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Raja Simhan T.E.

CHENNAI, April 10

THE information technology (IT) firms appear to be slowly losing charm as employers while there seems to be an increased preference for old economy companies among fresh graduates in campus recruitment.

This was evident from the fact that despite continued domination by the IT companies in the job market, their overall share in campus placement at IIT Madras has been coming down in the last three years.

In the current academic year, out of the 496 offers (total strength of 726) made so far at IIT (M), the IT sector's share reduced to 66.94 per cent from 71.6 per cent last year, while the old economy companies increased their share to 33.06 per cent compared to 28.4 per cent last year. The placement at IIT, Madras, is not yet over, a few more are expected to arrive in a few weeks time, said Mr A.K. Pattibiraman, Training and Placement Officer, IIT (M). The IT sector accounted for 332 while engineering industries recruited 164 engineers, he said.

The volatility in the IT market and the fact that some of the seniors had to go through a tough time in their career (in IT firms) deeply impacted many of the students especially at the post-graduate level. This year a number of students shied away from IT companies and opted for hardcore engineering industries, which was more secure though the salary was less compared to the IT sector, said Mr Pattabiraman.

According to him, since 1994-95, when the software sector was growing, the IT companies' recruitment share at IIT (M) was about 80 per cent and increased to about 85 per cent in 1998-99. However, following the slowdown in the IT sector, in 1999-2000 it fell sharply to about 65 per cent but went up to around 71 per cent last year. This year so far the IT sector accounted for about 66 per cent with some more placements to be made, he said.

The Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Infosys dominated campus recruitment at IIT (M) this academic year selecting 85 (including MBAs) and 73 students respectively. Cognizant Technology Solutions was third with 39 students followed by Xalted Information Systems (17) and HCL Technologies (12). In the non-IT sector, BHEL topped the list with 10 candidates while a number of companies selected in single digit. Campus recruitment at IIT (M) was better than some of the other institutions, he said.

According to Mr Pattibaraman, the days of "high flying salaries'', "astounding perks'' and "flaunting of stock options'' to lure young professionals has ended, at least for now. Salary structure of a number of companies especially the IT firms seems to have reached a plateau with no marked increase in their compensation package. Incidentally, some of the firms have scaled down their offers even as they tightened recruitment procedures, he said.

Sources in the recruitment industry also confirmed that preference among fresh graduates for the IT sector has come down to a certain extent in the last couple of years.

Only the top few IT companies attract fresh graduates, they said.

According to Mr Pattabiraman, though marginal, the increased intake by engineering and manufacturing organisations tend to indicate a revival of demand in the old economy sector.

If the trend persists with some more vigour there could be a healthy balance between IT and non-IT industries in campus recruitment in the next few years, he said.

To match the IT companies, the non-IT companies too offered an attractive salary package plus perks.

Maruti Udyog, for instance, increased its package for mechanical engineering graduates to over Rs 4 lakh per annum this year compared to Rs 2.22 lakh for under-graduate and Rs 2.34 lakh for post-graduate students at IIT (M), sources said.

McKinsey tops in salary offering

Consultancy firm, McKinsey, toped this year's salary offering at IIT (M) with an annual package of Rs 7 lakh for an electrical engineering graduate. Hindustan Lever was second with Rs 6.77 lakh for a mechanical engineering graduate, ITC Ltd was third with Rs 6 lakh per annum also for a mechanical engineering graduate, Sify Ltd offered Rs 4.25 lakh for an electrical engineering graduate, while Samsung offered Rs 4.20 lakh for an electrical engineering graduate and Maruti Udyog offered about Rs 4 lakh for mechanical engineering graduates.

The IT leaders TCS and Infosys increased their annual package this year to Rs 2.5 lakh (Rs 1.90 lakh) for non-IT graduates, and Rs 2.25 lakh (Rs 1.68 lakh plus benefits) respectively, said IIT (M), sources said.

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