Mint Explainer | Campus Placements 2026: Why India's top talent faces a tough hiring season
Global uncertainties, slower IT hiring, and cautious recruiters are reshaping India’s placement season—students are prioritising secure roles over record pay.
Students entering this year’s placement season are stepping into a tough job market. A combination of global and domestic pressures has slowed down hiring activity across top campuses.
On the international front, fresh US tariffs have added to trade uncertainties, leading some multinational recruiters to scale back their campus presence. The revised H-1B visa rules, which now require companies to pay up to $100,000 per immigrant employee in the US, along with a temporary freeze on new US work visas, have further reduced international opportunities by making overseas hiring more difficult and costlier.
Domestically, the IT sector—traditionally the backbone of placements—has scaled back significantly, leaving fewer openings for graduating students. Placement committees warn that this slowdown is not just a concern for premier campuses but will deeply affect tier 2 and tier 3 engineering colleges, where IT firms have historically hired in bulk at lower compensation levels as part of their cost-saving strategies.
Top IT firms are still hiring, but at lower volumes. Infosys plans to hire 20,000 freshers this year, Wipro is targeting over 10,000, and HCL Tech is expected to hire over 7,000. Even so, the overall tone of the season is one of fewer offers, weaker international exposure, and muted sentiment across the board.
Mint explains.
When do Indian institutes go for placements?
India’s marquee campuses follow a set calendar. The older Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs)—Kharagpur, Bombay, Madras, Roorkee, Kanpur and Delhi—begin their Day 0 placements on 1 December. This marks the first day of campus recruitment, with a few other IITs also starting on the same day.
Many newer IITs, National Institutes of Technology (NITs), and leading private engineering colleges begin placements earlier, usually in September and October, to secure recruiters before the older IITs start.
India’s top business schools follow a different cycle. The older Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs)—Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Lucknow, Kozhikode and Indore—typically start their final placements in late January or February, while the newer IIMs begin as early as December.
What sectors are colleges betting on?
With IT services scaling back, institutes are placing their bets elsewhere. Core engineering roles are regaining prominence, with companies in manufacturing, energy, and infrastructure returning to campuses as reliable recruiters.
The budding semiconductor sector, boosted by India’s push for chip manufacturing, has entered the spotlight. AI-driven firms are also creating new types of roles in data, machine learning, and product innovation.
Emerging fields such as cybersecurity, gaming, and digital-first industries are beginning to feature more prominently in campus recruitment this year.
How are PPOs shaping the funnel?
In a tighter job market, pre-placement offers (PPOs) have become the anchor of hiring activity at top campuses. Both the leading IITs and IIMs have already matched last year’s PPO tallies within the first few weeks after summer internships, with more offers rolling out since then.
Recruiters are increasingly relying on PPOs to lock in top-performing interns early, reducing the uncertainty of campus placement rounds and ensuring access to candidates they have already assessed during internships.
According to the Aon Campus Hiring Report 2025, nearly 70% of companies now prefer this route—underscoring how internships have evolved into the primary recruitment pipeline for premier institutes. From consulting firms and Wall Street banks to technology majors, employers see PPOs as a cost-effective, lower-risk way to secure talent in an uncertain hiring environment.
For students, too, these offers provide an edge and stability as the placement season progresses.
What can we expect in terms of compensation?
Salary trends this year have become a pressing concern for placement committees across top campuses. Despite expectations that leading recruiters would drive up competition and compensation, the reality has been subdued.
As per Deloitte’s Campus Workforce Trends Report 2025, compensation across all degree programmes rose by only 3.9% in FY25 compared to the previous cycle, with a five-year average growth of just 3.1%. The slowdown is most visible in MBA programmes, which recorded the lowest increase at just 1.6%, underscoring that even management graduates at premier institutions are not immune to salary stagnation.
Even at older IITs and IIMs, where headline numbers are typically boosted by marquee firms, compensation levels have stayed largely flat. Adding to the pressure is the cautious approach of high-frequency trading (HFT) firms—known for pushing up top salaries on campuses.
Jane Street, one of the most competitive recruiters offering premium packages and lucrative PPOs after summer internships, recently came under the securities and Exchange Board of India scrutiny, leaving a visible gap at the top end. With salary hikes muted across the wider economy, recruiters are unwilling to stretch budgets, citing sluggish demand and global uncertainties.
For students, the sentiment has shifted—from chasing record CTCs to prioritising stability and securing roles in a restrained placement market.
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