The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) announced on Wednesday that they are revoking the campus placement ban on 31 companies, most of which are reputed startups. This move came after almost one year the startups participating in campus placements were put on the list. Some of the major companies that were barred from participating in campus placements were Portea Medical, food-tech company Zomato, Grofers, Peppertap, Stayzilla and online seller of baby-care products Hopscotch.
The decision was taken after a few companies withdrew offers made to the students, leaving them in a state of despair. On many occasions, they were seen delaying the joining dates, revoking offer letters and sometimes, even hiring them for affiliates.
According to the chief of AIPC (All-IIT placement committee) Kaustubha Mohanty, there were three main reasons to revoke the ban. One was to pave the way for students who wanted to work for some of the big startups in the list. Secondly, since the ban was only for one year, they wanted to take a decision before the placement season began. Finally, it will indeed be beneficial for all the new IITs if a lot of new companies come to their campus.
Also, almost all the IITs follow the one-student-one-job principle amid the placement season. So, once a student receives an offer, he cannot appear for other interviews. If the offer is withdrawn later, the student ends up in perplex.
A lot of students in IITs are interested in starting their own business and are interesting in working in startups and see how they function. So the IITs have decided to lift the ban so that students do not miss out on any opportunities.
Banning firms for spurning norms has been a regular practice at IITs. However, it was the first time a last a decision was made to ban such a huge number of companies at the same time.