MUMBAI, INDIA: Information technology (IT) is the most desirable sector for a career for India's engineering students set to graduate in 2010, according to Nielsen Campus Track T-Schools study.

Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata leads the role model list for the 2010 batch of engineering graduates, the study said.

Students prefer the IT for its multinational company culture, opportunities to work with technically sound professionals with cutting edge technology, training and growth opportunities, the study showed.

"The fact that many of the top companies with huge turnovers hail from the IT sector furthers their choice," said Vatsala Pant, associate director, consumer research, The Nielsen Company.

Some of the companies the engineering students would consider applying are Infosys Technologies, Larsen & Toubro, Microsoft India, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro, the study said.

In the list of preference IT is followed by automobile and automobile ancillary, telecom, energy, infrastructure/real estate and power sectors, it said.

According to the study students perceive nanotechnology, IT services, power, energy - oil and gas- and telecom as the top five 'industries of the future'.

However students from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) consider energy - oil and gas as the industry of future, followed by nanotechnology and finance sector.

"Though management consultancies and the financial sector figured on the list of 'industry of future' last year, the economic crisis has changed the preference and new industries have taken their place," Pant said.

Half of the batch of 2010 plan to move out of their first job in three years or less, with 51 percent citing higher studies as a reason for leaving of which 69 percent intend to do an MBA, the survey showed.