Cognizant’s Rs 2.5 lakh annual pay, a decadal low, sparks outrage

BENGALURU: Cognizant’s off-campus recruitment drive, expected to begin on Wednesday, has sparked a debate and meme fests across social media platforms. The company offered a yearly compensation package of Rs 2.5 lakh or Rs 20,000 a month, which many consider to be a regressive step in the Indian IT services industry.

Indian IT firms typically offer engineering graduates annual salaries in the range of Rs 3.5 lakh to Rs 4 lakh on average. The Rs 2.5 lakh annual salary is a new decadal low for the Indian IT sector, frowned upon by digital natives calibrating their career paths if this is in the offing. In an effort to grow their margins, IT companies are offering lower salaries to entry-level employees. However, the current trend seems to have reached an unprecedented lower level. These salaries are predominantly in roles related to BPM (business process management), testing and infrastucture management services.