New Delhi: India's largest e-commerce firm Flipkart is giving sleepless nights to the students and managements of IITs and IIMs and the impact of Flipkart’s move appears to have inspired other employers to follow suit. After the Bengaluru-based firm deferred the joining date for its B-school recruits by six months, some startups too have reduced the remuneration package they had offered to the freshers they recruited.
These developments have now forced India’s premiere institutes -- the IITs and the IIMs -- to mull a safety net for its students to guard them against such deviations by prospective employers. As a precautionary measure, the IITs have now allowed all the affected students to re-register for placements to avoid such episodes in the future.
Asha Kaul, chairperson of IIM-A's placement committee said that the administration is all set to draft new guidelines for placements so that students don’t suffer in the future.
"We want to send a strong message to recruiters that they should define their recruitment policy appropriately before they go to campuses," Kaul was quoted as saying in a report published in Times of India.
During the last campus placement season, Flipkart had made offers to 45 students at 4 IIMs -- Ahmedabad (18), Bangalore (11), Calcutta (9) and Indore (7). But recently, the company deferred the joining dates of recruits by six months. The Bengaluru-based company said that these delays were made as Flipkart is currently undergoing a few structural changes. On its part, the company also said that it is in mood of shortening the deferment period.
On the issue of compensation in lieu of the delay, Flipkart has turned down IIM-A’s request to increase the amount from the Rs 1.50 lakh it offered to future recruits.
"I had a telecon with Flipkart. We tried to explain our points, they tried to explain their points. However, there was no progres," Kaul said, adding that Flipkart's decision to defer the joining dates was a setback for the recruited students.
This is the first time in the last five years that a company has deferred the joining date at the IIMs.
