Once the top career choice of most middle-income individuals, engineering may be losing popularity in Maharashtra. The state, which has over 1,100 engineering colleges and roughly produces around 2,500-3,000 IITians per year, has witnessed this trend decline drastically. Reports suggest that nearly one-third of engineering seats in Maharashtra are vacant this year, with a total of 1,64,336 available and only 1,12,981 students confirming admissions so far. The vacancy rate has gone up to 31 per cent from 25.82 per cent last year. Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar and Mumbai have the highest vacancy rates at 42.2 per cent and 36.64 per cent, respectively.

The reasons for this could be many: According to data, just 2.5 lakh of the 15 lakh engineers who graduate in India each year find work in the engineering sector; the rest pursue non-technical fields to stay afloat. Mumbai-based career counsellor and educational consultancy firm Holistree’s founder Dhaval Shah told mid-day that he has been observing this trend for almost a decade, but it has become much more evident now as it is the lowest drop in engineering admissions in the last five years.