Median salary of advanced/predictive analytics professionals is 14.5 lakhs, followed by big data and data-mining professionals who are paid a median salary of 14 lakhs and 11 lakhs respectively, per annum.
With big data and analytics allowing organisations to gain access to multitudes of information that can help them strategise focussed business growth, adoption of data analytics has increased significantly over the past few years. With that, the salaries analytics professionals are offered across industries, levels, locations and roles have also undergone dramatic changes.
With the industry maturing, a recent study suggests it is the advanced analytics / predictive analytics professionals, who will be paid the highest salaries amongst their peers this year.
The Analytics India Salary Study 2018 says advanced analytics/ predictive analytics professionals are paid a median salary of 14.5 lakhs, which, however, remains the same as last year, as more professionals are entering the field. Next in line are the big-data professionals and data mining professionals, who receive a median salary of 14 lakhs and 11 lakhs per annum respectively.
In terms of the increase in salaries as compared to last year, the study observed that data engineering professionals saw the biggest jump in 2018, with median salaries increasing by 23 per cent—from 11.5 lakhs to almost 14.2 lakhs. The report suggests that the demand for data engineers has also increased tremendously in 2018. The number of data experts earning over Rs 15 lakh a year increased from 17 per cent in 2016 to 21 per cent in 2017, it says. In fact, close to 40 per cent of these experts earn an annual salary of over Rs 10 lakh.
Data engineering professionals saw the biggest jump in 2018, with median salaries increasing by 23 per cent—from 11.5 lakhs to almost 14.2 lakhs.
While on one hand, the IT industry in India was letting go of a lot of its talent due to automation, and engineering professionals were struggling to keep holding on to their jobs, the salary increase for analytics professionals is also a sign that reskilling will be the best way, going ahead. In 2017, the $160 billion Indian IT industry laid off over 56,000 employees owing to automation.
On the other hand, data professionals are high in demand across industries. The telecom sector pays them the highest at around Rs 18.6 lakh per annum—the lowest being the media and entertainment industry (10.3 lakh) and large IT companies (10.1 lakhs). The telecom industry, in fact, also has the highest number of professionals with 50 lakhs —1 cr. salary range. With demand for analytics talent surging across industries, the e-commerce sector is believed to hire the most number of entry-level professionals.
Some industry forecasts suggest that the salaries are only set to grow further in this segment as the Indian data analytics industry, worth two billion dollars today, is expected to grow eight fold to $16 billion by 2025, according to IT trade body, Nasscom.
However, just as in all other fields, here too women are paid lesser than their male counterparts. As per the study, women analytics professionals in India receive 32 per cent lesser salaries than men.