IIT revokes ban on 31 startups, allows to hire students from campus

The Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT), which had blacklisted 31 companies (mostly startups) from participating in campus placements, have revoked a ban on all the companies.

Last year, these companies were blacklisted for "playing with the careers of students" by making last-minute changes to their offers, delaying joining dates, revoking offer letters or falsely hiring them for affiliates.

Healthcare services provider Portea Medical, food-tech company Zomato, Grofers, Peppertap, Stayzilla and online seller of baby-care products Hopscotch were some of the known companies which were barred in IIT.

“As per the decision taken during the 23rd AIPC (All-IIT placement committee) 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.

Kaustubha Mohanty, coordinator of AIPC said that there were three reasons the ban was revoked: one, some students want to work for some big start-ups in the list; two, the ban was for one year only, hence a decision was needed before the placement season began; and three, the new IITs could benefit from having more companies in the mix, Mint reported.

“We were not against start-ups per se. They took a stand last year to send a message to companies that hire our students and then withdraw offers,” added Mohanty.

He explained that most IITs follow the one-student-one-job principle during the placement season which means that a student who receives an offer can’t appear for more interviews. If the offer is withdrawn later, he added, the student is in trouble.

“The IITs have a long history of being home to great engineering talent, and we’re grateful that the hiring ban has been withdrawn. We look forward to a long and fruitful association with the IITs,” a Zomato spokesperson said.