The Indian Institutes of Technology on Thursday barred 31 companies, including delivery service Grofers, baby clothing website Hopscotch, Portea Medical and a number of startups, from taking part in their campus recruitment drives. They were blacklisted for a year for "playing with the careers of students" by making last-minute changes to their offers, delaying joining dates, revoking offer letters or falsely hiring them for affiliates. This is the first time the educational organisation has issued such a list.

Coordinator of the All-IIT Placement Committee Kaustubha Mohanty said they wanted to send a "strong message" to the firms who come to recruit their students and then "dishonour their promise", Mint reported. According to a member of the placement cell member from IIT-Bombay, they may release another list of companies who will be banned from recruiting from the institutes for more than a year or even permanently. "We will hold discussions with the team and the placement in-charge...But we are not entirely sure at this stage," the official said, according to The Times of India.

A senior professor and member of the AIPC, which made the decision to blacklist these companies at IIT-Kanpur on August 14, said around 135 students from across IITs were affected by these companies. "A majority of the startups that we are blacklisting this year are those that had revoked their offers from institutes in Mumbai, Kharagpur and Roorkee," the professor said, explaining that these branches have the largest share of students signing up for campus placements.

Companies that wish to participate in IIT campus placements after the one-year ban will first have to write to the AIPC convener and explain why they did not stand by their offers. Following this step, they will be asked to give a presentation and have a "one-to-one discussion" with all members of the committee, according to Mohanty, who is a professor at IIT-Guwahati.

The following are the blacklisted companies:

  • Zomato (whose ban was extended by a year)
  • Hopscotch
  • Grofers
  • Portea Medical
  • GPSK
  • LexInnova Technologies
  • Clicklabs
  • Tenova India Pvt Ltd
  • Verity Knowledge Solutions
  • CashCare Technology
  • Crayon Data India Pvt Ltd
  • LeGarde Burnett Group
  • Holamed
  • Johnson Electric (Japan)
  • Mera Hunar
  • Zettata
  • Tescra Software Pvt Ltd (Rockon)
  • Babajobs
  • Medd
  • Stayzilla
  • Grabhouse
  • Fundamental Education
  • Excellence Tech
  • Roadunnr
  • Nowfloats
  • Indus Insights
  • ConsultLane
  • Zimply
  • Peppertap
  • SmartTrak Solar Systems Pvt Ltd
  • Glow Homes Technologies Pvt Ltd