Software engineer salary in India 2026: by experience, city, company

Careers & SalaryIshaan VardhanOct 23, 202610 min read

A software engineer in India with one to five years of experience typically earns ₹9.2–10.2 lakh a year, according to AmbitionBox‘s self-reported data, but the spread around that number is enormous. The same title pays around ₹7 lakh at a large IT services firm, ₹20 lakh-plus at a fintech or bank technology team, and ₹35 lakh to well over ₹1 crore at global product companies, once stock is counted.

This guide pulls together the published 2026 numbers from AmbitionBox, Levels.fyi, Randstad, Aon, TeamLease Digital and Naukri, and explains why they disagree. All figures are survey or self-reported ranges, not offers, and they are annual cost-to-company (CTC) unless stated. A lakh is ₹100,000 and LPA means lakh per annum; at roughly ₹96 to the US dollar (Trading Economics, 2 October 2026), ₹10 lakh is about $10,400.

Key takeaways

• Median pay for a software engineer title on AmbitionBox is ₹7.5–8.3 lakh at 1–3 years and ₹9.3–10.3 lakh at 3–6 years (updated 1 October 2026).
• On Levels.fyi, which skews towards product companies and includes stock and bonus, the India median total compensation is about ₹30 lakh.
• Company type matters more than city: AmbitionBox shows software engineers in financial services earning more than double the IT-services median.
• Aon projects an average 9.1% salary increase in India for 2026, but only 6.6% for technology consulting and services firms.
• Bengaluru leads on both AmbitionBox and Levels.fyi, though the gap with Hyderabad, Pune and NCR is narrower than many assume.

Why the salary numbers you see online disagree

Search “software engineer salary India” and you will find averages ranging from ₹5 lakh to ₹40 lakh. Most of that gap is about who is in the sample, not about anyone being wrong.

AmbitionBox, owned by Info Edge (which also runs Naukri), shows salaries reported by more than 7.4 lakh current and former employees for the “Software Engineer” title. Because India’s largest employers of engineers are IT services firms, those firms dominate the data. Levels.fyi has 23,674 India software engineer submissions and leans heavily towards product companies, global capability centres (GCCs, the in-house tech hubs that multinationals run in India) and startups, and it counts annual stock grants and bonuses as part of total compensation. Randstad’s Salary Trends Report 2025–26 is built from job and pay data across more than 100,000 roles in 8 Tier-1 and 24 Tier-2 cities, according to People Manager.

A useful way to read them: AmbitionBox tells you what the typical Indian engineer earns; Levels.fyi tells you what the top part of the market pays; Randstad and Aon tell you where pay is moving.

Software engineer salary by experience

The table below combines AmbitionBox’s experience bands for three related titles. The ranges are AmbitionBox’s own average bands, each based on thousands of reported salaries.

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Source: AmbitionBox profile pages for Software Engineer, Software Development Engineer and Lead Software Engineer, updated 1–4 October 2026.

Two things stand out. First, the “SDE” title, which is more common at product companies and startups, pays noticeably more at the same experience than the generic “Software Engineer” title. Second, the big jump comes when engineers move into lead roles after six years. AmbitionBox puts Engineering Manager pay at ₹38.4–42.5 lakh for people with 7–20 years of experience.

Randstad’s report gives a broader view across the whole IT sector. It found that IT pays the highest average CTC of any sector at every level: ₹6.65 lakh for junior, ₹20.75 lakh for middle and ₹35.66 lakh for senior professionals, according to MediaBrief‘s summary of the report. Software developer was the best-paid mid-level role on Randstad’s “hot jobs” list at ₹17.27 lakh.

What freshers can expect

Entry-level pay is where the gap between employer types is widest. On Levels.fyi, the entry band at Tata Consultancy Services (C1Y, assistant engineer trainee) shows ₹3.96 lakh in total compensation, while Flipkart’s SDE 1 shows ₹22.4 lakh and Google’s L3 shows ₹35 lakh, all as of 4 October 2026. TeamLease Digital’s Digital Skills and Salary Primer FY2025–26 put starting salaries for freshers in AI and cloud at ₹7–8.5 lakh, according to TeamLease Digital.

Software engineer salary by company type

If you only remember one thing from this guide, make it this: the kind of company you work for shapes your pay more than your city or even your first few years of experience.

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Source: AmbitionBox, updated 1 October 2026. Industry figures cover all experience levels in each industry’s sample.

Levels.fyi: what the top of the market pays

Levels.fyi shows how far pay stretches at global product companies, where restricted stock units (RSUs) make up a large share of the package. The figures below are total compensation per year, including base, annualised stock and bonus, as listed on 4 October 2026.

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Sources: Levels.fyi pages for TCS, Flipkart and Google (India). A crore is ₹10 million, or 100 lakh.

Across all companies, Levels.fyi lists an India median of about ₹30 lakh, with the 25th percentile at ₹16.8 lakh, the 75th at ₹49 lakh and the 90th at ₹70.3 lakh. Its top-paying companies for the role in India were Broadcom, Airbnb and Rippling, each with medians above ₹1 crore. Keep in mind that stock-heavy packages swing with share prices and vesting schedules, so the headline number is not what lands in your bank account each month. Our in-hand salary calculator converts a CTC into monthly take-home pay after tax and provident fund.

GCCs and the services squeeze

Aon’s Annual Salary Increase and Turnover Survey 2025–26, covering more than 1,400 organisations, projects a 9.1% average increase in India in 2026, up from 8.9% actual in 2025, according to Aon. The split by sector matters for engineers: technology platforms and products are projected at 9.4%, GCCs at 9.3% and technology consulting and services at just 6.6%, the lowest of any sector Aon tracked.

TeamLease Digital’s FY2026–27 primer found that entry-level AI-core roles in GCCs carry a median of ₹13.2 lakh, against ₹4.8–5.4 lakh for AI-support roles, according to CIOL. In other words, the type of work inside a company is starting to matter as much as the logo.

Software engineer salary by city

City differences are real but smaller than the company-type gap. AmbitionBox’s averages for the Software Engineer title:

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Sources: AmbitionBox (1 October 2026) and Levels.fyi (4 October 2026). Levels.fyi lists only its top three cities.

Randstad’s report also found Bengaluru paid the most to junior professionals across sectors at ₹7.16 lakh, while Mumbai led senior pay at ₹40.04 lakh, according to Storyboard18. Senior-level pay in Tier-2 cities averaged ₹28.38 lakh, with Kochi at ₹34.72 lakh, which suggests remote and hybrid roles are narrowing the metro premium. If you are weighing a move to Bengaluru, our listing of engineering jobs in Bengaluru shows current openings from official careers pages.

What is driving software engineer pay in 2026

India’s tech industry is still growing, but slowly in headcount terms. Nasscom’s Annual Strategic Review 2026 estimated industry revenue at $315 billion for FY26, up 6.1%, with net headcount growth of about 2.3%, according to Nasscom. Revenue growing faster than headcount generally means employers are paying for productivity and specialised skills rather than adding bodies.

Hiring data points the same way. The Naukri JobSpeak index for May 2026 showed IT sector hiring down 7% year on year, while AI and machine learning roles grew 22% and GCC hiring grew 8% across major metros, according to Naukri. Info Edge chief executive Hitesh Oberoi said hiring for AI/ML roles paying above ₹30 lakh grew 27% that month.

The practical takeaway: generalist software engineering pay at services firms is growing slowly, while engineers who can ship AI features, work on cloud infrastructure or own a product area at a GCC or product company are pulling away. TeamLease Digital estimates only about 16% of IT professionals hold AI skills, per CIOL‘s report on the FY2026–27 primer.

How to use these numbers when negotiating

• Compare like with like. Use AmbitionBox for services firms and Indian mid-size companies; use Levels.fyi for product companies and GCCs that pay in stock.
• Separate fixed from variable. Ask for the fixed component, the performance bonus target, joining bonus and the RSU vesting schedule separately. A ₹40 lakh CTC with ₹15 lakh in stock behaves very differently from ₹40 lakh fixed.
• Benchmark the hike, not just the number. With Aon projecting 9.1% average increments, a job switch is often where the larger jump happens. Our salary hike calculator shows what a given percentage means in rupees.
• Check take-home pay. Provident fund, gratuity and tax regime choice change monthly pay significantly. Confirm tax treatment with a qualified tax professional or the Income Tax Department’s official guidance.

Bottom line

“Average software engineer salary in India” is a misleading phrase. The 2026 data shows a ₹7–10 lakh typical band for early-career engineers at services firms, ₹12–20 lakh at product, internet and fintech employers, and a long tail above ₹50 lakh at global product companies and GCCs. Company type and skill set explain more of the gap than city or degree. If you are early in your career, the highest-return move is usually getting into a product or GCC engineering team, then building depth in an area such as AI, cloud or payments where supply is thin. You can browse current openings from official careers pages on our jobs board.

FAQ

What is the average software engineer salary in India in 2026?

AmbitionBox puts the typical range at ₹9.2–10.2 lakh a year for engineers with 1–5 years of experience. Levels.fyi, which covers more product companies and includes stock, lists an India median of about ₹30 lakh in total compensation.

What is a fresher software engineer’s salary in India?

It depends heavily on the employer. Levels.fyi shows about ₹3.96 lakh at TCS’s trainee level, ₹22.4 lakh for Flipkart SDE 1 and ₹35 lakh for Google L3. TeamLease Digital put AI and cloud fresher salaries at ₹7–8.5 lakh.

Which city pays software engineers the most in India?

Bengaluru leads on both AmbitionBox (₹9.5–10.5 lakh average) and Levels.fyi (₹37.4 lakh median), followed by Hyderabad. Randstad found Mumbai led senior-level pay across sectors.

How much salary hike can software engineers expect in 2026?

Aon projects 9.1% on average across Indian industries in 2026, with 9.4% for technology product companies, 9.3% for GCCs and 6.6% for technology consulting and services firms.

Is ₹30 LPA a good salary for a software engineer in India?

Yes, by most published data. It is roughly the Levels.fyi India median, well above AmbitionBox’s averages for every experience band below the lead level, and close to Randstad’s senior IT average of ₹35.66 lakh.

Sources

1. AmbitionBox, “Software Engineer salaries in India”, updated 1 October 2026. Link
2. AmbitionBox, “Software Development Engineer salaries in India”, updated 3 October 2026. Link
3. AmbitionBox, “Lead Software Engineer salaries in India”, updated 4 October 2026. Link
4. AmbitionBox, “Engineering Manager salaries in India”, updated 1 October 2026. Link
5. Levels.fyi, “Software Engineer Salary in India”, accessed 4 October 2026. Link
6. Levels.fyi, “Google Software Engineer Salary in India”, accessed 4 October 2026. Link
7. Levels.fyi, “Flipkart Software Engineer Salary in India”, accessed 4 October 2026. Link
8. Levels.fyi, “Tata Consultancy Services Software Engineer Salary in India”, accessed 4 October 2026. Link
9. Aon, “Aon Survey Projects Slight Uptick in Salaries in India From 8.9 Percent in 2025 to 9.1 Percent in 2026”, 24 February 2026. Link
10. MediaBrief, “Randstad Salary Trends Report 2025-26”, 27 January 2026. Link
11. People Manager, “IT Sector Tops Pay Charts; Tier-2 Cities Catch Up in Salary Growth: Randstad Report”, 16 March 2026. Link
12. Storyboard18, “Tier-2 cities’ senior salaries climb to ₹28.38 lakh, narrowing gap with metros: Randstad”, 27 January 2026. Link
13. CIOL, “AI Salary Premiums Rise as India’s Tech Industry Faces Entry-Level Hiring Pressure: Report”, 29 September 2026. Link
14. TeamLease Digital, “Digital Skills and Salary Primer 2025-26”, accessed 4 October 2026. Link
15. Nasscom, “Nasscom Annual Strategic Review 2026” press release, 24 February 2026. Link
16. Naukri, “Naukri JobSpeak: White-collar hiring remains stable in May; AI/ML roles and Insurance sector continue to lead”, 5 June 2026. Link
17. Trading Economics, “Indian Rupee”, 2 October 2026. Link

Featured image: Bagmane Tech Park in Bengaluru, one of the city's large technology office campuses. · Photo: Gpkp / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

How this article was made: researched and drafted with AI assistance by the 100xFounder editorial desk, using only the sources listed in it; every figure links to its source. Read our editorial policy, or report an error through our corrections policy.

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