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Kaustubha Mohanty, coordinator of AIPC said that there were three reasons the ban was revoked: one, some students want to work for some big start-ups in the list; two, the ban was for one year only, hence a decision was needed before the placement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 If the offer is withdrawn later, he added, the student is in trouble.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IITs have a long history of being home to great engineering talent, and we’re grateful that the hiring ban has been withdrawn.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.
