Data analytics professionals are ruling the big data wave with professionals in the field out-earning software engineers by 26 per cent. In its annual Analytics India Salary Study with AnalytixLabs, Analytics India found that over the last three years — 2016 to 2018 — there has been a pronounced growth in median salary across all experience levels, increasing from ₹9.5 lakh a year in 2016 to ₹11.7 lakh in 2017 and touching ₹12.7 lakh in 2018. The trend is levelling off with the average analytics salary capped at ₹12.6 lakh per annum across all experience levels in 2019.
A key point is that analytics salaries continue to outbeat those for other software engineering roles, with analytics professionals out-earning Java counterparts by almost 50 per cent in India.
The annual study presents a 360-degree view of compensation and base salaries in data science and the average salaries across job category, experience, region, industry, education, gender and tools and skills. All in all, the research posits that this year will be another busy one for the analytics hiring market.
Here are some of the key highlights from the Analytics India Salary Study:
At the entry level, almost 76 per cent of analytics professionals earn ₹6 lakh per annum
The median analytics salary for 2018-19 is ₹12.6 lakh
Mumbai is the highest paymaster with compensation of ₹13.7 lakh a year followed by Bangalore at ₹13 lakh
Analytics professionals out-earn Java programmers by almost 50 per cent
Mid-level Analytics professionals with subject matter expertise are more in demand
Learning Python can help you earn more, with Python skills earning analytics professionals a package of ₹15.1 lakh as median
AI professionals command the highest pay package ₹14.8 lakh on media, outearning analytics professionals
We continue to see a pay disparity for women data scientists, who take home ₹9.2 lakh, compared with their male counterparts, who earn ₹13.7 lakh a year
According to Ankita Gupta, Co-Founder & Consultant at Gurgaon-based AnalytixLabs, which offers data analytics courses and certification in big data analytics, business intelligence, machine learning, data science and SAS: “As the application of AI goes mainstream, the demand for AI skills is expected to increase rapidly, which is also reflected by the fact that AI engineers command higher salary than peers. At AnalytixLabs, many of our clients have realised that investing in data-driven skills at the leadership level is a key determining factor for the success of digital and AI initiatives in the organisation. With the increasing adoption of digital technologies, we expect the enduring growth of data science and AI initiatives to offer new age professionals exciting and lucrative career options.”.
“Over the years, we are seeing the market evolve, with the demand for data science talent increasing across the board. It is not just captives that are posting job openings, the change is also seen in industries like CPG, retail and hospitality, which are also now building up their analytics capabilities. This implies a rising market for data scientists and data-centric roles. Another key takeaway is the role of generalist vis-a-vis a specialist, who is usually brought in to add more value to the project lifecycle,” said Bhasker Gupta, Founder & CEO, Analytics India Magazine , which chronicles technological progress in the space of analytics, artificial intelligence, data science and big data by highlighting the innovations, players and challenges in this area.