Placement rates down at IITs, Congress targets Modi govt over jobs, salaries

New Delhi: The Congress on Monday attacked the Modi government over the reported decline in the overall placement rates of BTech graduates at the IITs, saying that even India's most prestigious institutes are suffering due to the "twin problems" of mass unemployment and wage stagnation.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh shared on X a media report which claimed that the overall placement rates of engineering graduates at the 23 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) fell from over 90 per cent to just around 80 per cent between 2021-22 and 2023-24, with the weighted average annual salaries reducing marginally from Rs 23.45 lakh to Rs 22.7 lakh.

In his post, Ramesh said, "New data from the IITs -- which the Modi Government compiled but chose not to publish -- show a significant decline in the percentage of students getting placements and the average salary package drawn by final-year BTech students through campus placements."

New data from the IITs - which the Modi Government compiled but chose not to publish - show a significant decline in the percentage of students getting placements and the average salary package drawn by final-year B Tech students through campus placements. Between 2021-22 and…

— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) November 10, 2025

Citing the report, Ramesh said that between 2021-22 and 2023-24, the seven oldest IITs saw a decline of 11 percentage points in students getting placed and a dip of Rs 0.2 lakhs in the salary.

The next oldest set of eight IITs saw a decline of 9 percentage points in students getting placed and a drop in the salary package by Rs 2.2 lakhs, he said.

"The eight newest IITs saw a decline of 7.3 percentage points in students getting placed and a drop in the salary package by Rs 1 lakh," the Congress leader said.

"The twin problems of mass unemployment and wage stagnation have clearly reached even the students from India's most prestigious higher educational institutions," Ramesh said.