The latest MNC for IITians: Kota

KOTA: Few may be aware of it but this industrial city, best known for its Kota stone and Kota saris, has another claim to fame: its coaching institutes send hundreds of students to the IITs every year.
What���s more, some of these institutes pay their teachers mind-boggling salaries that equal those of MNCs.
Little wonder then that many IITians, who could have landed themselves lucrative jobs anywhere in the world, preferred to take up teaching in Kota���s coaching institutes.
"When I graduated from IIT Mumbai, there were several options open to me but I chose to join Career Point, an institute started by my family,������ says Pramod Maheshwari, a director of Career Point which sent 551 students to IIT this year.
"It was a calculated risk, as coaching institutes were not part of the sunrise industry. But I could see a lot of potential in the coaching sector. While I was studying at IIT, I gained knowledge and now I use that knowledge to create IITians. It���s a matter of great personal satisfaction,������ he says.
In Kota, an IIT graduate earns anywhere between Rs 1.50 lakh and Rs 7 lakh a month. In one case, the director of an institute takes home Rs 1 crore per annum as remuneration...
..., possibly the highest salary in the coaching industry.
The lowest salary, paid by the 'ordinary��� institutes, is a very decent Rs 25,000 per month. However, remuneration in all institutions is a closely guarded secret.
The turnover of Kota���s coaching institutes ranges from Rs 3 crore to Rs 30 crore. Most of the expenditure goes on rent for the premises and hiring the faculty���the latter, says Saurabh Mishra of Vision 2000, is the "backbone������ of any institute.
"We receive applications from IIT professors who have produced thousands of IITians, but find only a few suitable for our institute,������ he says.
Vision 2000 has rejected teachers with PhDs from reputed universities abroad, because a coaching institute, claims Mishra, requires "a different breed of faculty������.