IITians shunning lucrative salary packages for ‘peace of mind’

Lucknow: The young IITians in Kanpur are shunning lucrative salary packages and are opting for ‘peace of mind’ instead. Their decisions are expectedly leaving their parents and teachers perplexed.

Four students of IIT Kanpur, including a girl, this week, spurned a Rs 1 crore per annum salary package offered by foreign firms.

This is the first time in the history of the institution that students have rejected such high salary offers.

“Higher salary means greater tension in the job. We are starting our careers and have seen how some of our seniors have crumbled under such pressures. We want to work on our own terms and do not wish to burn ourselves out. Money is important but not at the cost of our lives,” said one of the four students who have turned down the offer.

Another student said that he would want to continue higher studies and start his own consultancy firm instead of working for someone else.

“I want job satisfaction more than the money. I am not running after the luxuries in life but want a peaceful existence which is not possible in highly paid jobs like these,” he said.

In IIT in Banaras, Hindu University too, students have rejected high salary offers during campus placements and have opted for lower salaries that suited their requirements.

“I stay with my aged parents and cannot afford to leave them alone and shift to a foreign location. It is more important for me to look after my family than to get jam with bread and butter,” said student who gave up an offer from an MNC and chose an Indian online trading firm.

Rajiv Sangal, director, IIT BHU, said that he was happy to see this emerging trend where students are no longer chasing big packages but are weighing other aspects too.