India’s top engineering colleges are seeing early signs of a stronger appetite among recruiters for talent this year, despite global macroeconomic headwinds, especially trade tensions.
The placement season starts in December for the Class of 2026 at the seven old Indian Institutes of Technology ( IITs) at Bombay, Delhi, Madras, Kharagpur, Kanpur, BHU and Roorkee. Recruiter registrations at these colleges have commenced.
Early trends from these IITs suggest a larger recruiter lineup, elevated interest from high-frequency trading (HFT) firms, and the likelihood of increased job offers, placement cell officials at these IITs told ET.
“There is rising participation from companies in software, AI, data-driven roles, BFSI, startups, HFT firms, as well as semiconductor and core engineering sectors this year,” said Sanjay Gupta, chairperson, Career Development Centre, IIT Kharagpur.
HFT firms such as Jane Street, Graviton Research Capital, Hudson River Trading, Millennium Management, and Da Vinci Derivatives have been active recruiters at most IITs in recent years.
“We expect similar or even higher participation (from HFT firms) this year,” said Gupta.
Sudeept Sinha, founder of quantitative HFT firm Atlas Research said the company is likely to boost its IIT intake manifold from the Class of 2026. “We’ve grown significantly, and we need talent to scale further. We’ll hire from streams such as computer science and engineering and Maths and computing,” said Sinha.
Prospects for the upcoming placement season appear buoyant with several leading companies registering early, said Sushant Kumar Shrivastava, coordinator, training and placement cell at IIT BHU.
Last year, final placements at BHU closed with 1,405 offers. “We expect an even better lineup this time,” said Shrivastava.
This year, IIT BHU is experiencing a sharp rise in participation from data science and analytics companies.
“The number of HFT firms visiting our campus has been steadily increasing year after year,” said Shrivastava. This season, firms such as Tower Research Capital, Edgefocus, NK Securities, APT Portfolio, Quadeye, and Graviton, among others have already confirmed their participation at IIT-BHU, he said.
Among the first-time recruiters at IIT-BHU are NK Securities, Atlassian, Edgefocus, Tower Research Capital, and Coforge.
IIT Roorkee too is seeing more HFT firms, newer recruiters, and startups lining up this year, said Vivek Pancholi, professor in-charge, placement and internship cell.
“The upcoming placement season is expected to be highly promising, with strong participation anticipated from leading recruiters worldwide,” he said, adding an increase in average salary offers is also expected as per the current trends.
A placement cell member at another top IIT said the overall outlook looks more promising than last year. This college too is expecting more students to get placed, and higher average salaries.
Last year, Kharagpur bagged more than 1,800 offers from over 400 companies.
“The early line-up is very encouraging. We are observing comparable, and in some segments stronger participation than last year,” said Gupta.
Placement cells devise new strategies
IITs are going full throttle on strategies to attract more recruiters who can make compelling offers to their students. These colleges are showcasing their cutting-edge research work, sharpening focus on core companies, training students to prepare them for interviews through employability tests, soft-skills training, and leadership development, among others.
“We are also expanding international internships to build global corporate linkages and enhancing recruiter experience with a streamlined digital portal and a clear schedule,” said Gupta.
IIT BHU has started a more structured outreach approach this year. It now has dedicated outreach teams that focus on specific sectors such as quant, SDE, data, and consulting. “The idea is to strengthen our connection with recruiters in a more targeted manner,” said Shrivastava.
Meanwhile, to get a better understanding of the hiring requirement of recruiters, IIT Roorkee is conducting an alumni survey. “These are from those alumni who joined the core companies,” said Pancholi. The institution has strengthened outreach to leading companies across core and emerging sectors.
Most IITs are tapping into a much larger pool of companies to boost placement numbers this year.
The placement season starts in December for the Class of 2026 at the seven old Indian Institutes of Technology ( IITs) at Bombay, Delhi, Madras, Kharagpur, Kanpur, BHU and Roorkee. Recruiter registrations at these colleges have commenced.
Early trends from these IITs suggest a larger recruiter lineup, elevated interest from high-frequency trading (HFT) firms, and the likelihood of increased job offers, placement cell officials at these IITs told ET.
“There is rising participation from companies in software, AI, data-driven roles, BFSI, startups, HFT firms, as well as semiconductor and core engineering sectors this year,” said Sanjay Gupta, chairperson, Career Development Centre, IIT Kharagpur.
HFT firms such as Jane Street, Graviton Research Capital, Hudson River Trading, Millennium Management, and Da Vinci Derivatives have been active recruiters at most IITs in recent years.
“We expect similar or even higher participation (from HFT firms) this year,” said Gupta.
Sudeept Sinha, founder of quantitative HFT firm Atlas Research said the company is likely to boost its IIT intake manifold from the Class of 2026. “We’ve grown significantly, and we need talent to scale further. We’ll hire from streams such as computer science and engineering and Maths and computing,” said Sinha.
Prospects for the upcoming placement season appear buoyant with several leading companies registering early, said Sushant Kumar Shrivastava, coordinator, training and placement cell at IIT BHU.
Last year, final placements at BHU closed with 1,405 offers. “We expect an even better lineup this time,” said Shrivastava.
This year, IIT BHU is experiencing a sharp rise in participation from data science and analytics companies.
“The number of HFT firms visiting our campus has been steadily increasing year after year,” said Shrivastava. This season, firms such as Tower Research Capital, Edgefocus, NK Securities, APT Portfolio, Quadeye, and Graviton, among others have already confirmed their participation at IIT-BHU, he said.
Among the first-time recruiters at IIT-BHU are NK Securities, Atlassian, Edgefocus, Tower Research Capital, and Coforge.
IIT Roorkee too is seeing more HFT firms, newer recruiters, and startups lining up this year, said Vivek Pancholi, professor in-charge, placement and internship cell.
“The upcoming placement season is expected to be highly promising, with strong participation anticipated from leading recruiters worldwide,” he said, adding an increase in average salary offers is also expected as per the current trends.
A placement cell member at another top IIT said the overall outlook looks more promising than last year. This college too is expecting more students to get placed, and higher average salaries.
Last year, Kharagpur bagged more than 1,800 offers from over 400 companies.
“The early line-up is very encouraging. We are observing comparable, and in some segments stronger participation than last year,” said Gupta.
Placement cells devise new strategies
IITs are going full throttle on strategies to attract more recruiters who can make compelling offers to their students. These colleges are showcasing their cutting-edge research work, sharpening focus on core companies, training students to prepare them for interviews through employability tests, soft-skills training, and leadership development, among others.
“We are also expanding international internships to build global corporate linkages and enhancing recruiter experience with a streamlined digital portal and a clear schedule,” said Gupta.
IIT BHU has started a more structured outreach approach this year. It now has dedicated outreach teams that focus on specific sectors such as quant, SDE, data, and consulting. “The idea is to strengthen our connection with recruiters in a more targeted manner,” said Shrivastava.
Meanwhile, to get a better understanding of the hiring requirement of recruiters, IIT Roorkee is conducting an alumni survey. “These are from those alumni who joined the core companies,” said Pancholi. The institution has strengthened outreach to leading companies across core and emerging sectors.
Most IITs are tapping into a much larger pool of companies to boost placement numbers this year.
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