From IT to Industry: Why Core Engineers Are India's Future

For decades, India’s engineering graduates have been funneled into the IT services sector, often regardless of their subject. Mechanical, civil, electrical, electronic, and chemical engineers have become coders, testers, and support staff — not because they've wanted to, but because that’s where the jobs have been. 

That era, I argue, is ending.

Today, a quiet revolution is underway. India is expanding its industrial capacity across industries — mining, refining, steel, cement, aluminium, copper, infrastructure, real estate, electricals, electronics, vehicles, renewables, highways, shipping, aviation, railways, and more. These sectors demand core engineers, not just software developers. And they’re led by familiar industrial conglomerates — Tata, Reliance, Adani, Jindal, Vedanta, L&T, Mahindra, Kirloskar, Mittal — who are now reactivating their talent pipelines.


RIL’s Hiring Spree: A Signal of the Shift

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) recently launched one of the largest core engineering hiring programs in India’s private sector history. The Graduate Engineer Trainee (GET) program, started in 2024, seeks to hire & train upto 1000 engineers every year. As per recent notification, BTech graduates across mechanical, electrical, chemical, metallurgical, and civil disciplines will be onboarded—not for coding, but for building RIL’s industrial backbone.

And they’re being paid well. RIL’s entry-level packages range from ₹7 to ₹9 LPA, a sharp contrast to HCLTech’s IT engineering salaries, which hover around ₹3.5 to ₹4.5 LPA for similar work-exp levels. This isn’t just a salary gap — it’s a paradigmatic shift in how India values engineering talent.


Meanwhile, IT Hiring Is Structurally Slowing 

Contrast this with the IT sector: -

- Mass hiring peaked in 2022, but has since collapsed. In 2024, fewer than 1 lakh engineers were hired across major IT firms.

- High-paying IT roles are now reserved for niche computer science graduates with AI/ML or cloud expertise.

- Entry-level roles are being automated, outsourced, or replaced by gig contracts and bootcamp hires.

- The global IT market—especially in the developed world—is stagnating. India’s IT exports are, thus, vulnerable to macroeconomic shocks, client churn, and platform shifts.

In short, IT hiring is slowing. And it's a structural, rather than cyclical, phenomenon. 


Substantial Volatility Lately 

In Q2FY26, Indian IT sector leader TCS laid off around 19700 employees, but the rest of the top six Indian IT companies collectively hired around 20700 workers. This indicates that IT hiring isn’t dead—but it’s volatile, uneven, and increasingly low-paying. Therefore, the contrast with RIL’s industrial hiring is stark: stable demand, higher pay, and deeper domain engagement.


Why Core Engineering Is the Future

India’s industrial sectors are not just growing—they’re structurally expanding. Demand for industrial products and components will remain strong for at least the next decade. This includes: -

- Renewable energy (generation, storage, transmission)
- Electronics and semiconductors
- Automotive and EVs
- Railways, highways, airports, and aircraft MRO
- Shipbuilding (and shipbreaking)
- Metals, materials, and chemicals

These sectors are domestically anchored and globally leveraged. They create real value, absorb real talent, and build real assets.

India also produces more core engineers than any other country. The challenge is not quantity—it’s quality. But that, to me, is a policy issue, not a structural flaw. With the right nudges—curriculum reform, industry-academia partnerships, etc—India can shape a world-class industry-ready engineering workforce.


PLI and Beyond: The Job Engine Is Industrial

Government of India’s Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, covering 14 manufacturing sectors, has already created over 12 lakh direct and indirect jobs, many of which are core engineering roles. These include electronics, pharma, textiles, automobiles, and green energy.

But here’s the kicker: non-PLI sectors are also booming. Oil & gas, for instance, is not covered under PLI — but is seeing massive capacity expansion and hiring. RIL’s current hiring spree, with a strong focus on petroleum refining and petrochemicals, is a prime example. Railways is another such example. This proves that India’s industrial job growth is broader than just PLI—it’s systemic.


From RIL to the Rest: A Call to Action

RIL’s hiring model should be replicated across India’s industrial landscape. Other conglomerates — Tata, Adani, Vedanta, Jindal, L&T, Kirloskar, Mahindra — have the scale and depth to do the same.

They must move up from fragmented campus recruitments to institutionalized mass hiring & training programs. They must become workforce architects, not just recruiters.

This is not just about meeting demand. It’s about shaping India’s future.


Conclusion: Core Engineering is Back and is Here to Stay 

India’s future won’t be coded in IT services — it’ll be forged in steel, wired in copper, and built on concrete. The jobs of the next decade will come from sectors that make, move, and maintain the real economy.

Core engineers aren’t just back — they’re now inevitable, invariable, and indispensable.

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