Behera’s statement is significant, given that IITs are usually reluctant to acknowledge any negative impact on campus hiring, and detailed placement data is often held as a closely guarded secret.

Hiring across most Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) took a hit this year due to global market uncertainties and “disruptions” from Artificial Intelligence, IIT-Mandi director Laxmidhar Behera told The Indian Express in an interview, noting a drop in placement rates at his institute from 97% to 83%.

Besides the tough hiring climate, Behera said students’ expectations of “very high packages” was another growing concern. He said many students turned down job offers from Public Sector Units (PSUs) during placements, leading to what he described as a “bad experience” for these recruiters.

Behera’s statement is significant, given that IITs are usually reluctant to acknowledge any negative impact on campus hiring, and detailed placement data is often held as a closely guarded secret.

“All IITs have suffered. There are uncertainties in the global market, and there are multiple reasons for this. AI is a big disruptor, taking away many jobs, and even major corporations have retrenched people. But we are trying our best. In spite of the negative repercussions, we still achieved 83% placement this year, compared to 97% last year,” Behera, an electrical engineering professor from IIT-Kanpur who took charge as IIT-Mandi director in January 2022.

“But there are also some issues with our B.Tech students. Bharat Electronics Limited in Ghaziabad offered many jobs, but I was told that several of our undergraduates chose not to join. Our students expect very high packages, similar to those in the software sector, which is not typical for PSUs. Public sector jobs offer long-term benefits and stability — they aren’t part of the so-called rat race. I advise undergraduates to value these jobs within India, but it’s challenging to convince them. When they see their peers getting higher pay packages, they get distracted. PSUs have had bad experiences with IIT graduates, and I can’t blame them,” he said.

As for the way forward, Behera said the institute is looking at improving hirings of students in Japanese companies. “I visited Japan last year and found that Japanese companies are eager to employ IIT graduates. We have even employed two Japanese teachers here to teach the language,” he said.

Asked about the lingering effects of the pandemic in the classroom, Behera said that immediately after campuses reopened for full-time classes, he noticed that students had “lost that spirit of being in the class”. “When I came here, I saw that out of 200 students registered for a class, only 20 were attending. That alarmed me. So, I took it to the senate, had a discussion, and made attendance above 80% mandatory, which I don’t like… students should feel interested in the class. But if they don’t attend, what are they doing here? There’s nothing else to do,” he said.

Behera’s stint as IIT-Mandi’s director has been no stranger to controversy. Recently, the institute introduced a compulsory course on ‘Indian Knowledge Systems’ with topics including “concept of subtle body”, “reincarnation”, and “near-death and out-of-body experiences”. Following the controversy, the institute made the course optional.

Asked about teaching students of science about “reincarnation”, Behera said there should not be any problem with studying one’s value systems.

“The core of our Indian value system is karma. Your action decides your destiny. It’s a good thing. Please go to Google and do a survey on belief in reincarnation. In America, 60% of people believe in reincarnation. People like (Henry) Ford studied reincarnation. Ian Stevenson has established a programme on reincarnation. Jim Tucker is a big professor in reincarnation. And this is our knowledge, if we pursue, we are pseudoscience,” he said.

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