Meet IITian, whose first salary at TCS was Rs 1300, left job, cracked UPSC exam and became IAS officer, he is...

Former IAS officer Rohit Kumar Singh took to his social media recently and posted a picture of his first offer letter from his first job at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) which was issued on June 26, 1984. In this case, he was paid Rs 1,300 per month which he referred to as a princely salary for the period. Singh got this position as a trainee at TCS Mumbai during campus placement at IIT-BHU.

In his post on X, Singh recalled his early days in Mumbai and the view of the Arabian Sea from the 11th floor of Air India Building at Nariman Point. He pointed out how this initial role paved the way for his successful career in public service after further studies in the United States. After working in TCS, Singh got his Master’s degree in Computer Engineering from Clarkson University in New York and then cleared the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 1989.

A little more than 40 years ago, I got my first job at TCS Mumbai through campus recruitment at IIT BHU.
With a princely salary of 1300 Rupees, the ocean view from the 11th Floor of Air India Building at Nariman Point was regal indeed! pic.twitter.com/A9akrhgu7F

— Rohit Kumar Singh (@rohitksingh) September 29, 2024

At present, Singh is a member of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) and has been in service for more than three decades in various important positions in the Indian government. When asked about how much he is paid as an IAS officer, he said that he was paid Rs 2,200 when he first entered the civil service.

Singh’s musings led to some conversations in the social media platform, with users sharing their thoughts on salaries over the years. A user estimated that Rs 1,300 in 1984 is equivalent to about Rs 21,000 today, which implies that TCS has always paid rather low wages compared to the current market rate. The story of his transition from TCS to IAS also shows a transformation of the person along with the trends in the pattern of the Indian working professionals.