IIT topper turns down lucrative job offer, opts for research

High-paying job offer from Microsoft did not tempt him away from research.

An IIT Kharagpur B.Tech. student, a topper across departments, has rejected a lucrative offer from an MNC to remain in academics.

Computer science and engineering student Sikhar Patranabis scored a cumulative grade point average of 9.87, making him the highest-ranked graduate this year. A high-paying job offer from Microsoft did not tempt him away from his passion for research.

Mr. Patranabis wants to pursue a PhD on hardware security for embedded systems. IIT Kharagpur Director Partha Pratim Chakrabarti said, “There has been a trend of one or two high-ranked students staying back for PhD in IIT. But the top ranker staying back with us is rare.”