NIT Durgapur’s published placement numbers describe different groups and measures, so they should not be collapsed into one placement rate or package figure. The most comparable multi-year baseline in the material reviewed is the institute-submitted NIRF 2026 table: it reports placed graduates and median salary for UG four-year, UG five-year and PG two-year cohorts separately. The institute’s own 2025-26 placement brochure gives a separate 2024-25 branch snapshot. Neither source predicts an individual student’s result.
NIRF cohorts: counts and annual medians
The NIRF 2026 Engineering submission reports the number of graduates in minimum stipulated time, students placed, median salary of placed graduates and students selected for higher studies. The three rows are graduation years 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25. The NIRF data-entry manual defines the median metric as “Median Salary per annum should be entered,” so these values are annual medians, not average or highest packages.
Within the four-year UG group, the placed count fell from 640 of 776 in 2022-23 to 566 of 810 in 2023-24, then rose to 595 of 813 in 2024-25. Dividing placed graduates by graduates in minimum stipulated time gives approximately 82%, 70% and 73%. The corresponding two-year PG calculation is 132/241, 90/192 and 91/145, or about 55%, 47% and 63%. These are simple ratios from NIRF’s two count columns; they are not a placement cell’s rate among eligible or registered students.
The five-year UG group has very small denominators: 3 of 8, 7 of 9 and 4 of 7 were placed. The resulting ratios of 38%, 78% and 57% change sharply with a small number of students, so the counts are more useful than a headline percentage. NIRF’s duration buckets are not branch-level outcomes and should not be used to estimate a particular department’s placement chance.
The table reports medians for placed graduates only. It does not report average or highest salary in these rows. The 2024-25 median is ₹12.15 lakh per annum for the four-year UG group, ₹3.60 lakh for the five-year UG group and ₹13.98 lakh for the two-year PG group. Differences across these rows combine programme duration and cohort composition; they do not show that every student in one group earns more than a student in another. NIRF does not provide a branch-by-branch split in this table.
The placement cell’s 2024-25 branch snapshot
NIT Durgapur’s 2025-26 placement brochure separately labels a page “PLACEMENT STATISTICS 2024 – 2025.” It lists eligible and placed students by branch: Biotechnology, 47 and 28; Civil Engineering, 60 and 48; Chemical Engineering, 66 and 50; Computer Science and Engineering, 157 and 138; Electronics and Communication Engineering, 84 and 64; Electrical Engineering, 80 and 72; Mechanical Engineering, 160 and 132; and Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, 56 and 52. The brochure also states 590+ total job offers, an 82% overall placement percentage, a ₹52 LPA highest package and a ₹12.61 LPA average package for that displayed snapshot.
Those branch counts total 710 eligible students and 584 placed students. The displayed 82% is consistent with 584 divided by 710 after rounding, but the brochure does not explain whether all eligibility rules, late offers or reporting cut-offs are identical across departments. It counts jobs offered separately from students placed, so 590+ offers must not be read as 590+ different students. Average and highest package are distinct from NIRF’s median salary; they should not be substituted for it. The brochure gives no per-branch salary distribution, and the NIRF table gives no branch-level median.
The two institutional reports therefore answer different questions. NIRF provides a programme-duration cohort view with minimum-time graduates as the denominator and a median for placed graduates. The placement brochure gives an eligible-student branch view and summary offer/package measures. Their 2024-25 placed counts are not numerically identical, and the sources do not provide a common denominator or reconciliation. Keep both labelled by source and scope rather than treating one as a correction of the other.
What the data can and cannot tell an applicant
Use the four-year UG rows for a broad multi-year view of the NIRF cohort, and consult the brochure’s branch row for the placement cell’s eligible/placed snapshot. For a specific branch, the brochure supports only the count comparison shown above; it does not establish a branch median, a guaranteed offer or an individual’s probability. For five-year UG programmes, compare the small placed and graduate counts directly rather than relying on a percentage. For postgraduate study, the NIRF two-year PG bucket combines programmes and is not a substitute for MBA, M.Tech or M.Sc/MSW-specific data.
The institute’s Training and Placement Cell maintains student forms, a placement policy and recruiter contact information through its official portal. Candidates should use the current policy and their programme office for eligibility, registration and process rules. The archived brochure is a 2024-25 results snapshot; it does not establish the rules or outcomes for a 2027-28 graduating cohort. A new brochure or NIRF submission should replace these dated comparisons only when it publishes a clearly identified year, group and denominator.