Search for the average salary in India 2026 and you will find dozens of confident single numbers, most of them pulled from salary apps or recruiter estimates. The government’s own survey tells a more layered story. This guide sticks to official releases: average earnings by type of work and gender, how tax and provident fund turn CTC into take-home pay, and where minimum wage rules stand.
Where the official salary numbers come from
India does not publish a single “average salary” figure. The closest thing is the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), run by the National Statistics Office under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI). It reports average earnings separately for three types of work:
- Regular wage or salaried employees – people on a payroll, reported as earnings per month.
- Casual labourers – people paid by the day, reported as daily earnings (the survey keeps public works separate).
- Self-employed workers – shop owners, farmers, freelancers and own-account workers, reported per month.
The most recent full-year picture is the PLFS Annual Report 2025, released on 27 March 2026. It covers January to December 2025 and is the first annual report built on the calendar year rather than the old July–June cycle. MoSPI also redesigned the sample from January 2025, more than doubling the number of households visited, and it cautions that 2025 estimates may not line up perfectly with earlier reports.
Average salary in India 2026: what the latest PLFS shows
As the newest annual release available in 2026, it is the best official answer on what Indian workers earn. For calendar year 2025 the press note reports:
- Men in regular salaried jobs earned an average of ₹24,217 a month, up from ₹22,891 in 2024 (roughly 5.8% growth).
- Women in regular salaried jobs earned an average of ₹18,353 a month, up from ₹17,126 (roughly 7.2% growth).
- Self-employed men averaged ₹17,914 a month; self-employed women averaged ₹6,374.
- Male casual labourers outside public works earned about ₹455 a day, almost flat versus ₹456 in 2024; women earned ₹315 a day, up from ₹299.
In annual terms, the male salaried average works out to just under ₹2.91 lakh a year, and the female salaried average to about ₹2.2 lakh. These are nominal figures (not inflation-adjusted) covering the whole country, from small-town clerks to metro software teams. That is why they look modest next to campus placement headlines.
Comparison table: average earnings by type of work, 2022–2025
The press note charts four years of earnings by gender. The table below brings them together (₹, nominal). The 2025 column comes from the revamped survey, so treat the step from 2024 to 2025 as indicative rather than exact.
| Type of work | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regular salaried, male (per month) | 20,517 | 21,717 | 22,891 | 24,217 |
| Regular salaried, female (per month) | 15,406 | 16,456 | 17,126 | 18,353 |
| Self-employed, male (per month) | 14,516 | 15,640 | 16,893 | 17,914 |
| Self-employed, female (per month) | 5,360 | 5,416 | 5,861 | 6,374 |
| Casual labour, male (per day) | 424 | 438 | 456 | 455 |
| Casual labour, female (per day) | 268 | 290 | 299 | 315 |
Two patterns stand out. First, a salaried job pays far more reliably than self-employment, especially for women, whose self-employed earnings are roughly a third of what salaried women make. Second, the gender gap is narrowing slowly: women’s nominal earnings grew faster than men’s in all three categories between 2024 and 2025.
How many Indians actually draw a salary?
An average salary only describes people who have one, and in India that is still a minority. According to the same 2025 report, 23.6% of workers were in regular wage or salaried employment, up from 22.4% a year earlier. Self-employment remained the largest group at 56.2%, while casual labour held at about a fifth (20.2%). MoSPI estimates that around 61.6 crore people aged 15 and above were employed on average during 2025.
Urban vs rural
In the quarterly bulletin for April–June 2026, released on 10 August 2026, regular salaried workers made up 49.3% of urban workers but only 16.1% of rural workers (both measured on the current weekly status). Roughly half of employed city residents have a payslip, against about one in six in villages. The 2025 press note does not give a rural-versus-urban split of average earnings, so we have not quoted one.
What private-sector salary surveys add (surveys, not official data)
Consulting firms survey large employers about pay budgets. Their samples lean heavily towards formal, corporate jobs, so they measure something different from PLFS. Treat them as a guide to appraisal season, not to the national average.
- Aon’s India survey released on 24 February 2026, covering more than 1,400 organisations across 45 industries, projected an average increase of 9.1% for 2026, after an actual 8.9% in 2025. Real estate and infrastructure (10.2%) and NBFCs (10.1%) topped its sector list.
- Coverage of Aon’s follow-up study in October 2026 reported that the actual average rise in 2026 came in at 9%, with 9.1% projected for 2027 and attrition at 18%.
Corporate increments near 9% sit above the roughly 6–7% growth PLFS recorded in average salaried earnings from 2024 to 2025. Both can hold, since one tracks large firms and the other every salaried worker.
From CTC to in-hand: a worked example
Offer letters quote cost to company (CTC), but your bank account sees something smaller. The main deductions for a private-sector employee are provident fund and income tax, plus state professional tax where it applies. For financial year 2026-27, the Union Budget presented on 1 February 2026 left personal tax slabs unchanged, and the standard deduction for salaried people under the new regime stays at ₹75,000. The new-regime slabs are:
- Up to ₹4 lakh: nil
- ₹4–8 lakh: 5%
- ₹8–12 lakh: 10%
- ₹12–16 lakh: 15%
- ₹16–20 lakh: 20%
- ₹20–24 lakh: 25%
- Above ₹24 lakh: 30%
A rebate of up to ₹60,000 wipes out the tax for anyone whose taxable income stays within ₹12 lakh.
Example: ₹18 lakh CTC, new regime
Assume an employer that limits provident fund to the ₹15,000 monthly wage ceiling, as some employers choose to do. The employee then contributes 12% of ₹15,000, or ₹1,800 a month, and the employer matches it. All figures below are approximate and annual.
- CTC: ₹18,00,000.
- Less employer PF (₹1,800 × 12 = ₹21,600), which sits inside CTC but never reaches you: gross salary ₹17,78,400.
- Less standard deduction of ₹75,000: taxable income ₹17,03,400.
- Income tax: ₹1,20,000 on the first ₹16 lakh, plus 20% of the remaining ₹1,03,400 (₹20,680) = about ₹1,40,680 before cess.
- Less employee PF of ₹21,600.
- Take-home: roughly ₹16,16,000 a year, or about ₹1.35 lakh a month, before cess and any professional tax.
Run the same steps on a ₹12 lakh CTC and taxable income lands near ₹11 lakh, inside the rebate limit, so income tax falls to zero and almost the whole gross salary minus PF reaches your account. If your company calculates PF on full basic pay instead of the ceiling, or folds gratuity and insurance into CTC, the in-hand figure will be lower. Always ask HR for the full salary breakup before comparing offers.
Minimum wages and the Code on Wages
The four labour codes, including the Code on Wages, 2019, were notified on 21 November 2025. The Code on Wages (Central) Rules, 2026 followed on 8 May 2026. Under this framework the Centre fixes a floor wage based on minimum living standards, and no state may set its minimum wage below it. The rules describe daily minimum rates, converted to monthly by multiplying by 26. PRS notes that the final rules leave the detailed calculation method to a later government order. We found no officially notified national floor wage amount, so check your state labour department’s current schedule.
Using these numbers in your job search
Official averages are a reality check, not a target. A fresher in a metro will rarely earn the national salaried average, and a senior engineer will usually earn many times it. What matters is the CTC breakup and how an offer compares with similar openings. You can browse current listings by city and role on ScrollJob’s India job search, and if your CV needs work before you negotiate, the free resume builder helps. Our guide on sharing a hosted CV with a single link shows how to send it easily, and this piece on conversational job search in 2026 covers newer ways of finding roles.
FAQ
What is the average salary in India in 2026?
The latest official annual data, PLFS 2025 (January–December 2025, released March 2026), puts average monthly earnings for regular salaried men at ₹24,217 and for women at ₹18,353. No newer full-year official figure was available at the time of writing.
Why are casual workers measured per day?
They are hired and paid by the day, and the number of working days varies, so a daily figure is more meaningful than a monthly one.
Can I compare the 2025 numbers directly with older PLFS reports?
Only with care. MoSPI changed the sample design in January 2025 and moved to a calendar-year cycle, and it states that 2025 estimates may not be strictly comparable with earlier annual reports.
Do I pay income tax on a ₹12 lakh salary in FY 2026-27?
Under the new regime, the ₹75,000 standard deduction and the rebate for taxable income up to ₹12 lakh mean most salaried people at that level owe no income tax. Your exact position depends on your salary structure and any other income.
Is there a national minimum wage in India now?
The Code on Wages lets the Centre set a floor wage that states cannot undercut, and its central rules were notified in May 2026. We did not find a published national floor wage amount, so state schedules remain the practical reference.
Conclusion
The honest answer to “what is the average salary in India” is that it depends on the kind of work. Official PLFS data for 2025 shows salaried men averaging about ₹24,000 a month and salaried women about ₹18,000, with self-employed and casual workers earning considerably less. Salaried work is slowly gaining share, and women’s pay is rising a little faster than men’s. When weighing an offer, convert CTC to in-hand pay and compare it with real openings, not a headline average.
Sources: MoSPI/NSO and PIB, PLFS Annual Report 2025 (27 March 2026); PIB, PLFS Quarterly Bulletin April–June 2026 (10 August 2026); Income Tax Department e-filing portal; Storyboard18, Budget 2026 (1 February 2026); PRS Legislative Research, Code on Wages (Central) Rules, 2026; Aon (24 February 2026); Telangana Today (14 October 2026); Mynd Solution EPF guide.
