Great careers in automobile engineering

The rapid and unexpected growth of this industry has created a sudden surge in the demand for automobile engineers, prompting a growing number of colleges to offer study programmes

India’s automobile (non-commercial vehicles) industry, once written off as beyond redemption, has emerged as a global force to reckon with. The current year promises to be the year of the Indian auto industry with many snazzy new models ranging from entry-level compacts and value-packed mid-sizers to top-end saloons and sports cars ready to roll off the assembly lines. This marks the coming of age of an industry that just over a decade ago was dominated by two obsolete models — the stodgy Ambassador and boxy Padmini Premier.

As a consequence the automobile engineering industry whose turnover has crossed $ 22 billion (Rs.96,800 crore), contributing 3 percent of GDP and providing employment to about 4.5 lakh people directly and nearly 10 million people indirectly, offers challenging and rewarding careers to young people.

Automobile engineering is an applied science that combines mechanical, electrical and safety engineering for the manufacture and development of automotive vehicles. This career is most suitable for qualified engineers with good grounding in maths and physics.

The rapid and unexpected growth of this industry has created a sudden surge in the demand for automobile engineers, prompting a growing number of colleges and universities to offer programmes in automobile engineering. Admission into these programmes is open to those who have completed Plus Two averaging at least 50 percent in physics, chemistry and mathematics. It is advisable that students in class XII write the AIEEE (All India Engineering/Architecture Entrance Examination) to secure provisional admission. However, they still need to fulfill the eligibility criteria of engineering colleges in the Plus Two school-leaving exam.

Among the engineering colleges countrywide which offer study programmes in automobile engineering are: M.H Saboo Siddik College of Engineering, Mumbai; Rajarambapu Institute of Technology, Sangli; ARAI, Pune; Vishwakarma Institute of Technology, Pune; KLE Society College of Engineering, and the National Institute of Engineering, Mysore. Moreover postgrad Masters programmes in automotive engineering are being offered by IIT, Chennai, IIT Delhi and I2IT Pune. For those wishing to study abroad, Merton College, Oxford, UK, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US, and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia are renowned for their automobile engineering study programmes.

With a steadily increasing number of automobile models being marketed in India (both in the luxury and non-luxury segments), the industry’s manpower requirements are spiralling. An automobile engineer can find work in the automobile manufacturing industry, automobile marketing and/or in automobile insurance with companies (like Tata AIG, ICICI Lombard etc), private transport companies, and even the defence services. Start-up pay for automobile engineers ranges between Rs.18,000-23,000 per month with bigger pay packages for those with postgrad qualifications.

"The automotive industry is emerging as the manufacturing sector’s growth engine with the boom in this industry likely to continue for at least 10-15 years. At present, there’s a huge shortage of qualified automotive engineers. It’s a big challenge to find the talent with everybody fishing in the same pond. Now is the time for youngsters who have gone abroad to acquire skills in automotive engineering to come back home and build great careers," advises Dr. Arun Jaura, senior vice-president, product development and R&D of the Mumbai-based Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd (sales: Rs.8,136 crore in fiscal 2005-06). Ranked among India’s top 20 companies in terms of market capitalisation, M&M is the #1 vendor of automotive four-wheel drive vehicles and SUVs (sports utility vehicles).

A mechanical engineering graduate of the National Institute of Technology, Srinagar, Jaura worked with DRDO (Defence Research & Development Organisation) in Chennai prior to enrolling with IIT-Madras for a Master’s in control systems and servo hydraulics (1989). Pressing on, he acquired a Ph D in robotics from Montreal University (1992). With these impeccable academic credentials, he was signed up by the 103-year-old Ford Motor Co in Detroit where he worked for nine years (1996-2005). During this interregnum he registered four global patents and published papers in 37 reputed publications prior to signing up as head of R&D with M&M in 2005.

According to Jaura, while hitherto top-ranked young engineers were averse to joining the passenger car manufacturing industry, their mindset is fast changing. "Last year M&M signed up 360 graduate and postgraduate automotive engineers as trainees. With the company having recently signed a collaboration agreement with Renault, France to produce 400,000 motor cars and SUVs in our 925 acre facility in Chennai, we are experimenting with a host of new technologies, alternate energy sources, telematics and 21st century automobiles. These are very exciting times for well-qualified automotive engineers," says Jaura.

So if fast cars are your passion, automobile engineering may be the career which will enable you to cruise on the super highway to success!

Indra Gidwani (Mumbai)