India is currently producing lakhs of Biotechnology graduates each year but the scope for “Job” is still in a booming phase i.e., there is a lot of scope but students are unable to acquire them due to various different reasons.
The Biotechnology industry is growing economically at a very well-defined rate but salary outcome is much below standards in an early career phase. A fresh Biotechnology Graduate might not earn more than 15-20 K per month on an average. Why is the situation such bad? Some of the reasons may be:
- India has a lot of skilled workforces, if one is not doing the job for a low salary the hiring company can easily get someone else and so on. So, the fact is companies will pay as per their standards and policies.
- Some students do not wish to relocate to places too often and in India most of the Biotechnology companies are located in some specific places like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and some more. South India can be termed as the hub of Biotechnology companies.
- Academic curriculum is not often designed as per the needs and requirements of the industry and so many companies prefer hiring experienced candidates so that they can save time and money that will obviously be invested on a fresher.
- Companies have a clear objective of hiring workforce that can help them grow and as a fresher student of ten lack skills but it definitely cannot be justified with a very low salary (even lower than a daily wage worker). Government needs to initiate some steps for the same.
Moving Abroad: –
Most of students wish to move to countries like USA, Australia, Canada, Germany and more so as to complete their higher studies and get suitable jobs. Developed countries like USA often provide scholarships to foreign students to pursue their career. USA definitely have some of the best companies and work culture.
Big giant companies like- Thermo Fisher Scientific, Illumina, Pfizer, Sanofi, Takeda and other CPG industries like offer great insight salaries and packages to candidates at an entry level position. Beside that the working culture and environment plays a vital role in attracting Biotechnology Graduates. Some of the reason why Indian Students move abroad are: –
- Better wages and scholarships as compared to India
- Better and definitely a well-established work culture with a fixed minimum wage and position as per your qualification.
- Entry level positions in the US like lab technician, analyst, microbiologist, research associate, research assistant, lab support etc will generally offer $15/hr.-$20/hr. And once you get a job you will automatically be promoted to higher profiles according to your experience.
- Job security is however a same scenario Worldwide but wages and work culture is definitely what makes it attractive.
Obviously, this needs to be changed and India being one of the top 5 economies in the world can easily tackle the same by creating and designing a better and robust policy for Biotechnology in India.