offers, or PPO, this academic year. The first phase of placement drive at IIT-Madras will commence from Tuesday, entirely in virtual mode. Placement drives at the older IITs will commence on Tuesday. Due to the lockdown, all placement processes will be conducted in online mode across all IITs. The number of pre-placement jobs offered at IIT Madras has increased from 170 job offers made in the last academic year. A majority of the pre-placement offers, 49 percent, were offered in the information and technology (IT) sector followed by 29 percent offers in the core, research and development sector. Big recruiters included Texas Instruments and Microsoft which made 12 offers each. Other companies like Qualcomm, Goldman Sachs and American Express also made offers to the IIT-M students. “The sustained increase in the number of Pre-Placement Offers this year is a clear reflection of the academic quality of IIT Madras and its students. I am optimistic that we would be able to carry forward this momentum and our students would obtain the best possible job offers in Phase-1 placements,” said C. S. Shankar Ram, Advisor (Training and Placement), IIT Madras.

Virtual internships at IIT-M
The institute has credited the “strong internship program” at the institute behind the increase in PPO. The virtual internship saw the participation of 17 companies who offered 140 internship opportunities to the students. Last year, 147 internship offers were made on the first day of the internship drive. As on Saturday, 93 companies which registered for the internship placement drive have made 415 offers. As many as 327 students have already secured placements out of the total 956 registrations. “The internships result in students getting to intern in companies that are large recruiters. The constant increase in PPOs is the result of the excellent performance of students during the internships,” an official statement said.