Will having a job gap affect me during summer placements at XLRI?

Having a job gap won't affect your CV shortlisting because most of the recruiters filter out students without looking at CVs, by just looking at their 10th, 12th, and graduation marks. Until they reach the GD room, the actual panelists don't even give a glance at the CVs.

The campus relation team, which is a part of the HR, does all the work, hand over the student’s list to the campus placement team and they forward it to the panelists directly. Till this process, the panelists don't go through the student's CVs seriously and these are submitted only for records.

After completing the GD round, you will be shortlisted for the personal interview round, if selected and in that step only they will go through your CV and then ask you questions based on it.

Hence, a job gap won't affect your campus placements at XLRI as most of the recruiters don't bother to look at the CVs of students until they reach the personal interview round. I have known people with gaps even more than 4 years to secure placement offers. A couple of companies may not shortlist you but you will not face any major problem.