PSUs: A Preferred Destination For Engineers

As uncertainties loom large on the job markets, more and more engineering graduates are eyeing jobs in public sector undertakings (PSUs) that offer stability and assured career progression…

- Pritha Roy Choudhury

Are you looking for a dream job which not only pays you well, but takes care of your family as well? Try your luck in one of the public sector undertakings (PSUs), just as Divyanshu Jha did through the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE). “Basically for any engineer, PSUs offer the best field to work in the technical area, the core area. They provide you the platform to apply what you have learnt in the core subjects. So, get an entry to a PSU through GATE. And that was why I decided to appear for GATE,” says Jha, who did B.Tech (Mechanical) from Delhi Technology University in 2016. Jha cracked GATE in 2017 and got appointed as Executive Trainee in GAIL (India) Ltd., an integrated energy PSU in the hydrocarbon sector, in the same year.

PSU is a government-owned entity in which the central government has more than 51 percent of share. PSUs are divided into Maharatna, Navratna and Miniratna categories, based on their turnover and performance. There are at least 257 operating PSUs, out of which eight are Maharatnas (ONGC, IOCL, GAIL, NTPC, BHEL, BEML, Coal India Ltd and SAIL).

PSU jobs through GATE

If you are a final year engineering student, you should prepare for GATE as at least 50 PSUs recruit through the same for entry-level jobs that require an undergraduate degree in engineering. Around 10 lakh candidates appear for GATE every year. More than 2,000 vacancies were filled up through GATE 2017, with BSNL topping the list with 2510 jobs. National Highway Authority of India recruited 25 engineers while NLC and Power Grid Corporation of India took in more than 100 engineers each.