Synopsis

India has too many engineers chasing too few entry-level jobs, with 0-3 year professionals making up 45% of candidates but only 28% of openings, according to foundit. Overall, nearly 39.6 lakh engineering candidates are competing for 6.68 lakh jobs—about six candidates for every opening.

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Mumbai: The engineering talent market faces a growing mismatch between candidate supply and hiring demand, with entry-level job seekers accounting for 45 per cent of the pool against the requirement of just 28 per cent, a report said on Tuesday.

The gap between the availability of engineering talent and demand is most pronounced at the entry level, the report by talent platform foundit, formerly Monster, said.

Professionals with 0-3 years of experience make up nearly 45 per cent of the active engineering candidate pool, but account for only 28 per cent of job opportunities, it added.

The report is based on active job postings in August, compiled from engineering roles posted across online platforms, and the candidate supply was derived from foundit's talent database.

Overall, the August 2026 estimate shows 39.59 lakh active engineering candidates against 6.68 lakh engineering-background jobs, translating to 5.9 candidates for every job.

The aggregate ratio, however, varies significantly across engineering streams, from 1.1 candidates per job in automobile/automotive engineering to 11.5 in electronics and instrumentation.

The report found that candidate availability is highest at the beginning of an engineering career and tightens considerably beyond three years of experience.

While engineers with 0-3 years of experience form the largest candidate pool, the candidate-to-job ratio more than halves by the 15+ years cohort, from 9.5 to 4.1.

The 4-10 year segment captures the majority of engineering demand at 54 per cent.

"Engineering careers today are no longer defined by a single sector or traditional career path. As demand expands across technology, manufacturing, infrastructure, automotive, electronics and energy, engineers have a wider canvas to build their careers. The opportunity is to keep evolving with where industries are headed and apply their engineering foundation across emerging areas of demand," said foundit CPTO Tarun Sharma.

Further, the report revealed that technology remained the largest single destination for engineers, but most engineering opportunities now sit outside it.

IT/software and services/GCCs account for 33 per cent of engineering jobs, while the remaining 67 per cent span other industries.

Manufacturing/industrial is the second-largest destination at 15 per cent, followed by construction/engineering/real estate at 13 per cent.

Electronics/semiconductors, automotive/EV and energy/power/renewables together account for another 26 per cent of opportunities.

Geographically, Bengaluru remains India's largest individual engineering hiring hub, accounting for 19 per cent of opportunities, or 1.27 lakh jobs.

Delhi-NCR follows at 13 per cent, Hyderabad at 12 per cent, Pune at 10 per cent, Chennai at 9 per cent and Mumbai at 8 per cent.

Other tier I and II cities collectively account for 29 per cent of engineering opportunities, or 1.94 lakh jobs, with demand spanning sectors including manufacturing, IT, infrastructure and industrial engineering, it added.

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