Data Engineer Salary in India 2025 [Average to Highest]

The job profile of a Data Engineer is one of the most in-demand roles in the industry. They are highly valued by companies across all sectors and fetch high salaries for offering their skills and talent.

As more organizations tap into Big Data and data science to generate valuable business insights, the need for Data Engineers continues to rise, driving up their demand and salary.

In India, the data engineer salary is highly competitive, with professionals earning substantial pay due to their expertise in working with large data sets and advanced technologies. The increasing demand for data-related roles and the high level of technical skill required have resulted in a significant rise in salaries for Data Engineers in the country.

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What does it take to be a Data Engineer?

The primary role of Data Engineer jobs is to design and engineer a reliable infrastructure for transforming data into such formats as can be used by Data Scientists. Apart from building scalable pipelines to covert semi-structured and unstructured data into usable formats, Data Engineers must also identify meaningful trends in large datasets. Essentially, Data Engineers work to prepare and make raw data more useful for analytical or operational uses. There are many myths about data engineers and most of them are far from reality. Read more about the myths and reality of data engineers.

In an organization, the position of a Data Engineer is as vital as that of a Data Scientist. The only reason why Data Engineers remain away from the limelight is that they have no direct link to the end product of the analysis. Check out our data science courses to become a data engineer.

While the specific tasks of a Data Engineer can vary from one company to the other, they share some common responsibilities, including: 

• Integrate, consolidate, and cleanse data collected from multiple sources.
• Prepare raw data for manipulation and predictive/prescriptive modeling by Data Scientists.
• Develop the necessary infrastructure for optimal extraction, transformation, and loading of data from disparate sources using SQL, AWS, and other Big Data technologies.
• Deploy sophisticated analytics programs, machine learning algorithms, and statistical techniques to build data pipelines.
• Assemble vast and complex data sets to cater to the functional and non-functional business requirements.
• Identify and develop innovative ways to improve data reliability, efficiency, and quality.
• Develop, construct, test, and maintain data architectures.
• Rethink and redesign existing frameworks to optimize their functioning.
• Align data architecture to fit perfectly with business requirements.
• Conduct industry research to stay updated with the latest market trends.
• Collaborate with co-workers and clients to determine the requirements of projects.

With the increasing demand for Data Engineers, their salaries have been consistently rising. The Data Engineer salary in India is highly competitive, reflecting the critical role they play in managing and optimizing Big Data infrastructures. 
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Also read: Data Scientist Salary in India

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Skills required to be a Data Engineer

• Active project management and organizational skills.
• Strong analytic skills to handle and work with large, unstructured datasets.
• Strong programming flair in trending languages, including Python, Java, C++, Scala, Ruby, etc.
• Advanced working knowledge of SQL, along with experience in working with relational databases.
• Proficiency in working with a wide variety of databases.
• Experience in building and optimizing Big Data pipelines and architectures.
• Experience in performing root cause analysis on internal/external data and processes to find solutions for specific business issues and identify improvement opportunities.
• Experience in working with Big Data platforms like Hadoop, Spark, Kafka, Flume, Pig, Hive, etc.
• Experience in handling data pipeline and workflow management tools like Azkaban, Luigi, Airflow, etc.
• Experience in handling stream-processing systems such as Storm and Spark-Streaming.

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Emerging Trends in Data Engineer Salaries in India

The demand for Data Engineers in India is on the rise, and with it, the data engineer salary in India is evolving based on various market trends. One significant shift is the increasing employment of Data Engineers from outside the major IT hubs like Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Pune.. The talent pool is growing as a result of this tendency, which is also having an effect on pay scales. Data engineers who work remotely may negotiate pay packages that take their location and cost of living into consideration, resulting in more attractive offers.

Certifications and Skillsets

Certified Data Engineers are in more demand. Candidates with credentials in data engineering and related industries are becoming more and more in demand by employers. The possession of these qualifications not only attests to a Data Engineer’s proficiency but may also result in greater wage offers. Companies are prepared to invest in experts who have shown a dedication to remaining up to date with the newest technology and data engineering best practices.

Data Engineer Salary

According to Glassdoor, the average Data Engineer salary in India is Rs.8,56,643 LPA. But of course, the Data Engineer salary in India depends on several factors, including company size and reputation, geographical location, education qualifications, job position, and work experience. Reputed companies and big players in the Big Data industry like Amazon, Airbnb, Spotify, Netflix, IBM, Accenture, Deloitte, and Capgemini, to name a few, usually pay high compensation to Data Engineers. Also, the more your past work experience in Big Data, the higher will be your market value.

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 Despite the global demand-supply paradox (the demand for Data Engineers far exceeds their supply), the career prospect of Data Engineers looks promising in India. According to Analytics India Magazine report,

 “While IT firms have shown a negative trend, the demand for data engineering professionals has increased across the companies, resulting in a significant jump in their salary structure. Whereas for salaries across analytics skills, advanced analytics roles and predictive modeling professionals grabbed the limelight compared to other roles.”

Due to the shortage of adequate talent in the field, companies are ready to pay huge remuneration to freshers and mid-level Data Engineers as well. According to PayScale, the average salary of  Data Engineer in India for freshers (less than 1 year of experience) averages ₹4,00,676 LPA. As the demand for Big Data expertise continues to grow, entry-level Data Engineers can expect competitive salary packages and strong career growth opportunities in the coming years. 

The data engineer salary in India varies significantly based on experience level. Here’s a breakdown of average annual salaries:

• Early Career (1-4 years of experience): ₹7,37,257 LPA
• Mid-Level (5-9 years of experience): ₹12,18,983 LPA
• Senior-Level (15+ years of experience): ₹15,79,282 LPA
   

Source 

 Another substantial progress on the ground of compensation is that the percentage of analytics professionals with a salary package of less than Rs. 6 LPA has reduced significantly. As of now, 37.6% of analytics professionals in India make less than Rs.6 LPA, which is lower than what it was in 2017 (39%) and 2016 (42%).

Source 

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Startups and Data Engineer Equity

Data engineers may be able to earn shares in addition to their pay in the startup environment. Many companies include stock options in their pay packages so that Data Engineers may benefit from the expansion and success of the business. Even while the basic pay at startups may be competitive, experienced data engineers looking for both financial incentives and the opportunity to participate in cutting-edge projects may find these positions appealing.

Industry-Specific Variations

Depending on the sector they work in, data engineers’ compensation might vary widely. For instance, due to these companies’ extensive data requirements, Data Engineers in the e-commerce and fintech sectors typically earn higher pay. While finance organizations need a strong data infrastructure for fraud detection and financial modeling, e-commerce companies significantly rely on data for consumer behavior research and targeted suggestions. As a result, Data Engineers in these industries frequently receive generous pay scales.

Data Engineering as a Career Choice

Data engineers are in increasing demand as more companies see the benefits of making decisions based on data. In addition to resulting in better wages, this growing demand also gives Data Engineers employment stability and chances for professional advancement. In India, data engineering is growing in popularity as a field of study, drawing people from various technological and data science backgrounds. The possibilities for competitive pay and professional growth in 2025 are still positive for anyone thinking about a career in data engineering.

Conclusion

Given the steady rise in data analytics and Big Data jobs in India and overseas, it is an excellent time to consider becoming a Data Engineer. The future for Data Engineer jobs looks bright. There is plenty of job scope in the Data Science domain, and it is posited to increase further in the future.

With companies relying heavily on Big Data for decision-making, the job scope for Data Engineers is expected to expand further in the coming years. This increasing demand is also positively impacting the data engineer salary in India, making it a highly rewarding career path. As businesses continue to invest in data infrastructure and analytics, the future of Data Engineering looks brighter than ever.

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References: 

https://insights.dice.com/2019/06/04/data-engineer-remains-top-demand-job/
https://www.burning-glass.com/products/nova/
https://insights.dice.com/2019/06/04/data-engineer-remains-top-demand-job/
https://www.glassdoor.co.in/Salaries/india-data-engineer-salary-SRCH_IL.0,5_IN115_KO6,19.htm
https://yourstory.com/2019/10/indias-advanced-analytics
https://www.financialexpress.com/industry/indias-data-engineers-are-the-ones-who-will-be-paid-millions-this-year-too/1127112/
https://www.payscale.com/research/IN/Job=Data_Engineer/Salary
https://www.financialexpress.com/industry/indias-data-engineers-are-the-ones-who-will-be-paid-millions-this-year-too/1127112/
https://images.financialexpress.com/2018/04/data-engineer.png
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_engineering