Rescinded campus offers spike
Students reported recent on‑campus job offers being rescinded and delayed onboarding, leaving some seniors back at square one as fewer drives and slots appear this season (x.com). The pattern surfaced in multiple posts, including accounts from Indian B‑schools where AI productivity gains and geopolitical disruptions were blamed for postponed starts and revoked offers (x.com).
Students at some Indian campuses say job offers that looked final are now being revoked or pushed back for months. (economictimes.indiatimes.com) The Economic Times reported on June 1, 2025, that intake by prominent recruiters at some top colleges had fallen by more than 50%, with students left waiting after interviews, shortlists, and even final offers. The report cited college officials and placement coordinators at several institutions who said some companies halted fresher onboarding and others delayed issuing offer letters. (economictimes.indiatimes.com) That uncertainty has continued into 2026 in parts of the technology sector. Moneycontrol reported on March 12, 2026, that Tech Mahindra had delayed onboarding more than 1,000 engineering graduates from the 2025 batch in Maharashtra, while the company said industry demand for fresh graduates had come in lower than projected. (moneycontrol.com) The squeeze has shown up in formal placement data too. A report cited by The Indian Express said 22 of 23 Indian Institutes of Technology recorded placement declines between 2021-22 and 2023-24, and the share of Bachelor of Technology students placed fell from 90.43% to 80.25% over that span. (indianexpress.com) Recruiters and campuses have pointed to the same set of forces: slower business growth, global geopolitical turmoil, and artificial intelligence tools that let teams do more work with fewer entry-level hires. The Economic Times said some employers now prefer candidates with two to three years of experience instead of fresh graduates. (economictimes.indiatimes.com) The picture is not uniformly bleak across India’s job market. Naukri said on April 6, 2026, that white-collar hiring rose 9% year over year in March, while hiring for professionals with zero to three years of experience rose 16%, with growth led by hospitality, business-process outsourcing, insurance, education, and artificial intelligence and machine learning roles rather than broad-based information technology hiring. (naukri.com) Business schools are seeing that split in real time. Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad said on March 27, 2026, that its Post Graduate Programme class of 2026 was fully placed, and the Indian School of Business said its class of 2025 drew 180-plus offers from 60-plus first-time recruiters, showing that elite campuses are still clearing placements even as the broader market stays uneven. (iima.ac.in) (placements.isb.edu) Aon’s Campus Study 2025, reported by Mint on September 16, 2025, also found employers expected a rebound after a weak 2024 season, with 73% of recruiters anticipating moderate to high growth in campus hiring. The same report said 2024 had left nearly twice as many students unplaced as the year before after companies cut visits and hiring plans. (livemint.com) For students, the problem is timing as much as totals. A campus offer that arrives late, or disappears after selection, can leave final-year candidates scrambling after the main recruiting window has already passed. (moneycontrol.com) (economictimes.indiatimes.com) The result is a placement season with two tracks: marquee campuses still posting strong completion numbers, and a wider pool of students facing fewer drives, smaller intake plans, and longer waits between selection and a real start date. (iima.ac.in) (livemint.com) (economictimes.indiatimes.com)
