Entry Level IT Jobs May Face Setback This Year Anticipated 50 Percebt Drop in Campus Placements

In January this year, 85 students of IIT Bombay reportedly received job offers worth Rs 1 crore per annum. But as the second session of placements ended, a new report came out, which said that 36 percent of the students of Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay did not get any job. This figure was of the total students who registered for placement, but there is no doubt that the number was big. Now, a latest report suggests that India’s IT job market has seen a steady decline in entry-level jobs over the last few years and this year a further decline is expected. At the same time, campus placements are also reportedly going to see a decline.

An interview with ET Now Interview In this interview, Ramani Dathi, CFO of TeamLease Services, talked about the current scenario of the IT job market and said that this year is also not going to be very good for Indian job seekers after the IT sector has seen a continuous decline in entry-level jobs in the last few years. He says that this year is likely to see a bigger decline than before. Not only this, he also says that campus placements may also see a decline this year. Dathi said that last year too campus hiring was relatively low, but since the cost of entry-level jobs in IT is really low, companies went ahead with entry-level hiring and spent on L&D and upskilling.

In his interview he said, “It was working for the last year. But this year, even at the entry-level, campus recruitments will be lower than the trends of the last two years. Whether it will be 50% less, 60% less, we cannot say very sure and clearly, at least as per the indications, there might be a decline in campus recruitment numbers this year as well.”

Dathi emphasised the shift towards advanced skill sets such as AI and ML, necessitating upskilling initiatives. Despite the ongoing uncertainties, opportunities exist at Global Development Centres, albeit at a slower pace. Proactive upskilling remains critical to navigate the emerging IT job landscape.

Dathi highlighted the ongoing challenges in the IT sector, with employee numbers at service companies declining steadily over the past five quarters. While hiring saw a slight increase in February and March, a significant recovery is not yet evident.