Edtechs, coaching centres snag IIT grads with lucrative offers

India's edtech sector has hired several thousand graduates from the famed Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs)—both from campus and laterally—as teachers over the past five years.

- Mansi Verma & Devina Sengupta

India's edtech sector has hired several thousand graduates from the famed Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs)—both from campus and laterally—as teachers over the past five years. Notably, the salaries on offer are much higher than what the industry offers. Such a scenario—an IIT graduate imparting training to wannabe IITians for entry into the hallowed institution—works for all parties.

The coaching institute gets teachers of calibre who are also marketable. The aspiring engineer and her parents are happy that the training is being imparted by someone who has cracked the entrance code. And the IIT grad, who was probably struggling to get a well-paying job otherwise, is happy about landing one.

"Over the last five years, the edtech and coaching sector would have hired 3,000-5,000 IITians who are fresh out of campus or who have under five years of work experience," said Narayanan Ramaswamy, partner and head of the education and skill development practice at consulting and audit firm KPMG in India. To be sure, there are more than 17,700 seats in India's 23 IITs, and the number changes every year. Most of them are picked up by industries of different kinds.