IIT PhDs Now in Demand as Corporates Seek Top Talent for High-end R&D Roles

PhD students at the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are increasingly getting corporate job offers for high-end research and development (R&D), a shift from recruitment largely for teaching roles in the past. 
 
It is the result of institutes boosting in-house R&D to develop innovative and competitive products, said professors at the IITs including Kharagpur, Kanpur, Guwahati, Roorkee and BHU. 
 
Companies such as Denso, Japan Meteorological Corporation, Caterpillar, Aditya Birla Science & Technology, Tata Steel, AMD, Google, Microsoft, Philips, Samsung, CDAC, Siemens, L&T and Qualcomm have recruited PhD students from the IITs, according to the institutes. 
 
For the first time, two PhD students at IIT Kharagpur have received overseas job offers — both from Japan. In addition, a PhD student received an offer of a crore-plus annual package. 
 
“This year, hiring of PhD students in corporate R&D is a new trend. This is an effort to bolster research and development activities in our engineering fields to stay ahead of competition,” said an IIT Kharagpur professor, who did not wish to be identified. 
 
Six PhD students at the institute have received corporate offers, as against none last year. 
 
Recruiters like Godrej Enterprises Group have R&D centres in each of their businesses and are in the process of augmenting R&D operations across verticals. “R&D has always been a key priority from our inception as an organisation. We have had PhDs for the same (R&D), in addition to partnerships with institutes and academia,” said Nyrika Holkar, executive director, Godrej Enterprises Group. 
 
“For instance, in aerospace, we are in the process of setting up a design centre in Bengaluru.” 
 
Companies are hiring PhDs primarily for academic and R&D roles, according to Vivek Pancholi, professor-in-charge, placement and training cell, IIT Roorkee. “We are seeing more companies lining up this year as recruiters are looking for in-house R&D work to increase competitiveness,” he said. 
 
At IIT Roorkee, recruiters such as Atomberg Technologies, LON Group, Intel, Quantiphi, TCS, VGeotech Experts, TeraFic Technologies, MaxVolt Energy and several universities have made job offers to PhD students this year. Nine PhD students at the institute have received offers so far. 
 
For the first time at some IITs, PhD students are getting corporate job offers in large numbers. 
 
To assist companies in high-end R&D and product innovation, and to help companies get an edge over competition, IITs are observing the trend at Roorkee, Guwahati, Kharagpur, Kanpur and BHU. 
 
PhD students at IIT Guwahati are getting jobs in specialised areas, mostly through lateral placements, said John Jose, head, Centre for Career Development. 
 
“They are landing high-end R&D jobs, often going through their supervisors, unlike the UG and PG students who mainly go through the campus placement route,” he said. 
 
Recently, nearly 20-25 students joined companies such as AMD, Google, Microsoft, Philips, Samsung, CDAC, Siemens, L&T and Qualcomm in specialised roles through the regular campus placement route, Jose added.