New Delhi: Companies from the information technology and other sectors hired more people from engineering campuses this year, compared with last, to cater to growing domestic and overseas demand for their products and services. They also paid more for them. Campus hiring at India’s top engineering colleges accounted for 87% of the students who graduated in 2007, compared with 72% last year, according to a survey conducted by Dataquest magazine and research firm IDC India, both run by Cyber Media India Ltd.

The study says the growing demand for engineers has also fuelled a significant increase in salaries. The average annual salary for an engineer increased 28% to Rs3.41 lakh in 2007 from Rs2.66 lakh in 2006. As a group, the highest paying companies were IT firms; the average salary paid by them went up from Rs15 lakh a year in 2006 to Rs18 lakh a year in 2007. “Salaries for engineers have increased mainly due to the supply crunch,” said K. Pandia Rajan, managing director, Ma Foi Management Consultants Ltd. The universe of engineers (available for IT companies) is further shrinking with many of them shifting to non-IT sectors such as financial services, retail and manufacturing, he added.

That was evident in 2007’s placements, according to the study. European oilfield services firm Schlumberger Ltd offered a Rs45 lakh a year package to a student from Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology, Delhi, the highest salary offered on technology campuses in 2007.

The study also ranked colleges on parameters such as placements, infrastructure, academic environment, industry interface and the perception of recruiters.

IIT Kharagpur topped this ranking with the six other IITs, NIT Warrangal, IIIT Hyderabad and IT, BHU making up the top 10.