Every IIT placement season produces the same kind of headline:

“IIT student gets ₹1 crore package.”

It sounds impressive and it is.

But it tells you almost nothing about what a typical IIT graduate actually earns.

One international offer cannot represent an entire batch of hundreds or thousands of students. The more useful numbers are:

• Median salary
• Average salary
• Placement percentage
• Branch-wise outcomes
• Number of students placed
• Types of roles offered
• Recruiters visiting the campus

And once you look at those numbers, another thing becomes clear:

There is no single “IIT package.”

A Computer Science student, Mechanical Engineering student and M.Tech graduate from the same IIT can have completely different placement outcomes.

The latest official placement information available in 2026 also shows that hiring remains strong at major IITs, although institutions report their data differently.

For example, IIT Delhi reported 1,275 offers by December 2025, with more than 1,140 individual students securing offers during its ongoing 2025–26 placement season. IIT Kanpur's Phase I ended with 1,202 offers and 1,079 accepted offers.

So instead of asking only:

“Which IIT has the highest package?”

A smarter question is:

“What do placement outcomes look like for my branch at the IIT I am considering?”

That is what this guide focuses on.

IIT Placements 2026: Latest Snapshot

Placement reporting is not standardised across IITs.

Some institutions release full annual reports with branch-wise salaries.

Others release placement-season updates without revealing individual compensation.

That makes a perfectly direct IIT-to-IIT comparison difficult.

Here is what the latest official information tells us:

IIT Delhi also reported more than 300 PPOs and over 35 international offers by December 2025. Importantly, the institute says it does not disclose high-value packages in placement-related press releases, which is why you may not see an official “highest IIT Delhi package” figure every year.

IIT Kanpur's 2025–26 Phase I involved more than 250 organisations, with 15 students securing international offers across regions including Europe, Japan, Korea and the United States.

These numbers tell us much more about recruiter demand than one unusually high salary offer.

IIT Bombay Placement Report: What the Numbers Show

IIT Bombay's latest institutional statistics currently provide complete placement participation data for 2024–25.

For major programmes:

These numbers reveal something that placement headlines often hide:

Not every graduating IIT student participates in campus placements, and not every participant is placed through the campus process.

Some students:

• Pursue higher education
• Start companies
• Prepare for competitive examinations
• Join research
• Seek off-campus opportunities
• Opt out of placements entirely

So a placement percentage should not automatically be interpreted as an unemployment percentage.

IIT Bombay's NIRF 2025 submission offers another useful salary benchmark. For four-year undergraduate programmes graduating in 2023–24, 731 students were placed with a median salary of ₹19.61 lakh, while 259 students moved into higher studies.

The median is much more useful than looking only at the year's highest offer.

IIT Madras Branch-Wise Packages: One of the Clearest Examples

IIT Madras publishes unusually detailed branch-wise compensation information, which makes its 2024–25 Career Pathway Centre report useful for understanding how much branch can influence placements.

For B.Tech students, the report gives the following figures:

This table probably explains the IIT placement story better than any “₹1 crore package” headline.

Computer Science leads by a significant margin.

Electrical Engineering also performs strongly.

But students in core branches such as Mechanical, Civil, Chemical, Aerospace and Metallurgy still see substantial salary outcomes.

The important lesson is:

IIT brand matters, but branch matters too.

Why Does IIT CSE Usually Get the Highest Package?

Computer Science students have access to a particularly large pool of high-paying roles.

They may compete for:

• Software Engineering
• Quantitative Trading
• AI and Machine Learning
• Data Science
• Product Engineering
• Cloud Computing
• Cybersecurity
• Research Engineering

Many global technology and quantitative-finance companies also compete aggressively for strong programming talent.

That produces higher compensation.

At IIT Madras, for example, the 2024–25 B.Tech CSE median was ₹46 LPA, compared with ₹22.5 LPA for Electrical and ₹15 LPA for Mechanical Engineering.

IIT Guwahati shows a similar pattern.

Its 2024–25 placement report listed:

CSE median → ₹34.1 LPA

CSE average → ₹36.94 LPA

while Mathematics & Computing reported a ₹25 LPA median and ₹33.14 LPA average.

But that does not mean every IIT CSE graduate earns ₹30–50 lakh.

These are institute- and batch-specific numbers.

IIT Guwahati Placements: Salary and Branch-Wise Outcomes

IIT Guwahati's 2024–25 report provides one of the most transparent placement datasets among major IITs.

Across all programmes:

• 1,606 students registered
• 1,001 students were placed
• 193 PPOs were offered
• Overall placement percentage was 62%
• Highest reported CTC was ₹1.25 crore

For B.Tech specifically, the report recorded:

Median CTC: ₹20.44 LPA

Average CTC: ₹25.21 LPA

But branch-wise placement percentages were very different.

IIT Guwahati UG Placement Percentage

The institute itself noted that CSE, Mathematics & Computing and Data Science & AI recorded the highest undergraduate placement percentages at roughly 90–91%.

This illustrates another trend:

The strongest placement outcomes increasingly extend beyond traditional CSE into areas such as:

Mathematics & Computing + Data Science + AI + Electronics

because those degrees overlap with high-demand technology, data and quantitative roles.

IIT Guwahati Branch-Wise Salary

The salary data tells the same story.

These numbers make an important point:

Branch affects the probability and type of jobs available but it does not eliminate opportunity.

A Civil or Mechanical student may still move into:

• Software
• Analytics
• Consulting
• Finance
• Product
• Management

if they develop the required skills and meet recruiter eligibility conditions.

IIT Delhi Placements 2025–26: Recruiter Demand Remains Strong

IIT Delhi's 2025–26 placement season provides a more recent look at employer demand.

By December 2025:

• 1,275 offers had been secured
• More than 1,140 individual students had offers
• More than 300 PPOs were received
• PPO volume increased by over 33% year-on-year
• More than 35 international offers were received

Several companies made double-digit offers.

They included:

• Accenture Strategy & Consulting
• Amazon
• American Express
• Barclays
• Google
• Goldman Sachs
• JP Morgan
• Microsoft
• Oracle
• Qualcomm
• Texas Instruments
• Wells Fargo
• EY-Parthenon
• Graviton Research Capital
• Squarepoint Capital
• Meesho

Look closely at those names.

They are not all software companies.

Modern IIT placements span:

Technology + Consulting + Finance + Quant + Semiconductors + Analytics + Core Engineering

That diversification matters, especially for students outside CSE.

IIT Kanpur Placements 2025–26

IIT Kanpur also reported a strong opening to the 2025–26 season.

Phase I ended with:

• 1,202 total offers
• 1,079 accepted offers
• More than 250 participating organisations
• 15 international offers

Its Day 1 alone produced 672 offers the institute's highest Day-1 tally at the time and 253 PPOs had already been recorded.

Major recruiters during Phase I included:

• Accenture
• Airbus
• American Express
• BlackRock
• Boeing
• Databricks
• Deutsche Bank
• ICICI Bank
• Mastercard
• Meesho
• Navi
• PwC
• Qualcomm
• Samsung
• InMobi
• Squarepoint Capital

Public-sector companies such as BPCL, BEL, MIDHANI and Engineers India Limited also participated.

Again, the recruiter list reflects the breadth of IIT opportunities beyond coding jobs alone.

Top Recruiters at IITs

Recruiters vary by year and campus, but several categories appear repeatedly across major IIT placement seasons.

Technology

Companies frequently associated with IIT recruitment include:

• Google
• Microsoft
• Amazon
• Oracle
• Qualcomm
• Samsung
• Databricks
• Meesho

Finance and Quant

Students may see opportunities from organisations such as:

• Goldman Sachs
• JP Morgan
• BlackRock
• American Express
• Barclays
• Deutsche Bank
• Squarepoint Capital
• Graviton Research Capital

Consulting

Examples include:

• Accenture Strategy
• EY-Parthenon
• PwC
• Other strategy and professional-services firms

Core Engineering and Manufacturing

Recruiters may include:

• Airbus
• Boeing
• Texas Instruments
• Bajaj Auto
• Schlumberger
• Semiconductor companies
• Industrial groups
• PSUs

The latest IIT Delhi and IIT Kanpur placement releases show significant hiring across all of these categories.

Which IIT Branch Has the Best Placements?

If salary is the only metric, the current data broadly points toward:

Tier 1: Very Strong Placement Demand

Computer Science & Engineering

Mathematics & Computing

Data Science / Artificial Intelligence

Tier 2: Strong Technology + Core Opportunities

Electrical Engineering

Electronics & Communication

Electronics-related programmes

Tier 3: Strong Core + Cross-Sector Opportunities

Mechanical Engineering

Chemical Engineering

Civil Engineering

Aerospace

Metallurgy/Materials

This is only a broad pattern.

It should not become a rule saying:

CSE = success

and

Core branch = poor career

That would be completely misleading.

Students from traditional engineering branches regularly move into consulting, finance, analytics, software, management and entrepreneurship.

But the official salary data makes it reasonable to say that CSE and computing-related branches currently have the strongest direct campus-placement advantage.

Average Package vs Median Package: Which Should You Trust?

Suppose five graduates receive:

₹10 lakh
₹12 lakh
₹14 lakh
₹16 lakh
₹1 crore

The average shoots upward because of the ₹1 crore offer.

But most students are nowhere near ₹1 crore.

That is why the median package is often the better number for students comparing colleges.

Median tells you the middle salary when all salaries are arranged from lowest to highest.

For example, IIT Guwahati's B.Tech numbers for 2024–25 were:

Average → ₹25.21 LPA

Median → ₹20.44 LPA

That gap shows how higher-end offers can pull the average upward.

Whenever possible, check:

Median + Average + Placement Percentage

instead of only the highest package.

What Does a ₹40 LPA IIT Package Actually Mean?

Another important misconception:

CTC is not the same as monthly take-home salary.

A ₹40 lakh CTC could include components such as:

• Base salary
• Performance bonus
• Joining bonus
• Employer PF contribution
• Restricted stock/ESOPs
• Variable pay
• Insurance
• Other benefits

Some stock components may vest over several years.

International offers create an even bigger problem when compared directly with Indian salaries because:

currency + taxation + living costs + location

are completely different.

So a student should never calculate:

₹40 lakh ÷ 12 = ₹3.33 lakh monthly salary

without first checking the compensation structure.

CTC tells you the employer's stated total compensation cost.

It does not necessarily tell you what arrives in your bank account every month.

Why Some IIT Students Remain Unplaced

This question gets attention every placement season.

Several factors can affect placement outcomes:

Branch

Some industries recruit only specific academic disciplines.

Skills

A prestigious college cannot compensate forever for weak coding, technical or communication abilities.

Job Market

Technology hiring, startup funding and global economic conditions can change recruiter demand.

Salary Expectations

Students may reject roles that do not meet their expectations.

Higher Studies

Some graduating students intentionally choose master's programmes, PhDs or research instead of employment.

Entrepreneurship

IIT campuses also have strong startup ecosystems.

Placement Participation

Not every graduating student registers for campus placements.

IIT Bombay's official 2024–25 statistics, for example, distinguish clearly between students registered, participating and eventually placed.

So simply dividing “placed students” by the entire graduating class can produce a misleading conclusion.

Does IIT Guarantee a High-Paying Job?

No.

An IIT gives students significant advantages:

• Strong peer group
• Academic reputation
• Alumni network
• Recruiter access
• Research infrastructure
• Internships
• Technical clubs
• Startup ecosystem

But it does not issue a salary guarantee.

Even within the same IIT and branch, students can receive very different offers.

Employers still evaluate:

• Technical knowledge
• Coding
• Internships
• Projects
• CGPA
• Communication
• Problem solving
• Interview performance
• Role-specific skills

The IIT name can help open the interview door.

The student still has to clear the interview.

Should You Choose IIT Only Based on Placements?

No.

Placements matter, but they are one part of a four-year decision.

Also consider:

• Branch
• Curriculum
• Research opportunities
• Faculty
• Higher-study plans
• Startup ecosystem
• Campus
• Personal interests

This becomes especially important when choosing between something like:

Older IIT + lower-preference branch

and

Different IIT + CSE/Electrical

There is no universal answer.

If your goal is software or quant and you genuinely enjoy computer science, branch may matter heavily.

If you love aerospace, choosing CSE solely because its median salary is higher may create four years of studying something you do not enjoy.

Salary matters.

Career fit matters too.

What Students Should Check in an IIT Placement Report

Before comparing IITs, look for these seven numbers:

1. Placement year

Never compare 2023 data with another institute's 2026 data without noting the difference.

2. Number registered

How many students wanted campus placement?

3. Number placed

How many actually secured offers?

4. Placement percentage

Use the institute's own defined denominator.

5. Median CTC

Usually the most useful salary benchmark.

6. Branch-wise data

Overall IIT averages can hide huge differences between programmes.

7. Recruiter and role mix

A college attracting 100 companies is less useful to you if none recruit your branch.

This is a much better way to evaluate placements than searching:

“Highest IIT package 2026.”

IIT Placement Reports: Final Takeaway

IIT placements continue to offer some of the strongest graduate opportunities in India, but the numbers need to be interpreted carefully.

The latest data shows strong recruiter activity at major campuses:

IIT Delhi → 1,275 offers by December 2025

IIT Kanpur → 1,202 Phase-I offers

while complete 2024–25 reports from institutions such as IIT Madras and IIT Guwahati show just how significantly salaries differ by branch.

At IIT Madras, B.Tech CSE reported a ₹46 lakh median CTC versus ₹15 lakh for Mechanical Engineering.

At IIT Guwahati, CSE had a ₹34.1 lakh median, while the overall B.Tech median stood at ₹20.44 lakh.

So there is no useful single answer to:

“What is the IIT salary?”

The better formula is:

IIT + Branch + Skills + Recruiter + Role + Market Conditions = Placement Outcome

And when comparing colleges, remember:

Highest package creates headlines.

Median package and placement percentage tell you much more about the batch.

That is the data students should pay attention to before making one of the biggest education decisions of their lives.