Hard lesson: The dark reality of Simplilearn’s job guarantee plan

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₹2,08,000 with interest. He took a loan to finance it. Simplilearn, backed by Blackstone and valued at $600 million in 2022, promised a job with a minimum package of ₹5 lakh a year and within six months of him completing the course.

He was assured a full refund in case he didn’t secure a job. Two years later, Pattamsetti is working in a business process outsourcing (BPO) company, in a customer support role, earning ₹20,000 a month. He found the job on his own after he gave up on a career in data science.

“I had stopped paying EMI ( ₹5,600 a month) and my Cibil score suffered. I wanted to file a legal case but it also takes money. The lawyer will charge ₹20,000," Pattamsetti said over a call.

“Simplilearn is playing with the emotions of job-seekers," he added. Mint spoke to 19 others who had enrolled in the job guarantee programme. All of them ended up without the promised job; in many cases, they got no refund from the company.

At least half a dozen of them have filed complaints with the District Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission. Mint has reviewed some of these complaints. Overall, Simplilearn had enrolled 900 learners for the programme.

Only 271 have been placed thus far, the company acknowledged. To be fair, the job market has dramatically changed between 2021 and now. The post pandemic period was marked by enterprises pivoting to the digital, which led to a surge in tech jobs.

But the global economy has slowed and the tech sector has pulled back on hiring the truckloads of engineers it usually does. Having said that, what emerges from the Simplilearn episode is a familiar story, particularly when it comes to edtech startups—one of aggressive business projections and mis-selling. Byju’s, for instance, has also