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It’s a paradox that should concern policymakers, educators, and industry leaders alike. Why does a country that produces more engineers annually than the population of some nations still struggle to design its own semiconductor fab ecosystem, aerospace components, or advanced materials? Why do we still look outward for high-precision machinery, defence technologies, and industrial automation tools?
The answer lies not just in numbers, but in systems. Or more precisely, the lack of systemic support for engineering as a multi-dimensional discipline, one that goes far beyond software development or coding bootcamps.
The Developer Trap
Let’s be clear: India’s dominance in software services is an achievement. The rise of IT hubs, from Bengaluru to Hyderabad, has turned the country into a global back office. But this success has also created a narrow view of what engineering means. The majority of engineering graduates today are absorbed into software development roles, many unrelated to their core disciplines.
This “developer default” is driven by market forces, no doubt. But it’s also a reflection of how engineering education has been reduced to a vocational pipeline for coding jobs. Core fields like mechanical, civil, electronics, and metallurgy are becoming less aspirational, underfunded, and largely disconnected from real-world applications. Colleges struggle to offer practical training. Labs are outdated. And industry exposure remains limited or superficial.
The R&D Deficit
True value engineering, the kind that fuels innovation in countries like Germany, Japan, or South Korea requires a robust R&D ecosystem. It demands not just skilled engineers, but interdisciplinary collaboration, access to capital, sustained experimentation, and a culture that rewards long-term problem solving.
India’s public R&D expenditure has hovered around 0.7% of GDP for years, among the lowest in the G20. Compare this to countries like South Korea (4.8%) or Israel (5.4%), and the gap becomes glaring. Even private-sector R&D in India is skewed. Large IT firms spend more on acquiring startups abroad than investing in deep-tech incubation at home.
Without serious investments in advanced labs, material sciences, process innovation, and indigenous product design, Indian engineering will remain a service function and not a value creator.
Education and Employability: A Broken Link
A deeper challenge lies in the pipeline itself. Our engineering crisis is not a college-level problem; it starts much earlier.
By the time students arrive at engineering colleges, most have been trained to memorise, not to make. School education in science and mathematics is often devoid of hands-on learning, critical thinking, or problem-based pedagogy. The NEP 2020 promises reform, but implementation remains sluggish.
The result? A workforce that is theoretically qualified, but practically unemployable. Various industry reports suggest that over 60% of engineering graduates in India are not immediately employable in their chosen domain. Many are forced to upskill independently or pivot into unrelated sectors. This mismatch between education and employability continues to erode the credibility of engineering as a profession.
What Systemic Interventions Look Like
To shift from volume to value, India needs a coordinated push across three key levers: education, industry, and policy.
- Curriculum Overhaul: Engineering education must include more hands-on projects, real-world problem solving, and industry-relevant training. Institutions like the IITs and IISc can lead, but the change must cascade to Tier 2 and Tier 3 colleges as well.
- R&D Infrastructure: The government must incentivise private players to co-invest in research clusters, high-tech parks, and innovation labs especially in core sectors like aerospace, defence, EVs, and energy. Public-private partnerships can be crucial here.
- Early Exposure: At the school level, STEM education should focus on exploration and building, not rote learning. Maker labs, robotics clubs, and local mentorships can spark interest in core engineering early on.
- Holistic Evaluation: Success in engineering should not be measured by coding job placements alone. Institutions must be rewarded for producing problem-solvers, patent holders, and entrepreneurs, not just software developers.
The Stakes Are Higher Than Jobs
This is not just about employment. Advanced value engineering is a strategic imperative for India. As the world reconfigures supply chains and seeks alternatives to China, India has a rare opportunity to build indigenous capabilities in high-value sectors. But to seize it, we must unlock the full potential of our engineering base, not just in numbers, but in depth.
The time to act is now. Not just to create jobs, but to create engineers who can build the future.
I am a data analyst and co-founder of a startup focused on skill validation and technical hiring. Views are personal.
These pieces are being published as they have been received – they have not been edited/fact-checked by ThePrint.