Hyderabad: The Trump tariff effect is already being felt in engineering college campuses in Hyderabad. Placement officers from at least half-a-dozen prominent institutes that TOI spoke to said that firms – particularly from the automobile and IT sectors – who hired final year BTech students earlier this year, have started sending out emails deferring the joining date. While some have pushed back the dates to Jan 2026, others have put them off indefinitely.The move, placement officers fear, could adversely impact the career prospects of hundreds of fresh graduates and leave them torn between holding out and exploring alternatives.Incidentally, many of these big-ticket companies had handed out offer letters to dozens of graduates, in some cases to over a 100, from each of these colleges.“We have already received communication from three firms about postponing the joining of new graduates,” said the training and placement Officer (TPO) of one engineering college, adding that students who were supposed to join in July or Aug have now been asked to wait until next year.“To ensure students don’t panic, we are sending them details of more opportunities that they can explore and use as a backup offer,” the TPO said.Another TPO from a top college said that many IT firms, including MNCs, are pushing back joining dates by 8 to to 12 months.“Everyone is wary of hiring amid such uncertainties around US tariffs. It almost seems like they are delaying the onboarding for as long as possible, hoping that students will get vexed and drop out voluntarily,” the officer added.According to industry experts, India’s IT sector fears that tariffs on software exports to the US under the Trump administration could severely disrupt operations. Concerns include possible dual taxation, higher operational costs, and tighter visa regulations.“The IT sector is definitely in a wait-and-watch mode. Lately, there has been a spike in the number of companies freezing hiring and delaying onboarding of freshers,” confirmed Sundeep Kumar Makthala, global president of the Telangana Information Technology Association (TITA).He added: “Gone are the days when students could breathe easy once they received a job offer. Now, many are getting only conditional offers or a letter of intent. Students should understand that there is no guarantee of onboarding. It will depend on the market situation and skill set requirements. In fact, some are even being let go after training, with companies citing poor performance.”“I am tense. Some of my friends in other colleges were onboarded in June. A classmate joined in Aug. But my joining at the same MNC has been pushed to the end of Nov,” said a BTech from a state university who has landed himself a job as specialist programmer.The lack of communication with the firm, he said, has added to his anxiety. “Even my emails go unanswered,” he added.Many say they would rather have clarity, even if it means losing an offer, than be kept in the dark indefinitely.
