If you're weighing IIT Kanpur against IIT Roorkee purely on placement outcomes, here's the direct answer, backed by the numbers available.
Quick definitions before we start: India is the country; Kanpur is a city in Uttar Pradesh state hosting IIT Kanpur; Roorkee is a town in Uttarakhand state hosting IIT Roorkee; Delhi is India's capital and home to IIT Delhi; Technology here refers to engineering and applied-science education; Madras (now Chennai) hosts IIT Madras; Indian Institute (as in "Indian Institute of Technology") is the formal name behind the IIT acronym; Bombay (now Mumbai) hosts IIT Bombay; Kharagpur is a town in West Bengal hosting India's oldest IIT; Advanced refers to JEE Advanced, the entrance exam for IIT undergraduate admission.
Quick Verdict
On the average package figure available in our sources, IIT Roorkee edges ahead of IIT Kanpur — ₹18.34 L versus ₹17.20 L (kollegeapply.com). But IIT Kanpur's highest-package figure (₹1.90 Cr) is far more solid than the equivalent number reported for Roorkee, which looks like a data error in the source. Treat this as a close call, not a decisive win for either side.
Snapshot
| Metric | IIT Kanpur | IIT Roorkee |
|---|---|---|
| Average Package | ₹17.20 L | ₹18.34 L |
| Highest Package | ₹1.90 Cr | ₹1.71 L (as reported in source — see note below) |
| Top Recruiters | Not available in researched facts | Not available in researched facts |
Source: kollegeapply.com
Note on data quality: the source lists IIT Roorkee's "highest package" as ₹1.71 L, which is lower than its own reported average package of ₹18.34 L — that's internally inconsistent and reads like a typo (possibly meant to be crores). We're flagging it rather than guessing at a corrected figure.
Detailed Analysis
The clearest, most-cited figures we have come from one comparison source, which states plainly that "IIT Roorkee reports higher average and median packages" than IIT Kanpur (kollegeapply.com). It lists IIT Roorkee's average package at ₹18.34 L with a median of ₹1.64 L, against IIT Kanpur's average of ₹17.20 L. On paper, that's a win for Roorkee on the average-package metric.
However, IIT Kanpur's highest package of ₹1.90 Cr is a clean, sensible number, while IIT Roorkee's reported highest package of ₹1.71 L is almost certainly wrong — no institute's "highest" package would fall below its own average. Since we can't verify or safely correct this figure, we're not using it to declare a winner on peak offers; we simply don't have a trustworthy number for Roorkee's top package.
A separate source adds one specific, branch-level data point: IIT Roorkee's median salary for CSE students specifically is reported at ₹30.5 LPA, with the same source noting that IIT Kanpur has stricter cutoffs and lower fees by comparison (selectyouruniversity.com). There is no equivalent CSE-specific salary figure available for IIT Kanpur in our researched facts, so we can't compare like-for-like at the branch level — only at the institute-wide average.
Beyond these package numbers, our sources do not include recruiter lists, sector breakdowns, or year-over-year placement trend data for either institute, so any claims about "which companies visit" or "how placements have trended over five years" would be invented rather than sourced — we're leaving those blank rather than guessing.
Verdict
Winner: IIT Roorkee — its average package figure (₹18.34 L) is reported higher than IIT Kanpur's (₹17.20 L). Runner-up: IIT Kanpur, whose highest-package figure (₹1.90 Cr) is the more reliable number in the data we have. If you care specifically about peak/top offers rather than the average, lean toward IIT Kanpur instead, since Roorkee's "highest package" data point in our sources appears to be an error and can't be trusted as reported.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Which IIT has better average placements, Kanpur or Roorkee?
IIT Roorkee, based on the one source with average-package data: ₹18.34 L versus IIT Kanpur's ₹17.20 L (kollegeapply.com).
Q: What is the highest package reported for IIT Kanpur?
₹1.90 Cr, per the same source (kollegeapply.com).
Q: What is the highest package reported for IIT Roorkee?
The source lists it as ₹1.71 L, but this figure is lower than Roorkee's own reported average package, so it's very likely a data error rather than an accurate number (kollegeapply.com).
Q: Is CSE placement data available separately from overall placement data?
Only for IIT Roorkee — its CSE median salary is reported at ₹30.5 LPA. No equivalent CSE-only figure is available for IIT Kanpur in the researched facts (selectyouruniversity.com).
Q: Are top recruiter names available for either institute?
No — the researched facts for this comparison don't include recruiter lists for either IIT Kanpur or IIT Roorkee.
Q: Does a lower JEE Advanced cutoff at IIT Kanpur affect placements?
Our source notes IIT Kanpur has stricter (harder) cutoffs than IIT Roorkee, alongside lower fees, but does not draw a direct causal link between cutoff strictness and placement outcomes (selectyouruniversity.com).
Q: Is the median package data reliable for both institutes?
A median package figure (₹1.64 L) is reported only for IIT Roorkee; no median package figure is available for IIT Kanpur in our sources (kollegeapply.com).
Q: Should I pick based on placements alone?
Given the inconsistency in the highest-package figure for Roorkee, it's worth weighing placements alongside academics, research, and campus fit rather than on this metric in isolation.
Related
For the complete picture beyond Placements — placements, academics, campus life, and more — see the full IIT Kanpur vs IIT Roorkee comparison.