US IT giant offers Rs 1.5 crore package at IIT locations

NEW DELHI: The national packages offered at some of the major IITs have gone up several notches this year. More than one company has offered a Rs 80 lakh package on some campuses, a jump from last year’s highest level of Rs 62 lakh. Among international companies, California-based information technology giant Cohesity has offered the highest package of $ 200,000 (about 1.5 million rupees). However, trading company Optiver, with a competitive package of € 157,000 (almost Rs 1.4 crore), has chosen more students for its Amsterdam and Sydney profiles. The interviews were conducted virtually this year.

At IIT-Bombay, Optiver selected seven students for roles in commerce, software and quantum research for the Amsterdam and Sydney profiles. Optiver had scheduled more interviews even in second place at IIT-Bombay, one student said. One student said that the number of functions the institute offers is very encouraging given the situation of the pandemic. Cohesity, with the highest bid, had shortlisted a student for the United States profile in second place. The final offer was not confirmed.

National recruiters like Qualcomm chose a larger number: 11 from Bombay and eight from IIT-Madras. The telecom principal’s compensation package stood at Rs 46.4 lakh, followed by Rs 39.7 lakh offered by WorldQuant, Rs 37.2 lakh from Morgan Stanley and Rs 35.3 lakh from Uber. About 18 companies were part of the first session, with the highest bids coming from Microsoft, Google, Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, Boston Consulting Group, Apple and Bain & Co at IIT-Bombay. A total of 153 pre-placement offers (PPOs) were made to the institute’s 2021 graduating class.

At IIT-Kanpur, the first day closed with 226 offers. Graviton Trading chose three students for a Rs 82 lakh package, and QuantBox offered a Rs 80 lakh package to one student (package includes participation and performance bonuses). Cohesity offered the American profile to a student. Apple and Cohesity (for Indian profiles) made other leading national offers of more than Rs 60 lakh. Google and Microsoft offered attractive packages for national profiles at the institute.

IIT-Madras beat the Covid blues as 22 companies made 123 offers during Session 1.1 on day one, higher than in any of the previous academic years. During the last academic year of 2019-20, 102 offers were made by 20 companies at the end of Session 1.1. The top recruiters at IIT-Madras were Microsoft (19 offers), Texas Instruments (12), Bajaj Auto (10), Isro (10), Alphonso Inc (9). The second time slot of the day featured 24 companies, including TSMC, KLA Tencor, GE and Wipro.

Of the 425 internship opportunities, 276 were converted to pre-placement offers at IIT-Kharagpur. “This is the highest number among all major Indian academic institutes in major multinational companies despite the current economic situation,” said A Rajakumar, President of the Career Development Center, IIT Kharagpur. About 30 companies participated on the first day and more than 130 placement offers were made. TSMC, Sony-Japan and Cohesity US offered international profiles at the institute. In the first days of the hiring campaign, about 25-27% of the companies belong to the main sector, 65% to the software and 10% to the consulting sector.

At IIT-Roorkee, three international offers were made in the first slot, one each from Japanese IT firm Diverta Inc, Topline and London-based investment firm Squarepoint Capital. But the high-priced recruiter who made the rumor was one who picked up a student by offering an annual national package of Rs 80 lakh, up from the previous year’s national maximum of Rs 60 lakh.