IIFT Kolkata: Placements close with no jobs for over 34%; students allege bias in process
IIFT Placements 2026: A placement crisis is brewing in the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) Kolkata campus. Around 65-70 of 190 students in the MBA international business batch graduating in 2026 are still without jobs, even though the placement drive has ended. In a mass email campaign, dozens have written to the commerce and industry minister, Piyush Goyal, to draw attention to their plight.
A key problem, students say, is IIFT’s pooled placement system that presents all four campuses of the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade – Delhi, Kolkata, Kakinada and GIFT City – as a single institution but allegedly favours IIFT Delhi for opportunities.
Many of the affected international business students have taken education loans and are now concerned about repayment. They said they had approached the institute’s administration but are still waiting for clear answers and now demand “decentralised” placements where each IIFT campus manages its own recruitment drive.
IIFT Kolkata Vs IIFT Delhi
Students who spoke to Academia360 said they had tried to resolve the matter internally before escalating it to the ministry.
“We have contacted the administration several times through meetings, emails and personal discussions. But apart from assurances and advice, we have not seen concrete efforts on the matter,” a student said.
Students also said that while companies are invited by presenting IIFT as one institute with four campuses the opportunities are not equally shared.
“When companies are invited, IIFT is presented as one institute with a common talent pool. But when interview lists come out, most opportunities are limited to Delhi. We just want equal opportunity to sit for the same companies,” a student said.
While the letters to the ministry have gone from individual email addresses with names, the students sought – and were granted – anonymity for this story.
“We did not always know which companies were visiting Delhi and sometimes the processes got over there itself. We believe our CVs did not reach all recruiters,” a student said.
“Our CVs never reached the right companies. We are 100 percent sure because the placement head told us personally,” another student said.
They maintained that if they fail to secure jobs even after being given opportunities, they’ll accept that outcome but not being given a chance is unfair.
How IIFT placements work
Students explained how the placement process works from their side.
“We are told that X company is coming for Y role. We are given the job descriptions. Then we are asked to fill the form and upload our CVs. After that the placement committee handles the process and they send our forms and CVs to the companies,” a student explained.
But the protesting students allege that this process was not followed. “Kolkata CVs were not sent,” a student alleged.
The student also said that their CVs clearly mention the campus.
“Even our CVs clearly mention whether the student is from IIFT Kolkata or IIFT Delhi. There is a stamp on the CV. So when CVs are sent, companies know which campus the student belongs to. The placement committee also knows this,” the student said.
“They try to keep those companies for Delhi and do not send Kolkata CVs. Even if we are in the process, they push Delhi students more, share their CVs more and delay our interviews. Basically, we are not even given the opportunity to showcase our knowledge …in interviews,” a student alleged. The outcome, over a third of the students are unplaced.
IIFT Delhi placement committee
When Academia360 contacted a member of the placement committee in Delhi, he said that Kolkata students and teachers need to take more initiative in connecting with companies.
“Students of Kolkata campus have to prepare well and take initiative in connecting with companies for their placement,” he said. He also said that although Kolkata is a tier-1 city, it is not tier-1 in terms of jobs and placements because many top companies do not have offices there.
However, students said this response contradicts how the IIFT placement system is supposed to function. They said placements are conducted through a common placement pool for all campuses and the placement committee is responsible for facilitating opportunities for students from Delhi, Kolkata, Kakinada and GIFT City equally.
Students also said that individual students are not expected to independently bring companies, as the official placement process is centrally coordinated. The responsibility of ensuring that CVs are shared with recruiters and that all campuses get equal opportunity lies with the placement committees handling the process.
IIFT Kolkata: Decentralised placements
Students now want IIFT in Kolkata to be allowed to handle its own placement efforts instead of depending on IIFT campus Delhi. They said this would help ensure that opportunities are not missed and that companies interested in hiring from Kolkata can directly connect with the campus.
According to them, having a more decentralised placement process could improve transparency, speed up communication with recruiters. The Delhi placement committee member also said that campuses taking more initiative in their own placement efforts could help improve outcomes.