Summer placements across various B-schools and engineering colleges have witnessed a rise in the number of offers given by companies, an increased participation from first-time recruiters and higher stipends this year, compared to last year.

While a section of the industry feels that the uptick has to be seen in the light of the relatively tight job market scenario last year, the summer placements will likely set the tone for the final placements this season.

Summer placements provide internship opportunities to engineering and management students.

Though placements, including summer internship offers, at top B-schools and engineering campuses may not necessarily reflect the entire job market, they are certainly indicative of an improved environment.

“Though there is some negative news of an economic slowdown, India’s long-term growth story looks good and the government has been taking a number of proactive measures. So, we can expect that the worst is behind us,” V Suresh, founder of an education and healthcare start-up, told BusinessLine .

According to industry experts, over 30 per cent of the pre-placement offers (PPOs) bagged by students ahead of the final placements come as a result of their summer internship stints. So, not only does a good show during the summer internship help showcase their capabilities, it also gives some students the edge during final placements.

Good show

IIT-Kharagpur, for instance, has bagged over 500 internship offers in the first phase of its internship process, compared to 461 offers received by the institute last year. The second phase of the internship process is expected to commence from the second week of January 2020.

“The internship process, which started in August 2019, has been soaring compared to last year. Career Development Centre (CDC) is optimistic that in the second phase of the internship process which starts from the second week of January 2020, the institute can register the highest number of internships seen in recent times,” said a press statement by IIT-Kharagpur.

More than 75 companies visited the campus and there was participation from across various sectors, including IT/software, analytics/consulting, e-commerce, banking and healthcare.

“The internship season (this year) was better than the last few years. Also, the PPO rate is very encouraging. We took proactive measures to attract companies by reviewing our Company Relation Index (CRI) and then upgraded a few companies,” Prof GP Rajasekhar, Chairman - Career Development Centre, IIT-Kharagpur, said.

IIM-Calcutta saw 136 firms participating in the summer placement process and as many as 200 roles offered to the class of 2021. Finance and consulting firms accounted for over 43 per cent of the total offers. Several firms also threw open international roles, including Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank, Barclays, and Hexaware, the institute said.

“Several new firms were added across the spectrum to cater to a larger batch size and provide multiple options to the students. The number of participating firms grew by over 13 per cent, which include first-timers like Puma, Emami, Cochlear, Atha Group, ValueLabs and Apparel Group,” IIM-C said in response to a questionnaire sent by BusinessLine .

XLRI wrapped up the summer placement process within just two days. The institute witnessed an upward movement in the number of first-time recruiters, with close to 11 new companies on the campus. The average stipend also increased by over 12 per cent to Rs 1.2 lakh a month while the highest stipend stood at Rs 2.5 lakh a month.

The FMCG sector made maximum offers (26 per cent of the total offers made) followed closely by the technology and e-commerce sector at 24 per cent of the total offers.

More niche roles were offered including data analytics, product management, brand management, and strategy.

“The placement process was a successful affair, with new and regular recruiters hiring in higher numbers as well as for more roles. The technology/e-commerce sector was a prominent recruiter, offering about 24 per cent of the total offers, in line with the overall job market trend. For the rest of the sectors, the offers and roles were either better or at par with last year,” said Rajiv Mishra, Chairperson, Placement (BM & HRM), XLRI.

According to Neeti Sharma, Senior Vice-President, TeamLease Services, several indicators currently point to the likelihood of companies experiencing better quarters in terms of business and profitability, going forward. This is likely to translate into a pick-up in hiring demand.

“I do not think jobs are going to go away due to automation through artificial intelligence and machine learning. Instead, there will be a change in the nature of jobs…..hiring will happen,” she said.

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