India Inc turns to IIT PhDs for high-stakes R&D as corporate hiring breaks the academic mold

PhD students at the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are increasingly being tapped by corporates for research and development roles, a change from the traditional focus on academic and teaching careers. Institutes including IIT Kharagpur, Kanpur, Guwahati, Roorkee, and BHU have strengthened their in-house research capabilities, enabling students to work on innovative projects that attract industry attention, acoording to media reports.



This is an indication of a change in corporate thinking in India since companies are developing a growing interest in this country. Companies no longer find it satisfactory to employ engineers or graduates of management in the mundane positions. They are instead pursuing doctoral-level talent that can generate competitive technologies and address complex problems, a trend also indicative of the larger shift towards industry-academia partnership in India.

An eclectic group of companies on the frontline

Most multinational and Indian companies have recently hired IIT PhDs. Google, Microsoft, AMD, Philips, Samsung, Qualcomm, Tata Steel, L&T, Denso, Caterpillar, Aditya Birla Science and Technology, CDAC, and Japan Meteorological Corporation are a few companies that are recruiting, which indicates that there is a need to hire high-level experts in research.

This year, IIT Roorkee has already received offers for nine novice PhD students from companies such as Atomberg Technologies, Intel, Quantiphi, TCS, Terafac Technologies, MaxVolt Energy, and more than 5 universities. On the same note, the Godrej Enterprises Group also enjoys R&D centres in all its businesses and is currently expanding operations to tap into the talents of a doctoral.

Record-breaking offers

These opportunities have also been unprecedented for IIT PhDs following the changing landscape. This was the first occasion on which two students of IIT Kharagpur were offered jobs abroad, both in Japan. Another student won an annual package worth more than 1 crore, which is an indication of the price that corporates are attaching to the highly skilled research.

The gap between research and industry

According to experts, this trend has been brought about by the fact that IITs have intensified their R&D programs, thus preparing students better to be industry-oriented. The institutes are enabling corporates to access talent that can put academic knowledge to the commercial viability of products and solutions by providing a platform to doctoral students to work on applied research.

With the corporate sector in India focusing more on innovation, IIT PhDs are now on the ground floor of that innovation, merging knowledge and experience of research with practical examples of the same—a career option that was unheard of several years back but is currently becoming a fashion.
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