Top 15 Highest Paying Jobs in India for Freshers

In the present job market, salaries are exploding significantly at junior levels. Niche and emerging skills like AI, big data, machine learning and voice recognition are constantly in demand. Organizations are pulling in freshers displaying these fortes with open arms. As a result, a fresh college grad in India can draw a salary as high as 9 to 23 lakhs per annum. These numbers were almost 3 times less for a fresher about 5 years ago.

Here’s a list of top highest paying jobs in India for freshers in 2019 and beyond.

1. Full Stack Developer & Software Developer

How much does a full stack developer make? Well it is one of the highest paying jobs in India, but the income depends on which company hires the fresher. A full stack developer in India can earn anything between 3 to 10 lakhs per year. The average salary for a fresher (or a person with experience level 0 to 3 years) is about 3.6 lakhs per year for a Software Engineer. These Salary estimates are based on actual salaries present on Naukri Career Navigator.



Image source: Naukri Career Navigator for highest paying jobs in India

2. Data Scientist

On an average, a fresh college graduate who joins any company as a Data Scientist can earn 6 lakhs per year. However, their knowledge can strongly influence their income. This makes a data scientist’s job truly a high paying one.

3. Salesforce Engineer

In India, a fresher who chooses to become a domain expert can earn really well. For instance, in the field of Cloud Computing, a Salesforce Engineer fresher can earn as much as 5 lakhs per annum as the starting package. Once he/she gathers some experience, they can easily make about 7 lakhs per annum within the next 12 months’ time.

4. Management Consultant

For freshers who choose to become management consultants, average salary stands at 8 lakhs per year. Freshers are expected to possess requisite skills in IT consulting, business strategy, strategy, and supply chain for related positions.

5. Commercial Pilot

Commercial pilot’s job can be extremely glamourous and exciting. While training, entry level commercial pilots earn about 2 lakhs per annum. After confirmation on the job, they can earn as high as 23 lakhs per annum on an average!

6. Doctor

In India, an MBBS fresher at the least earns a minimum of rupees 7 lakhs per which stands at around 60k per month, even if they are in a rural area. In the national capital region, the figure stands at about 1 lakh per month, for freshers. The highest earners however are freshers who have a specialization like orthopedic surgeons, cardiologists and radiologists and they can earn more than 18 lakhs in the first year itself, if they are really good.

7. Civil Service Officer

Post the 7th pay commission, junior level civil servants are now earning between 50k and 1.5 lakh per month, and their grade pay stands at 16k per month. This becomes 90k per month fixed, post confirmation after a year. This does not include variables and additional perks, thereby making it a one of the highest paying jobs in India.

8. Chartered Accountant

The average salary of a fresher who chooses to become a Chartered Accountant in India, ranges from 6 to lakhs per annum. During campus placement drives, CAs are offered up to 8 lakhs per annum. This figure can go up to 30 lakhs per annum after a year, if the CA is really good or gets hired by a top firm.

9. Merchant Navy Professional

In Merchant Navy, a fresher’s salary can range between 12k during training months to 8 lakhs per month! The gap seems wide because of an uneven pay structure, that differs from company to company, city to city etc. Also, remuneration for freshers in the field depends on export-import needs, seniority etc. Generally, all crew members are men and officers are given free meals on board. After becoming a senior, one can take along their wives.

10. Startup Founder

Brand new startup founders who are fresh out of college can make it big if their product has the potential to make a dent in the market. A rough estimate would be anything between 50-60K per month to a lakh for an early revenue generating company. Once the website and business are set up, fresher founders can either bootstrap the project or look for VC funding, acquisitions and mergers, which can make them bigger players in the market.

11. Technical Writer

A fresher technical writer on an average makes about 4 lakhs per year. Sometimes, people on the job choose to move on to bigger companies after a few months or years in this career. Honestly, experience strongly influences income in this job role.

12. Relationship Therapist or Counseling psychologists

A fresh counseling psychologist who has graduated only recently or has bare minimum experience can start at around 25k to 30k per month. On the other hand, psychologists and relationship therapists in metro cities can make almost 70k to a lakh every month. If the counselor starts a private setup, they can earn way more by charging patients on an hourly basis.

13. Investment Banker

The average salary of an investment banking analyst in India is 10 to 25 lakhs per annum depending on the institute that he or she passes out from. Further, type of company and experience can strongly influence salary on this job.

14. Marketing Manager

Marketing managers who pass out with an MBA degree from premium colleges in India can earn anywhere between 12 to 20 lakhs per year. Freshers passing from Tier 2 colleges can earn up to 6 lakhs on an average, depending on which city they are in.

15. Graphic Designer

Graphic Artists and Designers in India make a starting salary of about 2.7 lakhs per annum. This is decent considering the fact that even a non-technical graduate with a diploma in design can make it big as a graphic artist in the future.
Fresher Hiring Activity in February 2019

According to Naukri JobSpeak Index for February 2019, recruitment for entry-level jobs which falls in the experience band of 0-3 years witnessed a rise of 17% in February 2019. Also, the demand for fresher talent and availability of highest paying jobs in India for freshers grew across metropolitan cities i.e. Delhi NCR, Chennai and Mumbai.




Highest paying companies in India for freshers

1. Google

Freshers are offered anything between 6 lakhs to 20 lakhs depending on their educational background and the position they are being hired for.

2. Accenture

This company offers a starting package of 2 to 10 lakhs, depending on whether the graduate has an engineering background or not.

3. Tata Consultancy Services

Freshers are mostly hired in bulk as Software engineers at Tata Consultancy Services. The company conducts both on and off campus drives and these freshers are offered an average annual salary ranging between 3 to 8 lakhs per annum.

4. Cognizant Technology Solutions

Freshers who work at Cognizant Technology Solutions are generally offered an average annual package ranging between 3 and 6 lakhs. After joining the company, every employee goes through an annual appraisal cycle that occurs once every year, and the hike is decent which is the main reason behind a low rate of attrition in this organization.

5. IBM

Entry level graduate engineers and non-technical candidates are offered good remunerations at IBM. The average salary package ranges between 2 to 7 lakhs per annum. For a fresher, this is a great brand to start a career from. Later on, after acquiring requisite business and technical skills, one can always switch for better salary packages.

6. Infosys

The typical Infosys fresher salary ranges from 1.6 to 10+ lakhs per annum. This range applies to beginner level positions like Technical Process Executives, Non-technical Process Assistants, System Engineer Trainees, Management Trainees, HR Trainees etc.

7. Intel

For a fresher who joins Intel, average salary range would be 3 to 6 lakhs per annum. The starting salary per month would lie somewhere at Rs 40,000. Intel is a good paymaster and is known for its year on year appraisal and salary hikes.

8. CISCO

Technical freshers who join CISCO can earn up to a whopping 10 lakhs per annum as their first pay package!

9. Microsoft

At Microsoft, there is no set salary package for a fresher in India. Every single offer rolled out at Microsoft is tailored according to a candidate’s skills, expertise and the business requirements aligned with the role. Median salary range for a fresher in India Microsoft office is 12 lakhs per annum (this median also includes premium colleges like IITs and IIMs too.)

Please note that Microsoft does not hire too many people for entry-level positions. Day-to-day monitoring tasks are generally outsourced to smaller Indian software firms. Hires are mostly experienced graduates or exceptional students or start-up founders. So relevant work experience, a mind-blowing project work or a break though invention can earn you bonus points in an interview at Microsoft.

10. Amazon

The term ‘highest paying jobs in India’ is synonymous with Amazon as the company is known for offering lucrative starting packages to talented freshers. Salaries at Amazon depend heavily on the type of profile one is looking forward to. A new graduate doing a data entry or back office job can earn 18k per month at Amazon while a fresher Tax Manager or an inexperienced Software Engineer can earn more than 6 lakhs per year.

Note: Salary related data for highest paying jobs in India have been extracted from Naukri and Google.

How freshers can jump start a highest paying career in India

A highest paying job is not just a need, but an inevitable need in a fresher’s career. Besides, a stable profession might actually mean much more than just income for someone who is just starting out in the professional world. Though all the jobs mentioned in this article are well rewarding ones, please note that salary specifications may vary with time. Here are some workarounds to help you land one of these highest paying jobs in India:

=> Acquire a degree from a decent college or university with good marks
=> Develop necessary skills for the requisite job profile
=> Showcase a drive to thrive in the specified field of job
=> Pay attention to presence on job sites and business connection sites
=> Revamp resume to ensure there are no factual and grammatical mistakes

Once all the above points are in place, you will surely be able to land a high paying job as a fresher in India.