Skyrocketing salaries paid to the corporate chief executive officers might have ignited a debate in the country but the picture is not that rosy for engineering graduates, with just 2.5 per cent getting paid over Rs 700,000 per year.
A 'Compensation Survey and Student Perception' study by CareerNet Consulting revealed that out of the 400,000 engineering graduates produced by the country every year, only 2.5 per cent draw upwards of Rs 7,00,000 per annum. The study, which surveyed over 1,500 students from 110 engineering colleges including the Indian Institutes of Technology across the country, found that 63 per cent of the students were hired at an annual package of Rs 200,000-400,000.
"The number of high end companies looking for quality people is very less, so is the availability of quality personnel, which is the reason why a huge majority of engineering graduates have to remain content with lesser pay," CareerNet Consulting Co Founder Rishi Das told PTI.
He said IT product companies like Cisco, Freescale and Motorola pay in the range of Rs 400,000-600,000, while high-end firms like Adobe, Microsoft, Yahoo and Citirx offer between Rs 700,000-10 lakh depending on the quality of professionals.
The study showed IT product companies remain the first choice of students who graduate into engineers as they pay well but since these companies do not hire in bulk and also are very particular about quality, most of the engineers have to opt for IT services companies like Wipro, Tata consultancy services and Satyam.
"Companies in IT products sector paid in the range of Rs 500,000-900,000 while those in the IT services sector pay an average of Rs 300,000-350,000," Das said. He said IT and ITes sectors were witnessing a reverse situation compared to the mid-1990's when IT services companies used to be the preferred choice among engineers.
"The scene has changed now. Today, the first choice of engineering graduates is IT product companies, followed by investment banking firms and knowledge process outsourcing firms, manufacturing being the third choice and IT services companies are at the bottom of the pyramid."
The factors, which have caused this shift include strong emergence of the manufacturing sector and hefty salaries being paid by the high-end companies.
"The flavour during campus recruitments was KPO and finance companies which are picking up huge numbers now with the most handsome salaries. Semiconductor companies, which have started looking at campus recruitments in a big way, pay at an average of 450,000," the study said.
The study also revealed many graduates were unhappy with their present jobs. "We found that in order to meet high expectations of engineering students, IT companies did increase their salary offering but without any marked difference or any improvement in the job profiles. Only 17.3 per cent fresh engineers land jobs of their choice," Das said.