Salaries of freshers have only increased from Rs 3.2 lakh in 2011 to Rs 3.75 lakh in 2024: Ex Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai
Mohandas Pai, the former CFO of Infosys, has hit out at the increasing wage divide in the industry, where the salaries of freshers have hardly increased in the past decade while C-suite executives have seen their income go up by as much as 50-60% in just five years.
Tech jobs are still in high demand in India, and every year, hundreds of thousands of young IT engineering graduates enter the job market with hopes of making it big in the industry. Tech giants like Infosys, TCS, Wipro, HCL, and Tech Mahindra are among the big names every tech graduate hopes to join to kick-start their careers.
CREDIT: UNSPLASH
Growing wage gap in IT industry
But the picture is not as rosy, and the wage gap can be astronomical when it comes to freshers and the top management's take-home pay. Mohandas Pai, the former CFO of Infosys, has hit out at the increasing wage divide in the industry, where the salaries of freshers have hardly increased in the past decade while C-suite executives have seen their income go up by as much as 50-60% in just five years.
¡°Look at an IT CEO¡¯s salary five years ago, and look at it now¡ªit has gone up 50-60%. Board compensation has increased by 20%, 30%, even 40%. But for the bottom 20%, wages have only risen by 20-25%,¡± Pai said.
Salary of freshers increased 15 per cent in 13 years
He also pointed out that at Infosys, the salary of freshers has hardly increased in the past 13 years. According to Pai, freshers who earned Rs 3.25 lakh annually in 2011 are now making only Rs 3.50-3.75 lakh in 2024¡ªa mere 15% increase over 13 years.
CREDIT: BCCL
"How is it justified? What was the CEO paid in 2011? What is the CEO paid now? It has to be fair," he asked.
Engineering graduates struggle to kickstart career
According to a recent report by TeamLease, India produces 15 lakh engineering graduates annually, yet only a small percentage secure employment. Employability among engineering graduates stands at over 60%, with only 45% meeting industry standards. Furthermore, a mere 10% of the 1.5 million engineers expected to graduate this fiscal year are anticipated to secure employment.
CREDIT: UNSPLASH
The study found that only 2.5 lakh engineering graduates land relevant jobs in their respective domains. Out of those, roughly 2.2 lakh openings are in software, within which a vast majority (1.8 lakh jobs) are in IT services, garnering only around Rs 3-5 lakh per annum (LPA) in remuneration.
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Bobins Abraham is the Assistant News Editor at Indiatimes. He has more than twelve years of experience in TV and digital journalism. An avid student of history and geopolitics, he is a conservationist and environmentalist at heart. He writes on environment, sustainability, human-animal conflict and more.
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