CHENNAI: Concerned over the turbulence faced by start-up companies, which have severely impacted the future of many bright minds hired from top institutions through campus placements, the All-IIT Placement Committee is set to convene an emergency meeting in the next few days. The meeting was originally scheduled to happen in October, as campus recruitments begin in December.
“The convenor of the committee has initiated discussions with start-ups including Flipkart who had recruited students but have deferred the joining dates,” Babu Vishwanathan, the placement officer at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, told Express. “It is likely that the committee will meet soon to evolve a strategy to provide a safety net for the students,” he added.
Five students from IIT-Madras, who were recruited by Flipkart, are among those whose joining dates have been deferred. The hyperlocal delivery start-up, Roadrunnr, too has deferred joining dates of about quarter of the recruits by six months to December 1, Vishwanathan confirmed.
The institute has a contingency plan, Vishwanathan said. “But for us to initiate the plan and allow these students to appear in the coming placement season, they should pass the pre-placement tests like technical and HR rounds in October-November. One of the proposals that he has suggested is to have a placement season in April instead of December. “This will allow students to understand the financial condition of the start-up before taking up a job,” he added.
Ecom site may lose day one status in colleges
The ongoing controversy may cost Flipkart the prestigious ‘day one’ company status in IITs. A decision in this regard is likely to be taken at the All-IITs Placement Committee. The first day of campus placemenets is reserved for the top league companies like Google, Sony Japan, Procter & Gamble and Pocket Gems.