Quick Verdict
IIT Bombay holds the higher rank on India's NIRF Engineering list (3rd vs. IIT Roorkee's 6th) (Day to Day News; Times of India), but IIT Roorkee has strong, concrete evidence of a large and diverse 2024-25 recruiter base. Neither institute is free of placement concerns — a widely shared account from an IIT Roorkee alumnus claims IIT Bombay itself left 36% of a graduating class unplaced in a recent year, which we cover with appropriate caveats below.
Snapshot
| Metric | IIT Bombay | IIT Roorkee |
|---|---|---|
| NIRF Engineering Rank (2024) | 3 (Day to Day News) | 6 (Day to Day News) |
| 2020-21 UG placement (graduated / placed) | 663 graduated, 500 placed, median salary ₹13.92 lakh, 163 opted for higher studies (Times of India) | 768 graduated, 624 placed (Times of India) |
| 2024-25 placement drive offers (as of day 3) | Not available in sourced data | 607 offers (4 international, 603 domestic) from 140 companies across 180 job profiles (Jagran Josh) |
| NIRF 2025 "Graduation Outcomes" score | 86.04 (NIRF India) | 82.90 (NIRF India) |
Detailed Analysis
On overall standing, IIT Bombay held the 3rd spot and IIT Roorkee the 6th in the NIRF 2024 engineering rankings, and both institutes have remained in the top six since 2020 (Day to Day News; Times of India). Looking at NIRF's 2025 "Graduation Outcomes" component specifically — a sub-score tied to graduate and placement-related outcomes — IIT Bombay scored 86.04 against IIT Roorkee's 82.90 (NIRF India), a modest edge for Bombay.
For IIT Roorkee, the most concrete recent placement evidence comes from its 2024-25 drive: by the end of just the third day, the institute had already logged 607 job offers (4 international and 603 domestic) from 140 companies spanning 180 job profiles in sectors including technology, finance, energy, and research (Jagran Josh). Recruiters in that drive included Adobe, Amazon, American Express, Goldman Sachs, Barclays, Boston Consulting Group, DE Shaw, JP Morgan Chase, Google, Microsoft, IBM, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, Intel, Texas Instruments, Tata Steel, HPCL, GAIL, and Schlumberger, among others (Jagran Josh). The institute's official press release also highlighted new industry collaborations in artificial intelligence, data analytics, semiconductor technology, and sustainability (Jagran Josh). The same report notes that other IITs, including IIT Bombay, began their own placement drives around the same period, but no equivalent day-by-day figures for IIT Bombay's 2024-25 season were present in the sourced material.
Going back further, a 2020-21 comparison of the two institutes' 4-year UG programmes shows IIT Bombay graduating 663 students with 500 placed at a median salary of ₹13.92 lakh, and 163 students opting for higher studies instead of placement; IIT Roorkee graduated 768 students with 624 placed that year (Times of India). A specific median salary figure for IIT Roorkee in that same year wasn't clearly attributable in the sourced material, so we're not stating one.
It's also worth surfacing a more critical data point, sourced to a widely shared social media thread by Gaurav Garg, an Indian Forest Service officer and IIT Roorkee alumnus, rather than to official placement statistics: he stated that in a recent year, IIT Bombay "failed to find jobs for 36% of students," with 2,209 students enrolled for placements and only 1,485 securing jobs through campus recruitment (Hindustan Times). The same commentary argued that eye-catching crore-level packages at IITs including Bombay are "mostly from USA/Singapore/abroad based companies and in coding domains," that in-hand salary is "sometimes only 40-50% of CTC quoted," and that average packages outside computer science tend to run ₹10-12 lakh per annum, with core branches like mechanical and civil engineering placed on the lower end (Hindustan Times). This is one alumnus's characterization rather than an official institutional disclosure, so treat the 36% figure as a claim to be aware of, not a verified statistic.
Verdict
Winner: IIT Roorkee on the strength of concrete, recent evidence — a fast-moving 2024-25 drive with 607 offers from 140 recruiters including top-tier tech, finance, and core-engineering employers within the first three days. Runner-up: IIT Bombay, which holds the higher overall NIRF rank (3rd vs. 6th) and a higher Graduation Outcomes sub-score, but for which the sourced data lacks an equivalent detailed, recent placement breakdown — and for which one alumnus account raises real concerns about a 36% unplaced rate in a recent year. If your priority is the higher overall institutional and engineering ranking rather than the most recent detailed placement numbers, IIT Bombay remains the better pick.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Which IIT ranks higher on NIRF for engineering?
IIT Bombay, at 3rd, versus IIT Roorkee at 6th, in the 2024 NIRF engineering list (Day to Day News).
Q: How many offers did IIT Roorkee get in its 2024-25 placement drive?
607 offers by the end of day three, including 4 international and 603 domestic offers from 140 companies (Jagran Josh).
Q: Did IIT Bombay really fail to place 36% of students?
That figure comes from a social-media account by an IIT Roorkee alumnus and IFS officer, not an official IIT Bombay disclosure — he cited 2,209 students enrolled for placements against 1,485 placed through campus recruitment (Hindustan Times). Treat it as a claim worth noting, not a verified official statistic.
Q: Are the huge "crore-package" figures typical for IIT graduates?
No — per the same alumnus commentary, the highest figures are largely tied to international offers in coding roles, and in-hand pay can be only 40-50% of the quoted CTC (Hindustan Times).
Q: What's a more typical package outside computer science?
The same source states average packages (excluding CS) run around ₹10-12 lakh per annum, with core branches like mechanical and civil engineering on the lower end (Hindustan Times).
Q: What was IIT Bombay's median placement salary in 2020-21?
₹13.92 lakh, with 500 of 663 graduating UG students placed and 163 opting for higher studies instead (Times of India).
Q: Which sectors were hiring at IIT Roorkee's 2024-25 drive?
Technology, finance, energy, and research, per the institute's own press release, plus specific new collaborations in AI, data analytics, semiconductor technology, and sustainability (Jagran Josh).
Q: Is there a directly comparable "average package" figure for both institutes in this source set?
Not one that's fully reliable and recent for both — the sourced facts give IIT Bombay a 2020-21 median (₹13.92 lakh) and NIRF-based rank data, while IIT Roorkee's strongest data point is its 2024-25 offer count and recruiter list, so a like-for-like package comparison isn't possible from what's available here.
Related
For the complete picture beyond Placements — placements, academics, campus life, and more — see the full IIT Bombay vs IIT Roorkee comparison.