Times News Network

Bangalore, Feb 27: Bangalore followed by the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad lead the way in attracting IT professionals with good pay packets. Gurgaon and Delhi trail behind Mumbai and Pune.

These were some of the findings of the Cyber Media Dice ‘Salary Survey’ conducted by market research agency TNS India.

The survey studied the average salaries of IT professionals across regions and sectors and also looked at trends in job opportunities and sentiments about impact due to the anti-outsourcing backlash. The survey was conducted online among more than three thousand IT professionals who are registered with the Cyber Media website across 15 cities in India.

The average cost to company (CTC) for Bangalore stood at Rs 6 lakh per annum - the highest in the country, followed by Rs 4.7 lakh in the twin cities of Hyderabad & Secunderabad along with Pune. The study also noted that, for IT professionals, a management background may not hold good against post-graduation with technical background when it comes to earning the big bucks.

An engineer armed with a technical masters degree garners annual average CTC of Rs 8.62 lakh per annum while an MBA candidate’s CTC stands at Rs 6.33 lakh per year. For the Indian IT professional, the booming Indian telecom industry seems like a more attractive option compared to the Indian IT industry, with the average CTC being 6.2 lakhs and 5.0 lakhs respectively.

Highest compensation for IT professionals can be found in the telecommunications sector, followed by IT and then banking, finance and insurance.

Uncertainty still looms at large when asked about the number of years they wish to spend with their current company, as more than half of the respondents were not sure about their stint with current employer in the future. Less than ten per cent want to continue for more than three years.