There is some truth to the culture aspect. In India, societal prestige is deeply hierarchical. We treat engineering as a 'stepping stone' and an MBA as the 'destination.' In Western tech hubs, a Principal Engineer can make more money and hold more organizational sway than a Product Manager or Director. In India, the moment an engineer hits 28, they are pressured to move into people management or strategy

There is some truth to the culture aspect. In India, societal prestige is deeply hierarchical. We treat engineering as a 'stepping stone' and an MBA as the 'destination.' In Western tech hubs, a Principal Engineer can make more money and hold more organizational sway than a Product Manager or Director. In India, the moment an engineer hits 28, they are pressured to move into people management or strategy just to stay relevant in the appraisal cycle

IIMs didn’t destroy Indian engineering; the Indian corporate market did. When a premier IT services or core engineering firm offers a starting package of ₹4–6 LPA to a graduate from a top college, while an investment bank or FMCG giant offers ₹25+ LPA post-MBA, the choice isn't ideological it’s basic economics. If you want the brightest minds to build engineering products, you have to pay them engineering wages, not management crumbs