After a dull 2024, pay bump at top campuses for MBA, BTech graduates

Business Standard

2 days ago

Following a stagnant 2024, engineers and management graduates are set to receive higher salary offers across leading campuses, indicating a revival in hiring activity, The Economic Times reported.
According to the 'Deloitte Campus Workforce Trends: Placement Cycle 2025' report, median salaries for B-school and engineering graduates are projected to rise by 8.3 per cent and 4.3 per cent year-on-year, respectively. This comes after a decline of 9 per cent for MBAs and 0.1 per cent for engineers in 2024.
The report, which looked at placement data from 508 academic institutions and surveyed 238 companies across various industries, highlights improved compensation trends.
At the top 10 Master of Business Administration (MBA) colleges, as ranked by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), the median annual salary is expected to reach ₹26 lakh in 2025, compared to ₹24 lakh in 2024. For the top 10 BTech colleges, the figure is projected to rise to ₹17 lakh from ₹16.3 lakh in the previous year.
Compensation declined for 2024 engineering graduates
Engineering graduates from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) in 2024 experienced a dip in salary offers. Separate studies by Deloitte and TeamLease indicate that the annual compensation for this cohort ranges between ₹15 lakh and ₹16 lakh.
According to Deloitte's 2024 study, average salaries saw a slight decrease for graduates from the top 10 engineering institutes.
Drop in median salaries for 2024 batch
A TeamLease Services study found that the median annual salary at the older IITs dropped to approximately ₹15 lakh–₹16 lakh in 2024, down from ₹18 lakh–₹20 lakh in 2023. At the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A), the highest offer for the PGPX Class of 2024 fell to a six-year low of ₹54.8 lakh per annum.
Engineering degrees lead compensation growth in 2025
The report quoted Neelesh Gupta, partner at Deloitte India, as saying, 'Engineering degrees are leading year-on-year compensation growth (4.65 per cent), outpacing management degrees (2.19 per cent).'
BTech graduates continue to secure the highest salary packages, followed by Bachelor of Law and BBA graduates. Compensation growth was strongest in manufacturing, followed by the consumer sector, while life sciences and pharmaceuticals showed the weakest growth.
The share of performance-based compensation, or 'pay at risk', has become standard in campus hiring. '97 per cent of organisations have adopted short-term incentives, bonuses, or performance-linked pay,' the Deloitte study reported. Pre-placement offer (PPO) conversions across all degree types rose by 24 per cent in the financial year 2024-25 (FY25) compared to FY24.