What Is Behind The Job Crisis In India's Premier IITs? Is Artificial Intelligence (AI) A Factor?

The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are experiencing a placement crisis. IIT Kanpur graduate Dheeraj Singh's RTI application recently revealed that a startling 38% of IIT graduates across all 23 campuses are still unemployed. Singh noted that approximately 8,000 students were unsuccessful in getting hired through campus recruitment this year.

Unsettling Reality of Placements in IITs:

Only 13,410 of the 21,500 students who registered for placements in 2024 have found employment; the remaining 38% are still looking. Compared to two years ago, when 3,400 students, or 19%, were unplaced, this represents a significant increase. With 16,400 students registered for placements this year and 6,050 (37%) still unemployed, the older nine IITs are particularly affected. A slightly worse situation exists at the 14 more recent IITs, where 2,040 (40%) of the 5,100 registered students are not placed.

Changing Landscape Because of AI:

The job crisis has also sparked concern that the arrival of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has contributed to the worsening situation in India's premier talent pool. AI is considered the technology of the future due to its capacity to automate tasks and boost efficiency. Still, there's a lot of disagreement over how it will affect the labor market. It eliminates some jobs while simultaneously opening up new opportunities.

"It's been a challenging year," Dhiman Saha, assistant professor and faculty in charge of the Centre for Career Planning and Services at IIT Bhilai, said while speaking with Bloomberg.

As per a Bloomberg report, Saha said that the current job crisis is just a temporary adjustment while foreign and Indian tech companies try to resize after a hiring frenzy brought on by the pandemic, and consulting and finance firms wait for growth to resume in Western economies. For similar reasons, Harvard Business School's recruitment was down the previous year.

Although Saha declined to disclose the exact number of unemployed students, he stated that the AI challenge has not yet materialized because the jobs available have not changed. It is only the quantity that has decreased.

IITs Reaching Out to Alumni Network:

The IITs are looking to their alumni for support during these trying times. The institutes are contacting their large network of accomplished alumni and asking them to recommend, hire, and intern current students to navigate the challenging job market. The IIT Delhi Office of Career Services (OCS) emphasized how important alumni support is in assisting these students in starting their professional careers.

Other engineering schools, such as IIT Bombay and the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, are also asking their former pupils for assistance. Even with the placement process running through the end of June, 250 candidates, or roughly 10% of the IIT Bombay batch, are still waiting to be placed.