Kolkata emerges as the best paying city to live in for data scientists. The city seems to be a clear winner for analysts, earnings-wise, with an average salary package of US$ 15,276 to start with, when their salaries are adjusted to the cost of living according to the Analytics and Big Data Salary Report 2016 by Jigsaw Academy and Analytics Vidhya.

The report’s findings were based on information collected from 60,000+ analytics professionals with advanced analytics/data science skills. According to the report, analysts experience the biggest jump in salaries once they have clocked 5 years in the industry, and can expect a raise of up to 70% with an average pay of US$ 17,878 annually.

The analytics and big data sector has seen consistent growth over the last five years despite an increasingly uncertain global outlook. The market for advanced analytics is expected to grow at a CAGR of 33.2% and Big Data at a CAGR of 26.4%, almost six to eight times that of the overall IT market.

Commenting on the report findings, Gaurav Vohra, CEO of Jigsaw Academy said, “The demand for data professionals has grown, however a corresponding surge in supply has failed to happen. Experts estimate a shortfall of approximately 200,000 data analysts in India by 2018. The extremely competitive pay scales reflect this incongruity.”

“In 2005 entry level salaries were around US$3000 – $5000 per year however today, pay scales have gone up phenomenally. Demand for Big Data and Analytics professionals is rising because both domestic and international companies are relying upon India for the right talent. With data being generated at such a furious pace, I don’t see the demand for Big Data analysis-or analysts-slowing down any time soon.”

See: Entering the Era of the ‘New Normal’ in Salary Increases in India

Also the start-up ecosystem is responsible for the creation of over 30,000 analytics and big data jobs every year across India. Being the start-up capital of India, Bangalore sees at least 10,000 jobs being created in the data analytics sector annually, followed by Delhi with around 7,000 jobs and Mumbai, with approximately 4,000 jobs.

Puneet Gambhir, a key member of the Analytics Leadership at Flipkart, said “We are assiduously building up the analytics talent pool within Flipkart. Analytics enables us to create better and differentiated experiences for our customers at all touch points of our business and hence the need to shore up on such skill sets.”

Commenting on the report Kunal Jain, Founder & CEO of Analytics Vidhya said, “This is one of the most exciting times to be alive for data science professionals. We are standing at an inflection point in history, after which analytics and data science will become an integral part of any product or service available. Our community comprises thousands of data scientists and we regularly look for trends in the industry.”

Other key highlights of the report:

• Indian start-ups are willing to pay over US$15,500 per annum to attract the best talent in the analytics industry when compared to large companies, which pay around US$14,000 per year.
• Companies today are looking for employees who have knowledge of multiple tools. The highest recorded salary for 2015-2016 is US$ 18,532, the recipients of which are analysts with knowledge of more than one of these tools – SPSS, SAS, R & Python.
• Companies are keen to hire individuals with business acumen and experience, which means that an MBA alone won’t cut it. Candidates are also expected to know analytics to successfully land analytics and big data jobs.
• R remains the front-runner in the analytics race with salary packages of US$ 14,825 per annum. Python, however, is hot on its heels.
• Analysts who have big data and data science skill sets are paid 26% more than analysts with knowledge of just data science or Big Data in itself.
• Start-ups seem to be cashing in on professionals with R & SQL skills, whereas larger organizations still seem to favour SAS, since they can afford to buy expensive proprietary software.

T.V. Mohandas Pai, Chairman of Manipal Global Education Services said, “Analytics is one of the most important skills required in today’s professionals. Having analytics as a part of their skill portfolio will allow these professionals to easily scoop up the most lucrative jobs, as the market is hungry for such trained talent.”

Also read: Hiring Outlook for 2016 in India

Image credit: LinkedIn