Shout out to engineering students, be ready for fat packages by startups

The biggest cash-cow in the Indian market, the e-Commerce sector, will be offering handsome packages to graduates of best engineering colleges in the near future.

As reported by Economic Times, at least 11 startups will be offering packages in excess of Rs 20 lakh this year to graduates of country’s best engineering colleges like Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) in Pilani, apart from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).

If previous year’s records are to be believed, the average package offered to a BITS Pilani graduate was around Rs 7.5 lakh.

Startups like Zomato, Practo, Endurance, InMobi, Code-Nation, Housing, Unicommerce, Sprinklr and Codigami are among those who have lined up to hire fresh talent from the colleges and are offering attractive salary packages. The trend might also challenge a couple of top traditional recruiters.

Campus sources informed that only three startups offered Rs 20 lakh-plus packages last year and that the number is nearly four times with a number of startups raising offers and new ones getting space into the list.

These startups are offering more compensation than well-established companies. Popular recruiters Texas Instruments and Qualcomm, for instance, pay in the bracket of Rs 14-15 lakh, while Microsoft offers Rs 18 lakh for domestic postings. Visa, which hired around 250 students across engineering campuses last year, is paying Rs 18 lakh for Indian roles.

According to the Campus sources, the presence of so many cash-rich startups will spark a fierce talent war with traditional, well-known recruiters for the best and brightest among the graduating batch of 2016.

"A number of bright students who would otherwise get into traditional development roles in branded companies, get swayed by the compensation and join these startups," said G Balasubramanian, chief placement officer, India and Dubai, BITS Pilani University. But it's not just about the money, it's got a lot to do with changes in outlook as well.

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