Biggies like Google, Amazon & Microsoft paying undergrads Rs 1 lakh stipends for internships

In a reflection of the growing demand for skilled engineers in the tech industry, India has seen an increase in the number of undergraduate engineering students securing internships with monthly stipends of Rs 1 lakh or more from biggies like Amazon, Google, Intuit India, Microsoft, Palo Alto and Goldman Sachs. These internships, which can last 3-6 months, are a golden ticket to full-time roles in high-demand fields like data science, cloud computing, and analytics.

At IIT Mandi, 27 students have received Rs 1-lakh-or-more stipends this year. In Bengaluru, RV College of Engineering has seen 39 students earning over Rs 1 lakh in monthly stipends compared to 8 last year. Vellore Institute of Technology also reports approximately 30 students with Rs 1-lakh stipends, with companies like Couchbase and Amazon offering Rs 1.2 lakh and Rs 1.1 lakh, respectively. The internship window is yet to close this year for the final count.

The competition for these high-paying internships is fierce. V Samuel Rajkumar, director, career development centre at VIT, emphasised the importance of technical skills, problem-solving abilities, and a learning mindset for securing these opportunities.

Professor Ranganath D, RV College of Engineering's dean of placement, said that companies such as Amazon, UiPath, and Microsoft have offered stipends up to Rs 1.4 lakh for various tech roles. Similarly, Walmart, Goldman Sachs, and Palo Alto have provided Rs 1-lakh stipends.

"The bar is high. About 39 students have received internship stipends of Rs 1 lakh and more who will be graduating this year. Campus offers from top-tier firms are internship-driven that not only gives them role exposure, but it provides a segway to working on newer technologies as these digital natives naturally lend to it," the professor said.

Himani Sood, pro-chancellor at Chandigarh University, said that companies like Atlassian, Uber, and Google have also offered stipends of Rs 1 lakh. MIT-World Peace University in Pune said cloud data management Veritas Technologies has shortlisted 10 computer science students for internships with a Rs 1-lakh stipend.

A majority of the students interning with these tech firms have secured full-time positions. Sood pointed out a high conversion from internships to full-time positions, with top tech firms in India offering annual compensation between Rs 40 lakh to Rs 65 lakh, and international roles reaching up to Rs 1 crore.

Naveen C, senior manager, training and placement in Bengaluru-based Reva University, said that a student interning with Visa received a Rs 90,000 stipend and later a job offer of over Rs 50 lakh per annum.

Last year, VIT's Rajkumar said a connected infrastructure and analytics company, MotorQ, offered a record annual compensation of Rs 1 crore to two VIT students, including stock awards. Emails sent to Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Palo Alto Networks, Goldman Sachs, Intuit India, UiPath, Uber and Atlassian didn't elicit a response till the time of going to press.