Year map
When placements, internships, exams and scholarships usually open, so you can prepare before the rush. These are typical windows from past years; check the official site for this year's dates.
Placements
Campus placement season
July – December. Pre-final and final year.
Most on-campus drives run in this window; resumes should be ready by June naukri.com
Open-source programmes
Hacktoberfest
October. Anyone.
Open-source contribution drive with swag hacktoberfest.com
Scholarships
National Scholarship Portal window
Typically opens in the second half of the year. School and college students.
Central and state scholarships, one application portal scholarships.gov.in
Entrance exams
GATE
Registration around Aug–Oct, exam in February. Final year engineering and graduates.
PSU recruitment and M.Tech admissions nta.ac.in
Entrance exams
CAT
Registration around August, exam in November. Final year and graduates.
MBA admissions iimcat.ac.in
Internships
Summer internship applications
December – March. 2nd and 3rd year.
Applications for May–July internships internshala.com
Placements
Off-campus fresher hiring wave
January – April. Final year and recent graduates.
Service companies and startups open off-campus drives after campus season linkedin.com
Entrance exams
JEE Main sessions
Usually two sessions, around January and April. Class 12 and droppers.
Engineering entrance nta.ac.in
Entrance exams
CUET UG
Registration usually early in the year. Class 12.
Central university admissions nta.ac.in
Open-source programmes
Google Summer of Code
Organisations announced ~Feb, applications ~March. Any student contributor.
Paid open-source programme; contributions should start months earlier summerofcode.withgoogle.com
Hackathons
Smart India Hackathon
Problem statements ~August, finals later in the year. College teams.
India's largest student hackathon sih.gov.in
Scholarships
INSPIRE Scholarship
Announced annually, check the portal. Top science students entering BSc/Int MSc.
Scholarship for science undergraduates online-inspire.gov.in