Kolkata Emerges as the Best Paying City to Live in for Data Scientists, Says the Salary Report 2016 by Jigsaw Academy and Analytics Vidhya

BANGALORE, February 25, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Jigsaw Academy and Analytics Vidhya Launch the Analytics and Big Data Salary Report 2016  

Kolkata seems to be a clear winner for analysts, earnings-wise, with an average salary package of Rs. 10.51 lakh when their salaries are adjusted to the cost of living according to the Analytics and Big Data Salary Report 2016 by Jigsaw Academy and Analytics Vidhya. The report's findings were based on information collected from 60,000+ analytics professionals  with advanced analytics/data science skills.

According to the report, analysts experience the biggest jump in salaries once they have clocked 5 years in the industry, and can expect a raise of up to 70% with an average pay of Rs. 12.3 lakhs p.a.

The Analytics & Big Data sector has seen consistent growth over the last five years despite an increasingly uncertain global outlook. The market for advanced analytics is expected to grow at a CAGR of 33.2% and Big Data at a CAGR of 26.4%, almost six to eight times that of the overall IT market.

Commenting on the report findings, CEO of Jigsaw Academy Gaurav Vohra  observed that, "The demand for data professionals has grown but a corresponding surge in supply has failed to happen. Experts estimate a shortfall of approximately 200,000 data analysts in India by 2018. The extremely competitive pay scales reflect this incongruity. In 2005 entry level salaries were around 2-4 lakhs per year but today, pay scales have gone up phenomenally. Demand for Big Data and Analytics professionals is rising because both domestic and international companies are relying upon India for the right talent. With data being generated at such a furious pace, I don't see the demand for Big Data analysis-or analysts-slowing down any time soon."

According to Gaurav Vohra, the start-up ecosystem is responsible for the creation of over 30,000 Analytics & Big Data jobs every year across India. Being the start-up capital of India, Bangalore sees at least 10,000 jobs being created in the data analytics sector annually, followed by Delhi with around 7000 jobs and Mumbai, with approximately 4000 jobs. 

Puneet Gambhir, a key member of the Analytics Leadership at Flipkart, said "We are assiduously building up the analytics talent pool within Flipkart. Analytics enables us to create better and differentiated experiences for our customers at all touch points of our business and hence the need to shore up on such skill sets."

Commenting on the report Kunal Jain, Founder & CEO of Analytics Vidhya said "This is one of the most exciting times to be alive for data science professionals. We are standing at an inflection point in history, after which analytics and data science will become an integral part of any product or service available. Our community comprises thousands of data scientists and we regularly look for trends in the industry. We are excited to release these findings for the benefit of a larger audience and hope that this helps people make the right career choices."

T.V. Mohandas Pai, Chairman of Manipal Global Education Services said, "Analytics is one of the most important skills required in today's professionals. Having analytics as a part of their skill portfolio will allow these professionals to easily scoop up the most lucrative jobs, as the market is hungry for such trained talent."

Other key highlights of the report:

- Indian start-ups are willing to pay over Rs. 10.8 lakhs per annum to attract the best talent in the analytics industry when compared to large companies, which pay around Rs. 9.6 lakhs

- Companies today are looking for employees who have knowledge of multiple tools. The highest recorded salary for 2015-2016 is Rs. 12.75 lakhs p.a., the recipients of which are analysts with knowledge of more than one of these tools - SPSS, SAS, R & Python

- Companies are keen to hire individuals with business acumen and experience, which means that an MBA alone won't cut it. Candidates are also expected to know analytics to successfully land Analytics/Big Data jobs

- R remains the front-runner in the analytics race with salary packages of Rs. 10.2 lakhs per annum. Python, however, is hot on its heels

- Analysts who have Big Data and Data Science skillsets are paid 26% more than analysts with a knowledge of just data science or Big Data

- Startups seem to be cashing in on professionals with R & SQL skills whereas larger organizations still seem to favour SAS, since they can afford to buy expensive proprietary software

The research methodology used to source data for the Analytics & Big Data Salary Report 2016  

The data points include people who came into contact with Analytics Vidhya through their website, job platform, hiring competitions and other sources. This number also includes, but is not limited to, people applying for jobs on the Analytics Vidhya website, confidential searches, hackathons, and tie-ups with skill-enhancement partners.

People with only advanced analytics/data science skills were considered for the study. For example, people who were only experienced in MIS have been excluded from the study. Once filtered, the skill sets of the survey participants were appropriately categorized in order to gain insights into the data.

The findings are open to biases arising from the nature of the jobs/competitions hosted on Analytics Vidhya's website. However, we believe that even with this bias, this first-of-its-kind study of the Indian Analytics industry and the thousands of analytics professionals it employs, reveals many fascinating ground realities.

Please note that this version is for media use only - To access the full report, click here. 

About Jigsaw Academy:  

Jigsaw Academy, the online school of analytics, has trained over 40,000 students across 30+ countries in the most widely used industry-relevant data analytics tools and techniques. Jigsaw Academy's founders, Gaurav Vohra and Sarita Digumarti, have over 25 years of combined experience in consulting and analytics across multiple industry verticals in India and the United States. 

Website: http://www.jigsawacademy.com  

Blog: http://www.analyticstraining.com

About Analytics Vidhya:  

Analytics Vidhya is one of the world's largest and fastest growing analytics communities. They aim to make data science knowledge free and accessible to people across the globe. Analytics Vidhya entertains close to 450,000 visits from data science professionals across the globe, who access the organisation's blog, discussion portal, hackathons, meetups and webinars.

Website: http://www.analyticsvidhya.com         

Blog: http://www.analyticsvidhya.com/blog

Discussion: http://discuss.analyticsvidhya.com  

Competitions: http://datahack.analyticsvidhya.com

Media Contact:
Megha KC
[email protected]
+91-9916726597
Jigsaw Academy