Data Analytics Professionals Continue to Outearn Software Engineers by 26%

Bengaluru, India, April 11, 2019 : Data Analytics professionals are ruling the big data wave with analytics professionals out-earning software engineers by 26%. In their annual Analytics India Salary Study with AnalytixLabs, Analytics India finds out 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 in 2016 to ₹11.7 lakh in 2017 and touching ₹12.7 lakh per annum 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 exceed other software engineering roles with analytics professionals out-earning Java counterparts by almost 50% 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 it’s expected to see another busy year for analytics hiring market.

Here are some of the key highlights from the Analytics India Salary Study:

  • At the entry level, almost 76% 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 per annum followed by Bangalore at ₹13 lakh
  • Analytics professionals out-earn Java programmers by almost 50%
  • Mid-level Analytics professionals who have subject matter expertise are more in demand
  • Learning Python can help you earn more, with Python skill 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 as compared to their male counterparts who earn ₹13.7 Lakh per annum

According to Ankita Gupta, Co-Founder & Consultant at AnalytixLabs: “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 also realized that investing into data-driven skills at leadership level is a determining factor for the success of digital and AI initiatives in the organization. With the increasing adoption of digital technologies, we expect an enduring growth of Data Science & AI initiatives to offer exciting and lucrative career options to new age professionals.”

“Over the years, we are seeing the market evolve with 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, hospitality that 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-à-vis a specialist who is usually brought in to add more value to the project lifecycle,” said Bhasker Gupta, Founder & CEO, Analytics India Magazine.