chennai the first phase of the iit madras placements that concluded last week was clearly dominated by consulting companies and the core engineering sector with 28 of students placed under each of these categories the first phase took place from january 6 to 16 while the second phase will now be held during weekends and will continue for the next few months it and research development sectors followed next with about 14 of students placed under each of these sectors the placement cell recorded an increase in the job offers made by core rd and psu sectors this year when compared to last year it also said that the education sector is expected to pick up during the second phase of placements as several educational institutions are coming to the campus so far 717 students have been placed during the first phase a slightly lower number when compared to the first phase last year during which 737 had been recruited there was also a noticeable jump in the number of placements of students under the dual degree and m tech programmes with 81 and 57 placements in the two streams respectively this was attributed to the increase in core rd and psu sectors coming to the iitm campus meanwhile a look at the placements under different engineering branches shows that most of them had a 60 placement record students from computer science and engineering as well as electrical engineering continue to be placed in high numbers like last year though the floods had initially delayed the first phase schedule the placement coordinators said that the first phase was not affected significantly and most of the companies that registered managed to visit the campus