The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have announced to revoke the ban on 31 companies from participating in campus placements conducted at the institutes.
The move comes a year after the ban was enforced on the companies after the startups withdrew their offers made to the IIT students. Out of these 31 companies, most of them are start-ups. The list of the banned companies include healthcare services provider Portea Medical, food-tech company Zomato and online seller of baby-care products, Hopscotch.
“As per the decision taken during the 23rd All-IIT placement committee (AIPC) meeting at IIT Bombay… the ban on companies blacklisted …on 14 Aug 2016 is hereby revoked with immediate effect,” the IITs said in a joint statement.
Explaining about the reasons for revoking the ban, AIPC coordinator Kaustubha Mohanty pointed out three reasons for it. According to him, one reason was the students’ inclination for working in some big start-ups; secondly, the ban was for one year only, hence a decision was needed before the placement season began; and lastly, it will help the new IITs to have more companies for the placement of students.
“We are not against start-ups per se. We took a stand last year to send a message to companies that hire our students and then withdraw offers,” Mohanty said.
As most of the IITs follow one-student-one-job principle, which restricts students to appear in the recruitment process for any other company after receiving an offer. Now, if the offer is withdrawn, the student will be in trouble, he added.
“The placement committee of each IIT will have the option to now invite or accept the offer from all such firms. But we shall tell them the track record of such companies,” Mohanty further said.
