Beyond the Brand: A Ground-Level Look into Life at RPG Group
Peeling back the layers on what it’s really like to work at RPG Group
RPG Group spans multiple sectors with marquee subsidiaries like CEAT, KEC International, and Zensar, pairing brand stability with diversified exposure but employee sentiment and outcomes vary by company, function, and manager, warranting a pragmatic, slightly skeptical assessment for career fit.
Work Culture & Environment: Diversified parent, uneven unit experiences
As a diversified conglomerate, culture depends heavily on the operating company and business line, with white-collar functions in technology and corporate showing different norms than manufacturing and projects in infra businesses. Public employer platforms show mid-to-high 3.x to low 4.x overall ratings across key RPG subsidiaries, indicating generally favorable but not uniformly elite culture; candidates should evaluate the specific company (e.g., CEAT vs KEC vs Zensar) and team norms within that context.
Career Growth & Learning: Scale, rotations, and sector breadth
Conglomerate structure enables cross-business mobility, leadership programs, and exposure to manufacturing, EPC, and tech services, which can accelerate learning for generalist managers and specialists willing to rotate across units or geographies. Subsidiary reviews cite solid learning in project and plant environments and modernization pushes in tech, though some employees note bureaucracy and decision cycles that can slow velocity compared to pure-play tech or startups, making manager sponsorship crucial.
Job Security: Diversified resilience vs project and cycle risk
Conglomerate diversification typically supports baseline stability across macro cycles, with infra and manufacturing offsetting individual unit swings, but project-based businesses (e.g., EPC) still face order book and execution risk that can affect local security perceptions. Employee reviews at infra and manufacturing subsidiaries reference market and project cyclicality and cost-focus phases; by contrast, services arms (e.g., tech) see security tied more to client portfolios and bench management, creating different risk profiles within the group.
Work-Life Balance: Function and season-dependent
Manufacturing and EPC roles note site travel, shift schedules, and deadline-driven intensity; especially around commissioning and project milestones while corporate and tech functions report more typical office cadences with occasional peaks in delivery cycles. Review patterns indicate acceptable balance for many roles but highlight “peak crunch” in plant and project environments and “client deadline” intensity in services, underscoring the need to probe team rituals, weekend norms, and travel expectations.
Compensation & Benefits: Competitive within sectors, variability by unit
Compensation aligns to sector benchmarks across tires, EPC, and IT services, with benefits seen as solid in manufacturing-heavy subsidiaries and market-aligned in services, though not consistently top-tier across all bands and locations. Reviewers often weigh compensation positively against stability and brand equity while noting that role intensity or travel can recalibrate perceived value, making incentive design and allowances a key discussion point during hiring.
Diversity & Inclusion: Formal programs, uneven lived experience
Public materials highlight group-level initiatives on gender and inclusion, with subsidiaries running safety and inclusion programs; however, manufacturing and project contexts can exhibit slower parity progress than corporate offices, reflecting broader industry patterns in India. Employee feedback suggests inclusion is stronger in corporate and services units and improving in frontline environments, but outcomes hinge on local leadership commitment and safety protocols, especially in plant and site roles.
RPG Group offers the stability and learning breadth of a diversified conglomerate, but the lived experience varies meaningfully by subsidiary, function, and manager, especially between corporate/services and plant/project environments. Candidates should calibrate expectations around decision velocity, travel/shift intensity, and incentive structures at the specific unit level.
At Ksepiyas, we believe job-seekers deserve transparency. Our platform Kriti helps you assess roles not just by title, but by culture fit, career impact, and personal well-being.
Sources & References:
- RPG Group careers and culture overview: group values, learning programs, internal mobility (Grow@RPG), leadership development
- RPG Group employee reviews (India context): culture, WLB, management, compensation sentiment and comments
- Subsidiary-level sentiment proxies (for variability across units such as CEAT/KEC/Zensar)
- Compensation context (indicative, role-dependent; to be validated per subsidiary and band)
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