Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to highlight the functional attributes of the automated serials control systems of the libraries in seven Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and provide a comparative analysis. Design/methodology/approach: Features of the serials control modules of the library management systems (LMSs) in use in the central libraries of the IITs are thoroughly studied by logging into the respective systems. Findings: The paper finds that five IITs are using LibSys and two use Virtua and Troodon for their LMS. Virtua covers most of the functional attributes that comply with the international standards, LibSys has tried to incorporate the core functionality of serials control although the compliance of standards is limited, but Troodon is lagging behind. Originality/value: The recommended attributes of the automated serials control system will definitely act as guidelines for the libraries of the IITs to upgrade their existing systems and the developers of the respective library management system software will also take the necessary initiative to make their system fool-proof by resolving the identified drawbacks. (Contains 7 tables and 2 figures.)