As the placement season began across the IITs on Monday, more than 20 companies have been barred from participating this year. These companies had cancelled confirmed job offers made to students last academic year, in some cases just days before their scheduled joining dates in June and July, as reported by the media.
Since students who already hold an accepted offer are often not permitted to sit for further interviews, these last-minute withdrawals caused serious setbacks to their career prospects and also affected their mental well-being.
The IITs jointly reviewed these cases and decided to ban the companies from this year’s placement process. Officials said that IITs did try to help the affected students wherever possible, even though the cancellations came after a considerable time gap.
The list of banned companies was finalised after placement teams observed that these firms had revoked offers at more than one IIT and in many instances had a history of doing so. Several of the banned organisations were from the software and data analytics sector. While these firms cannot recruit through the official IIT placement system this year, they are still allowed to hire students through off-campus channels.
An IIT professor involved in placements said that the names of these companies were carefully cross-checked by placement coordinators representing around 15 IITs. Some of the cancellations were issued by firms where IIT alumni are also employed. In a few cases, companies even revised salaries downward from the originally promised packages. Placement cells have reportedly reached out to senior leaders at these firms to communicate student concerns.
A student from IIT Bombay’s 2025 batch said his offer of nearly Rs 30 lakh from a trading platform was withdrawn just two days before joining. Fortunately, with alumni help, he managed to secure a better opportunity.
The Professor added that this year, IITs are actively engaging more start-ups supported by the Centre under the Viksit Bharat initiative. Despite a slow job market, early placement trends appear positive.
