In 2021, BITS Pilani Indian campuses have hosted a record 155 extra companies, a full 47 percent increase, over the previous year. The placement season was a success with 698 students receiving offers of more than Rs 20 lakhs per annum, an increase of 21 percent over the 2019-20 placement season.
Even with an absolute increase in number of students registered for placements by 636 from 2,411 registered last year to 3047 current year – a 26.4 percent growth, there was almost no negative impact on the placement statistics as the number of students placed also increased by 470 students – a growth of 22.66 percent ( from 2074 last year to 2544 current year).
Despite of the industrial downturn, the median salary for 2021 was at healthy 12.78 lakhs while the average CTC (15.6 Lakhs per annum) and maximum CTC (45 lakhs per annum) figures remained at approximately the same level as the last year.
BITS Pilani campuses witnessed companies offering profiles in cutting edge technologies such as Data Science, Machine Learning and Cybersecurity in addition to the traditional software development roles. The demand in the IT space was robust, with internship pre-placement offers and full-time roles being given by companies such as Microsoft, Google, Salesforce, Samsung, DE Shaw, AppDynamics, Amazon, Flipkart Cisco, Oracle, ServiceNow, IBM, PayPal, Atlassian, VMWare, SAP Labs, Myntra, Intuit, Arcesium and Nutanix.
The Electronics sector saw major semiconductor brands such as Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, Micron, Western Digital, Samsung Hardware, MediaTek, NXP Semiconductors, Intel, Analog Devices, Synopsys, Xilinx and Microchip hiring either though the full-time or the summer internship route.
The banking sector saw JP Morgan, Citibank, DBS, HSBC, Nomura, Deutsche Bank, BNY Mellon, Axis Bank, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, Societe Generale, RBL and ICICI Bank hiring for technology and fintech roles.
With the COVID downturn affecting the manufacturing sector as a whole adversely, a report of the Office of the Economic Advisor shows the Growth Index of Industrial Production for the manufacturing sector at minus 9.6 percent for 2020-21. The construction sector was also hit, as projects were delayed due to unavailability of manpower and supply-chain disruption. Even so, infrastructure heavyweights such as Ramboll, L&T, WSP, Arup, Stantec, Jacobs, Atkins Global and Vestas hired BITS Pilani students through full-time hiring and 6-month internship routes.
The manufacturing sector companies like General Electric, Mercedes R&D, Whirlpool, Exxon Mobil, the Anand Group, ZF Wabco, Arcelor Mittal, Trane Technologies, Daikin India and Sona Comstar taking students for full-time roles. The interest in hiring BITS Pilani students by the core sectors including electronics & IT led to an increase of 6.3 percent in terms of students placed at the post-graduate level.
The FMCG sector also saw marquee brand such as HUL, Mondelez, Reckitt, AbInBev, Pepsico and L’Oreal offering leadership and general management roles. The bio-sciences sector saw Serum Institute of India, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Cipla, Pfizer, Baxter, Lupin, Novartis, Bicon Biologics and GVK Biosciences taking students in R&D, formulation and regulatory roles.
Dubai-based international retail giant the Landmark Group has given 4 international offers to BITS Pilani students. Similarly, the Maharatna company GAIL has hired 4 students from BITS Pilani. Consulting and product management roles were in demand among engineering students as prominent companies like the Boston Consulting Group, Bain Capability Network, Ernst & Young, Indus Insights, Dalberg, KPMG and Deloitte offered roles in Management Consulting, Product Management, IT Consulting & Business Analytics.
The early indicators in terms of 8 weeks summer internship PPOs and registrations by companies for final placements show that the industrial demand is robust for the 2021-22 placement season which is due to begin in the mid of August, promising a good growth in the placement figures for the next season, said Tabir Mishra – Head of Placements - Pilani campus.
