Forget everything you were told about "study hard, get a good job." In India, a roadside tea stall owner is quietly pocketing ₹80,000 a month while thousands of engineering graduates join tcs or Infosys for a pathetic ₹25,000–₹29,000 — the same salary they've been offering freshers for over a decade, even as inflation devours purchasing power.


Street vendors slinging vada pav, momos, panipuri, and idlis are out-earning "prestigious" corporate slaves by massive margins. No AC office, no LinkedIn flex, just raw hustle crushing the white-collar dream. This isn't progress — it's a national humiliation exposing how broken the system truly is.



  • Tea Stall Owner: ₹80,000/month


    While you grind LeetCode for a 3.5 LPA offer, the neighbourhood chaiwala is brewing ₹80K monthly with zero degree, zero EMI, zero boss. He owns his time, his prices, his life. You? Stuck in night shifts for a salary that hasn't budged since 2014.



  • Vada Pav Seller: ₹60,000/month


    One cart, hot oil, hungry crowds — ₹60K in the pocket. That's more than double what most IT freshers take home after tax. Four years of engineering hostels and placements, just to earn less than a guy flipping pav on the street corner.



  • Truck Driver: ₹50,000/month


    Long hauls, real roads, real risk — ₹50K reward. No "work-life balance" lectures, no performance reviews. Meanwhile, the "skilled" graduate codes bugs for half that, praying for an on-site that never comes.



  • Momo Seller: ₹50,000/month


    Steaming plates, repeat customers, pure profit — ₹50K easy. No campus placement drama, no bond signing away your freedom. Just delicious hustle beating your "stable" corporate paycheck without breaking a sweat.



  • Panipuri Seller: ₹45,000/month


    Crunchy, spicy, addictive — and apparently more lucrative than an Infosys badge. ₹45K for chatting with customers while you debug legacy code for ₹25K and call it "career growth."



  • Cab Driver: ₹40,000/month


    Surge pricing, long hours, tips rolling in — ₹40K. More than most freshers clear after PF and tax cuts. He controls his vehicle; you’re chained to a monitor, refreshing Naukri for the next hopeless opening.



  • Idli Seller: ₹40,000/month


    Steaming breakfast for the masses — ₹40K steady. Simple food, simple maths, massive win over the engineer who spent lakhs on tuition just to sit in a cab eating those same idlis on the way to the office.



  • Bike Rider (Delivery): ₹30,000/month


    Zipping through traffic, app pings, incentives stacking — ₹30K. On par with top-tier IT fresher packages. Except he’s building stamina and street smarts while you build Excel sheets and anxiety.



  • Rickshaw driver & Food Delivery Rider: ₹25,000/month


    Grinding pedals or bikes in heat and rain — still matching the sacred 3–3.5 LPA that companies parade as "industry standard." A decade of inflation, and this is what a B.Tech gets? Pathetic.


  • Courier Boy: ₹24,000/month


    Lowest on the list, yet almost identical to what lakhs of graduates accept as their "starting salary." Running parcels door-to-door beats sitting in training sessions learning how to pretend you're passionate about the company vision.



  • The decade-long salary freeze that should enrage you


     Inflation has been up over 80% since 2014. house rents tripled. Gold, fuel, groceries — everything skyrocketed. Yet tcs, Infosys, wipro still throw 3–3.5 LPA at freshers like it's generous. Street vendors raised prices with demand. Corporates? Froze salaries and called it "market correction."



  • The real message no one wants to hear


    Degrees became participation certificates. "Job security" became a trap. The guys society looks down on — chaiwalas, vada pav sellers, drivers — are financially freer than most cubicle prisoners. The system sold you stability; it delivered stagnation. Time to ask: whose life are you really building?
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SIBY JEYYA

11/02/2026 09:19 AM