While the job scenario in large-scale industries is stagnating, small and medium enterprises hold out hope.
If you go by the words of the head of India’s premier technical education body, then the future is not so bright for engineering and MBA students on the job front. In an interview, the chairman of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Anil Sahasrabudhe, said that there would be no mass hiring in the IT and BPO industry in India in the near future.
The job scenario in large-scale industries, according to the AICTE chief, is stagnating but small and medium enterprises hold out hope.
IT and BPO have seen a steep decline in job offers. According to a survey, the IT sector registered a 32 per cent fall in job opportunities followed by the BPO sector at 30 per cent.
He emphasised that jobs will now be generated outside the main sectors, such as ancillary sectors and startups.
Sahasrabudhe also dismissed the recent surge in education in the pharma sector calling it a bubble that may “burst in the next two years, just as the MBA and B.Tech courses”.
“Since almost all seats in pharma were getting filled, people thought that there is a big demand in that sector, and therefore, they applied for more colleges this year. However, these will also meet the same fate as management and engineering in the next one or two years,” he said.
In 2016–17, more than half of MBA graduates could not get hired in campus placements, as per AICTE data. Last year, a study by employability assessment company, Aspiring Minds, claimed that 95 per cent of engineers in the country were not fit for jobs.
In fact, industry leaders have also warned about unskilled Indian youth. Recently, CP Gurnani, CEO & MD of Tech Mahindra said that 94 per cent of engineering graduates are a misfit for hiring. The chairman of Manipal Global Education, TV Mohandas Pai claimed that the country has 10 crore people in the 21–35 age group with bad skills, who are unsuited for the economy.