Both the fields are greatly different. One lets you deal with finance and the other with mobile and technology. It completely depends on your interest.

ECE from NIT Calicut seems to be a better option. Because if you opt for it you will just have to brush up your knowledge on physics and learn more about it. Whereas economics will be a new subject and it will take a lot of time to learn it from scratch.

• In terms of college, BITS is surely a better option than NIT Calicut. But it’s not just about college, an NIT CSE graduate can land a job in Google and earn a lot. 
• Whereas somebody from IIT with Civil would have to compromise as there are not a lot of jobs offered in that field. 
• If you are interested in pursuing M.Tech from India or abroad or if you even want to have a great job, in the beginning, ECE from NIT Calicut is the best option. 
• But if you want to learn economics from scratch and pursue it to become an economist then economics is also a good option. 

Therefore, you must look into your interests and not opt for anything which just looks good. ECE is a circuit line and jobs are plenty in them too. So taking up ECE at NIT Calicut is a better option.

If you plan ahead and manage your time accordingly it is possible, although it will be quite difficult. The course work for M.Tech Thermal from IIT Bhubaneswar will take up a lot of time. First-year of the course can be very time consuming as you have to adapt to the course and lab work and the second year requires completing a project. The project itself requires a lot of time. Also, GATE IES requires rigorous preparation, students preparing for GATE spend on average 6-8 hours per day. Although the time required to prepare may vary depending on the student. With proper time management, it can be done.

So, practically it’s your call. Preferably, you should go for a drop year as preparing for GATE while pursuing M.Tech will be tough.

One of my friends has been researching this topic for quite some time. So sharing his views might help answer your question. According to him, it totally depends on what you are getting initially. 

• If you manage to get top IIITs like IIIT Hyderabad, IIIT Allahabad, IIIT Delhi, or others then only go for them. 
• Some courses are far better in NIT than IIIT according to the placements and other facilities that are being offered. 
• The NIRF ranking matters to a large extent. It can sometimes favor you during placements.
• The placement statistics should be kept in mind. Always take up a college that has the placement record of usually placing 90% or more.
• Do check that the placement is consistently good, decreasing or increasing.

Lastly, we can say that for choosing a particular college always consider the parameters mentioned above and then make your final decision. Because this will shape your career ahead.

For the year 2019, the Electronics and Communication Engineering (ECE) placement rates recorded by IIT Dhanbad and IIT Bhubaneswar were 60.40% and 86% respectively. The average CTC was recorded as INR 15.50 LPA for IIT Dhanbad and INR 11.44 LPA for IIT Bhubaneswar. The highest CTC offered was INR 39.50 LPA for IIT Dhanbad and INR 30 LPA for IIT Bhubaneswar. The B.Tech placement rate was recorded as 76.06% and 89.55% for IIT Dhanbad and IIT Bhubaneswar respectively.

For the branch of ECE, the number of seats available in IIT Dhanbad is 45 for the General category and 43 for the Reserved category equating to a total of 78 seats. Similarly, the number of ECE seats available in IIT Bhubaneswar is 20 for the General category and 20 for the Reserved category equating to a total of 40 seats.

The cut off i.e the closing rank for the gender-neutral category for ECE in the year 2019 was 4464 for IIT Dhanbad and 3691 for IIT Bhubaneswar respectively.

Students tend to pick IIT Bhubaneswar over IIT Dhanbad due to the temporary campus status and younger experience of IIT Dhanbad as an institution, other facilities like infrastructure, sports, faculty are good in both institutes.

The final decision should be taken by comparing both the placement rates and institutes as a whole; giving equal importance to the choice of branch of engineering that you would like to pursue.

IIT JAM is an all India level online entrance exam conducted by the IIT. The exam is held each year on a rotational basis by the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD).

It is a competitive exam, the candidates are eligible to seek admission in MSc. and other postgraduate courses offered at IITs all across the country.

To join for IIT JAM classes the candidate must have the following qualifications:

• A bachelor's degree from a recognized board or university.
• At least 55% aggregate score in all subjects, including language and subsidiaries.
• The aggregate score is 50% in case of SC?ST/PwD category candidates.
• The candidates who are in the final semester or will complete their graduation in 2020 are also eligible to apply.
• There is no set age limit to appear for the IIT JAM exam.

The mode of exam is online, computer-based with 2 sessions. The questions are posed in 3 different patterns - Multiple choice questions (MCQs), Multiple select questions (MSQ), and Numerical answer type questions (NAT). There are 7 papers with 100 marks. Negative markings will only be in the MCQs section.

Some of the popular coaching institutes in Bhubaneswar for IIT JAM are as follows:

• Pioneer Physics.
• Naidu classes Pvt. Ltd.
• Odisha Net Academy-ONA.
• Bidiyasagar Classes.
• Aakash Institute.
• GC Institute Lewis road.
• The Planet Vidya.