MBAs bag higher salaries than engineers: Top B-schools average Rs 27.4 lakh
A Deloitte report indicates that MBA graduates are commanding significantly higher salaries than engineering graduates in India. Recruiters are increasingly prioritizing leadership and business-oriented skills over purely technical expertise.
Why it matters
This trend highlights a shifting labor market where the ability to integrate technology with business strategy is becoming more lucrative than technical execution alone.
If you thought that your good old MBA (Master of Business Administration) degree was losing relevance, think again! According to Deloitte India’s Campus Workforce Trends 2026 report, MBA degrees continue to command a premium over engineering positions.In fact, an MBA is emerging as more than just an additional qualification for students entering the campus placement process, with management positions attracting a significantly higher salary premium than engineering roles.Deloitte’s survey covers the 505 leading campuses identified through the National Institutional Ranking Framework. Within each category, including MBA, BTech, BBA and BCom, the firm places the 40 institutes immediately after the top 10 in its tier-1 group.In engineering, this includes NIRF-ranked institutions from 11 to 40, among them BITS Pilani, IIT Indore, NIT Rourkela, IIT Dhanbad, Jadavpur and NIT Calicut, as well as other IITs and NITs.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in