Guide
Where to Find Salary Data in India (2026)
A complete reference for every tool, survey, and report you can use to benchmark your compensation in India: crowdsourced platforms, annual HR surveys, sector-specific studies, and government data.
The Problem: No Single Source Covers India's Salary Market
India's salary market is unusually fragmented. A senior data scientist at a Bengaluru product startup and a senior data scientist at a Chennai IT services company may have the same title, the same years of experience — and salaries that differ by 300%. No single database covers both accurately.
This fragmentation has four root causes:
- Sector structure: IT services (TCS, Infosys, Wipro) and product tech (Flipkart, Swiggy, Zepto) are structurally different pay environments, even for identical technical roles.
- City-level variation: Salaries in Bengaluru are typically 20–40% higher than equivalent roles in Hyderabad or Pune — and Tier 2 cities add another layer below that.
- Experience curve shape: Indian salary curves are non-linear. Fresher salaries are relatively compressed (₹3–8L); mid-senior salaries disperse dramatically based on employer tier.
- Confidentiality norms: Most Indians do not discuss salaries openly. Self-reported databases suffer from significant survivor bias — people with unusually high or low salaries are overrepresented.
The only reliable approach is triangulation: check at least three sources with overlapping coverage and identify where they agree. Where they diverge significantly, err toward the lower end for base salary and the higher end for total compensation.
Tier 1: Free Online Tools (Start Here)
These tools are publicly accessible, regularly updated, and sufficient for most individual benchmarking needs. Each covers different segments; use at least two together.
AmbitionBox
Free (partial)Owned by Info Edge (the parent company of Naukri.com), AmbitionBox has over 6.9 million salary data points across 100+ industries. Data is self-reported by verified employees. It shows salary ranges by role, company, and experience band.
Salary ranges are visible without login; exact median figures require an account. It is strongest for IT services (TCS, Infosys, HCL, Wipro, Cognizant), BFSI, consulting, and manufacturing.
- Best for: Indian companies across all sectors; role + company + experience benchmarking
- Limitation: Data lags by 12–18 months; upward self-reporting bias (people with good salaries are more likely to share)
- URL pattern:
ambitionbox.com/salaries/[company]-salaries/[role]-salary
Glassdoor India
Free (partial)US-founded, Glassdoor has solid India coverage for multinational companies with large India offices: Google, Amazon, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Accenture, Deloitte, McKinsey, BCG. Salaries are self-reported by anonymous verified employees. Requires account creation to view detailed results.
- Best for: MNCs, global consulting, investment banks, global tech companies with India development centres
- Limitation: Underrepresents smaller Indian companies and IT services firms; skews toward Bengaluru and Mumbai; data can be 6–24 months old
Naukri.com Job Listings
FreeUnlike survey tools, Naukri shows what employers are actively willing to pay right now. Many job listings disclose CTC ranges (especially for non-senior roles). Filtering listings by role, city, and experience gives you a live snapshot of the hiring market — which lags surveys by 0 months, not 12–18.
Naukri also runs iimjobs.com, a sub-platform for senior and MBA-level roles.
- Best for: Getting a real-time hiring price point; understanding current demand for a skill or role
- Limitation: Not every listing discloses salary; budgets can spike when demand outpaces supply, creating outliers
LinkedIn Salary
Requires LinkedIn PremiumLinkedIn's salary tool shows ranges by job title, company, location, and years of experience — derived from member-reported data. Coverage is best for manager-level and above. Requires an active LinkedIn Premium subscription (₹1,800–₹3,500/month).
- Best for: Mid-senior and senior roles; BFSI, consulting, tech; international comparisons
- Limitation: Paywalled; India coverage is thinner at entry and blue-collar levels
Indeed India
FreeIndeed pulls salary data from both employer-disclosed job ads and self-reported employee contributions. Strongest at entry and mid levels, and for roles in retail, hospitality, healthcare, and manufacturing — segments where AmbitionBox is thinner.
- Best for: Entry-level roles; blue- and grey-collar segments; employer-stated CTC ranges
- Limitation: Thinner coverage for senior tech and finance roles
iimjobs.com
FreeA specialised job platform for MBA graduates and senior professionals, part of the Naukri / Info Edge group. Listings typically include explicit CTC ranges (₹15L–₹80L+). Best used like Naukri: filter by role and scan what employers are currently offering.
- Best for: Strategy, consulting, investment banking, senior finance and marketing; MBA-level benchmarking
- Limitation: Limited coverage below ₹15L CTC
Tier 2: Tech-Specialist Tools
If you work in software engineering, product management, or data science at a product-oriented company, these tools are significantly more accurate than the general-purpose platforms above.
Levels.fyi
FreeLevels.fyi is the most detailed salary database for software engineers and adjacent roles at product-oriented tech companies. It captures total compensation (TC): base salary + annual bonus + stock (RSU value annualised). India data covers companies like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Flipkart, Swiggy, Zepto, Razorpay, and Groww.
This distinction matters: a ₹40L base at a product startup often comes with RSU grants that make TC ₹70L–₹1.2Cr. General salary tools miss the stock component entirely.
- Best for: Software engineers, PMs, data scientists at product companies; stock + RSU benchmarking
- Limitation: Covers only product-oriented tech; not applicable to IT services (TCS, Infosys, Wipro), BFSI, or non-tech roles
Blind (TeamBlind)
FreeBlind is an anonymous professional community where employees discuss salary, company culture, and job offers. India is an active market on Blind, particularly for mid-senior tech roles. While not a structured survey, Blind gives unfiltered intelligence on specific companies — offer packages, negotiation outcomes, competing offers.
- Best for: Gut-checking a specific offer; understanding competing offers at a target company; senior tech roles
- Limitation: Anecdotal and unverified; skews toward high earners and dissatisfied employees; not statistically representative
Tier 3: Institutional Annual Surveys
These are the sources that HR departments use to set your salary. Full data requires a paid subscription (₹5–20 lakhs per company per year). However, each publisher releases annual press summaries that are publicly available and contain the most important headline numbers: expected increment percentages by sector, talent supply-demand signals, and hot job categories.
The critical distinction: institutional surveys tell you the growth rate (increment %), not the current absolute level. Use them alongside Tier 1 tools, not instead of them.
Aon Hewitt India Salary Increase Survey
Annual SurveyThe most widely referenced salary benchmark in corporate India. Covers 1,000+ Indian companies annually across all major industries. Reports median salary increase percentage, increment distribution, and sector outlook.
Most large companies in India cite Aon's survey when setting annual salary increase budgets. When your company says "the industry increment this year is 9.5%", they are almost certainly referencing Aon data.
- Best for: Understanding whether your increment offer is above or below market; calibrating realistic future salary growth expectations
- Public access: Search "Aon India Salary Survey [year] press release" — Aon releases headline findings annually. The 2025 survey indicated a median increment of approximately 9.5%.
- Full access: Company purchase only
Mercer India Total Remuneration Survey (TRS)
Annual SurveyMercer's TRS is the most comprehensive paid survey for absolute salary levels — not just growth rates. It covers 400+ standardised job roles across 1,500+ companies in India. Sector-specific modules include manufacturing, technology, life sciences, financial services, and infrastructure.
- Best for: Multinational companies setting India compensation; HR professionals benchmarking specific roles at a detailed level
- Public access: Limited; Mercer publishes free research summaries at mercer.com/insights; sector highlights appear in HR press coverage
- Full access: Company purchase or Mercer consulting engagement
Willis Towers Watson (WTW) India Compensation Survey
Annual SurveyWTW runs a large-scale annual remuneration survey in India covering base pay levels and total compensation. Particularly strong for multinationals with Indian operations. WTW also publishes a Global Salary Budget Planning report that includes India increment projections — the executive summary is partially available for free.
- Best for: MNCs, financial services, energy / utilities
- Public access: Search "WTW India Salary Budget Planning [year]" for the free executive summary
Korn Ferry India Pay Report
Annual SurveyKorn Ferry specialises in leadership and executive compensation. Their India data covers director, VP, and C-suite levels — roles where AmbitionBox and Glassdoor have thin coverage. They publish annual insights articles on India senior talent and executive compensation trends.
- Best for: Senior leadership (VP+, C-suite) benchmarking; PE-backed companies setting executive pay
- Public access: Free India market insights articles at kornferry.com/insights; executive summary available annually
NASSCOM Total Rewards Survey
IT / ITeS SectorThe most accurate salary benchmark for India's IT and ITeS sector. Covers software development, QA, architecture, project management, and operations roles at IT services and product companies. Published annually with member company participation.
Full data requires NASSCOM membership. The annual IT sector strategic review at nasscom.in contains aggregate sector-level findings — useful for understanding whether the IT sector is in a growth or correction cycle.
- Best for: Software engineers, QA engineers, architects, scrum masters, project managers in IT / ITeS
- Public access: NASSCOM's annual IT sector report at nasscom.in/research contains headline compensation findings
TeamLease Annual Salary Report
Free to DownloadTeamLease is India's largest staffing firm. Their annual salary and employment trend reports are free to download and cover fresher salary benchmarks, demand by skill, and sector-wise increment data. Particularly useful for entry-level and contract workforce benchmarks.
- Best for: Freshers (0–2 years), contractual workforce, blue- and grey-collar; pan-India city-level data
- Public access: Free PDF download from teamlease.com (Annual Salary Report and Indian Staffing Federation reports)
Randstad India Salary Survey
Free to DownloadRandstad India's annual report covers salary increment projections, in-demand skills, and sector outlook across engineering, BFSI, healthcare, retail, and IT. Useful as a cross-sector view, and free to download.
- Best for: Cross-sector salary trend validation; understanding which sectors are paying more in a given cycle
- Public access: Free PDF at randstad.in/hr-insights
Tier 4: Government and Regulatory Data
If you are benchmarking a government, PSU, or regulated-sector salary — or if you need authoritative data on India's wage distribution as a whole — these are the primary sources. All are free and publicly available.
Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS)
FreePublished by MoSPI (Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation), the PLFS is India's largest wage dataset. It is a probability-based national sample covering wages by occupation, sector, state, education level, and employment type (regular / casual / self-employed).
Unlike crowdsourced tools, the PLFS covers the entire Indian workforce — including agriculture, construction, unorganised sector, and informal employment. It is the only source for understanding where a given wage sits in the overall Indian income distribution.
- Best for: Understanding India's overall wage distribution; occupational wages by education level; state-level comparisons
- Limitation: Lags by 1–2 years; does not distinguish between company tiers within a sector
DPE Annual Survey on CPSE Pay
FreeThe Department of Public Enterprises publishes an annual survey of Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs). It includes data on executive pay grades (E0 through E9 and Board level), average employee cost, and sector-wise CPSE comparison.
- Best for: ONGC, NTPC, BPCL, Coal India, BHEL, SAIL, GAIL, and other Navratna / Maharatna PSU employees
- Public access: Free annual PDF at dpe.gov.in (search "Annual Survey of CPSEs" for the current year)
7th Pay Commission Report
FreeThe complete Pay Matrix for central government employees (IAS, IPS, central secretariat, defence, railways) is published in the 7th Pay Commission Report. Levels 1 through 18 are defined with starting basic pay and annual increment cells. The 8th Pay Commission was constituted in January 2025 and is expected to revise the matrix for implementation around January 2027.
- Best for: Central government service employees; understanding government salary structure as a reference framework
- Related: See our Indian Government Salary Guide for a complete breakdown of all five government pay frameworks, including UGC academic pay, CPSE IDA grades, and regulator pay scales.
Regulator Annual Reports (RBI, SEBI, NABARD, IRDAI)
FreeEach major financial regulator publishes an annual report that includes staff strength and remuneration data by grade. These are authoritative for their respective grade structures:
- RBI (Grade A–F): rbi.org.in
- SEBI (Grade A–H): sebi.gov.in (Annual Reports section)
- NABARD (Grade A–F): nabard.org
- IRDAI: irdai.gov.in (Annual Reports section)
Which Source to Use for Your Sector
| Sector | Primary source | Secondary source | For growth benchmarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| IT Services (TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCL, Tech M) | AmbitionBox | Naukri listings | NASSCOM Total Rewards Survey |
| Tech Product (Flipkart, Swiggy, Zepto, Paytm, funded startups) | Levels.fyi | Glassdoor India | Aon Hewitt India Survey |
| BFSI (Banks, NBFCs, AMCs, Insurance, FinTech) | AmbitionBox | LinkedIn Salary | Aon Hewitt India Survey |
| Consulting (Big 4, MBB, boutique strategy) | Glassdoor India | iimjobs.com | Korn Ferry India Pay Report |
| Manufacturing / Core Engineering | AmbitionBox | TeamLease Annual Report | Mercer India TRS (sector summary) |
| Healthcare / Pharma | AmbitionBox | Indeed India | Randstad India Salary Survey |
| Startups (early-stage, pre-Series C) | Levels.fyi (tech roles) | Blind / TeamBlind | Glassdoor India |
| Senior / CXO (across sectors) | iimjobs.com | LinkedIn Salary | Korn Ferry India Pay Report |
| Government / PSU | DPE Annual Survey | 7th Pay Commission Report | Asymmetrica Govt Salary Guide |
| Freshers (0–2 years) | Naukri listings | TeamLease Fresher Salary Report | NASSCOM (IT) / Randstad India |
The Three-Source Rule: How to Find Your Market Rate
No single tool is reliable enough on its own. Self-reported tools have survivor bias; institutional surveys are paywalled or lagged; government data covers the whole population without distinguishing company tiers. Triangulation is the only robust method.
Step 1: Get your anchor range
Go to AmbitionBox (or Glassdoor if you're at an MNC). Search for your role, filter by experience band. Note the P25–P75 range — not the median in isolation, because both tails of self-reported data are least reliable.
Step 2: Get a live hiring signal
Filter active job listings on Naukri (or iimjobs for senior roles) for your exact role, experience, and city. Scan 30–50 listings and note the CTC ranges. This tells you what employers are currently willing to pay — which is more real-time than any survey.
Step 3: Validate with a specialist tool
If you're in tech, check Levels.fyi for total compensation at product companies. If you're senior, check LinkedIn Salary. If your company quotes a survey (Aon, Mercer, NASSCOM), look up the publicly available headline findings from that survey's latest press release.
Reading the result
If all three sources give overlapping ranges, that is your market rate. If they diverge significantly:
- The lower bound is typically more reliable for base salary (upward bias in self-reporting)
- The higher bound reflects what the market could pay at the most competitive tier
- If Naukri listings are significantly higher than AmbitionBox data, the market has likely moved recently and survey data hasn't caught up yet
The increment vs. the level problem: Aon, Mercer, NASSCOM, and WTW tell you the expected salary growth rate — not the absolute current level. A 9.5% Aon increment benchmark applies only if your base is already at market. If your current salary is below market, a 9.5% increment still leaves you below market. Check the level first, then apply the growth rate.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the best free salary tool for India?
AmbitionBox is the most comprehensive free tool for India-specific data, with over 6.9 million data points across all industries. For MNCs specifically, Glassdoor India is more accurate. For tech product companies, Levels.fyi is the most detailed. Use at least two tools together for a reliable benchmark.
Are self-reported salary sites like AmbitionBox reliable?
Partially. Known biases: skew toward higher earners (people with good salaries are more likely to share), data lag (12–24 months), and inconsistent job title mapping. Use them as a starting range, not as the exact number. Validate with active job listings on Naukri — the CTC range in hiring ads reflects what employers are paying right now, with zero lag.
What is the Aon Hewitt India Salary Survey and how do I access it?
The Aon Hewitt India Salary Increase Survey covers 1,000+ Indian companies and reports expected salary increment percentages by industry and level. Full access requires purchasing the report at company level. However, Aon releases press summaries annually — search "Aon India Salary Survey [year] press release" to find publicly available headline figures.
What is the best source for freshers with 0–2 years of experience?
For freshers, Naukri.com job listings are the most useful — many entry-level listings explicitly state the offered CTC. TeamLease's annual salary report covers fresher benchmarks by sector and city. For IT freshers specifically, NASSCOM's annual IT sector outlook covers starting salaries at Tier 1 IT services vs. product companies.
How do companies set my salary? Do they use these surveys?
Most large Indian companies (1,000+ employees) subscribe to at least one institutional survey — Aon, Mercer, or WTW. They use it to determine the annual salary increase budget (the "increment pool") and to benchmark specific roles during hiring. The survey data defines what the P50 salary for your role is within their peer group — they then decide to pay at P50, P75, or below based on budget and strategy. Smaller companies and startups typically use AmbitionBox, LinkedIn, or competitor job ads instead.
How do I find market salary for a non-tech role in India?
For non-tech roles — finance, marketing, HR, operations, sales — AmbitionBox and Naukri have the broadest coverage. For senior roles (manager level and above), LinkedIn Salary and iimjobs.com are more accurate. TeamLease and Randstad India annual reports cover mid-market roles well. The Mercer India TRS is the most comprehensive for non-tech roles but is not publicly accessible without a company subscription.
Once You Know Your Market Rate
Finding your current market salary is step one. Step two: understanding where that salary realistically goes over the next 10–25 years — with the uncertainty modelled honestly, not collapsed into a single "expected" number.
Our Monte Carlo Salary Growth Calculator runs 10,000 simulated career paths using the Mincer earnings function and sector-specific volatility data. It shows the full distribution of outcomes: the realistic range from the P5 (bad luck) scenario to the P95 (exceptional run).
Monte Carlo Salary Growth Calculator →