Quick Verdict
IIT Kharagpur (Kharagpur, India's first IIT campus, founded 1951) edges out IIT Roorkee (Roorkee, India's oldest technical-education lineage, dating to 1847) on the headline placement numbers — a higher average package and a higher highest package in the primary comparison source. IIT Roorkee, however, reports a very slightly higher placement rate, so the gap is narrower than the raw package figures suggest.
Snapshot
| Metric | IIT Kharagpur | IIT Roorkee |
|---|---|---|
| Average Package | ₹24.30 L (also cited as ₹16–22 LPA elsewhere) | ₹18.34 L |
| Highest Package | ₹2.4 Cr | ₹1.5 Cr |
| Placement Rate | 92% (also cited as 80–90%) | 93% (also cited as 85–90%) |
| Top Recruiters | Not named in sourced data | Not named in sourced data |
(Sources: jeecounselling.in; selectyouruniversity.com)
Detailed Analysis
On average package, IIT Kharagpur reports ₹24.30 lakh versus IIT Roorkee's ₹18.34 lakh, and on highest package, ₹2.4 crore versus ₹1.5 crore — both sourced from the same head-to-head comparison (jeecounselling.in). That source's own "Key Insights" summary muddies things slightly, stating "IIT Roorkee offers the highest placement package of ₹1.5 Cr" — which contradicts its own table, since ₹2.4 Cr (Kharagpur's figure in that same table) is larger than ₹1.5 Cr. We're flagging that internal inconsistency directly rather than silently picking a number: the underlying table data (Kharagpur ₹2.4 Cr, Roorkee ₹1.5 Cr) looks like the more reliable figure, but treat both as approximate.
A separate source gives a different, lower average package specifically for IIT Kharagpur — ₹16–22 LPA — with graduates going on to roles "in multinational corporations, startups and government research institutes" (selectyouruniversity.com). This is a genuine disagreement between sources on Kharagpur's exact average package rather than a typo, so readers should treat the precise rupee figure as an estimate rather than a fixed number.
Placement rate flips the comparison slightly: IIT Roorkee's reported 93% edges out IIT Kharagpur's 92% in the same primary source (jeecounselling.in). A different, less precise source gives wider ranges for both — 85–90% for Roorkee and 80–90% for Kharagpur — which is broadly consistent but not an exact match (selectyouruniversity.com). Neither institute has a list of named top recruiters in the sourced material, so specific companies can't be listed here without inventing them.
Both institutes are treated as strong, closely matched engineering programs at the national level — one broader comparison notes "both have strong CSE placements and research output" when discussing top-tier IITs generally, a category both Kharagpur and Roorkee fall into (infinitylearn.com).
Verdict
Winner: IIT Kharagpur, based on its higher reported average and highest placement packages. Runner-up: IIT Roorkee, which comes extremely close and actually leads slightly on placement rate percentage. The one condition under which a reader should pick IIT Roorkee instead: if placement rate — the share of students who actually receive an offer — matters more to you than the size of the highest outlier package, since Roorkee's 93% edges Kharagpur's 92% in the sourced comparison.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Which IIT has the higher average placement package, Kharagpur or Roorkee?
A: IIT Kharagpur, at ₹24.30 L versus IIT Roorkee's ₹18.34 L, per the primary sourced comparison (jeecounselling.in).
Q: Which IIT has the higher highest package?
A: The comparison table shows IIT Kharagpur at ₹2.4 Cr versus IIT Roorkee's ₹1.5 Cr, though the same source's own summary text confusingly states Roorkee has the highest package — a direct internal conflict in that source (jeecounselling.in).
Q: Which IIT has a higher placement rate?
A: IIT Roorkee, at 93% versus IIT Kharagpur's 92%, per sourced data (jeecounselling.in).
Q: Are these placement figures exact and up to date?
A: Not precisely — different sources give different figures for the same institute (e.g., Kharagpur's average package is cited as both ₹24.30 L and ₹16–22 LPA), so treat these as approximate (jeecounselling.in; selectyouruniversity.com).
Q: Do sourced facts name specific top recruiters at either institute?
A: No — the comparison source lists "Top Recruiters" as a category for both institutes but no company names were captured in the sourced research.
Q: Is one institute clearly better for placements overall?
A: IIT Kharagpur has the edge on package size, but the margin over IIT Roorkee is narrow, and Roorkee actually leads slightly on placement rate.
Related
For the complete picture beyond Placements -- placements, academics, campus life, and more -- see the full IIT Kharagpur vs IIT Roorkee comparison.