The average software engineer salary in India in 2026 is about ₹6–9 lakh a year across the whole market: Glassdoor puts the average at ₹6.06 lakh, PayScale's average base salary is ₹8.24 lakh and Indeed's average is ₹8.79 lakh. Freshers usually start at ₹3.5–5.5 lakh in IT services, while product companies and global tech firms pay far more: the Levels.fyi median for software engineers in India is ₹30.6 lakh total compensation, and senior engineers in Bengaluru have a median of ₹56.2 lakh. The employer you work for moves your salary more than anything else. This guide shows the figures by experience, fresher track, city, company and role, each with its source and date, plus what a CTC means in monthly take-home pay.
Software Engineer Salary in India 2026 at a Glance
| Measure | Figure | Source (date) |
|---|---|---|
| Average salary | ₹6,06,399 a year (middle half ₹4.1–9.9 lakh) | Glassdoor India, 2,95,753 salaries (June 2026) |
| Average base salary | ₹8,24,241 a year (₹3.5 lakh–₹20 lakh) | PayScale, 4,224 profiles (11 October 2026) |
| Average salary | ₹8,79,103 a year | Indeed India, 21,700 salaries (11 May 2026) |
| Entry level (under 1 year) | ₹5,37,425 average total pay | PayScale, 414 salaries |
| Early career (1–4 years) | ₹7,71,768 average total pay | PayScale, 3,224 salaries |
| Median total compensation, mostly product and global tech firms | ₹30,57,459 a year | Levels.fyi, 21,956 salaries (25 October 2026) |
Why Salary Sites Show Different Figures
The same job title can show ₹6 lakh on one site and ₹30 lakh on another. That is not an error; each platform measures a different group of engineers and a different kind of pay:
- Glassdoor has the largest sample and includes the big IT services firms, where most Indian software engineers work, so its average is the lowest.
- PayScale reports base salary from salary profiles, without bonus or stock.
- Indeed combines reported salaries and salaries in job postings.
- Levels.fyi is used mainly by engineers at product companies and global tech firms and counts total compensation: base pay, bonus and the yearly value of stock. Its median shows what that segment pays, not the whole market.
So compare an offer with data that measures the same thing: a services company offer with Glassdoor or PayScale, a product company offer with Levels.fyi, and base pay with base pay.
Software Engineer Salary by Experience
| Stage | Typical pay | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Entry level (under 1 year), whole market | ₹5.37 lakh average total pay | PayScale |
| Entry level software engineer, job postings | ₹4.01 lakh average | Indeed |
| Early career (1–4 years), whole market | ₹7.72 lakh average total pay | PayScale |
| Entry level at product and tech firms, Bengaluru | ₹19.1 lakh median (middle half ₹11.3–28.1 lakh) | Levels.fyi, 1,063 salaries |
| Senior software engineer at product and tech firms, Bengaluru | ₹56.2 lakh median (middle half ₹38.6–80.2 lakh) | Levels.fyi, 4,831 salaries |
| Senior software engineer at product and tech firms, Hyderabad | ₹51.7 lakh median | Levels.fyi, 1,149 salaries |
Two career tracks run side by side. In the wider market, pay rises from about ₹5 lakh at entry to about ₹8 lakh in the first four years. At product companies and global tech firms, entry pay alone is already above ₹19 lakh at the median, and the senior title is where the largest jump comes. Promotion to a higher level, not years of service alone, drives most of the increase.
Sources: PayScale: Software Engineer salary in India (11 October 2026); Indeed: Software Engineer salaries in India; Levels.fyi: entry level, Greater Bengaluru; Levels.fyi: senior, Greater Bengaluru (25 October 2026).
Fresher Software Engineer Salary at Big IT Companies
Most freshers join through campus or national hiring tracks, and the package depends on the track you clear. Mass-hiring tracks at the large IT services firms have stayed at about ₹3–4 lakh for years, but higher tracks for stronger coders pay two to six times more:
| Company and track | Fresher package (CTC) | Source (date) |
|---|---|---|
| TCS Ninja | From ₹3.4 lakh | TCS NQT hiring bands, as reported by FACE Prep (August 2026) |
| TCS Digital | ₹7.09–7.30 lakh | Same |
| TCS Prime | ₹9.09–9.30 lakh | Same |
| Wipro standard track (Velocity) | ₹3.5–4.0 lakh | FACE Prep (May 2026) |
| Infosys Specialist Programmer L1 | ₹10 lakh plus ₹1 lakh joining bonus | Reported December 2025 |
| Infosys Specialist Programmer L2 | ₹16 lakh | Reported December 2025 |
| Infosys Specialist Programmer L3 | ₹21 lakh | Reported December 2025 |
| HCLTech elite freshers with AI and digital skills | ₹18–22 lakh | HCLTech January 2026 earnings update, as reported |
The higher tracks hire far fewer people than the standard tracks, so most freshers in IT services still start near the bottom of this table. Packages are CTC, not in-hand pay; see the in-hand section below. Companies revise these bands for each hiring season, so confirm the figure in your own offer letter.
Sources: FACE Prep: 2026 fresher salary landscape; FACE Prep: Wipro Elite NTH 2026; News Karnataka: Infosys fresher pay (30 December 2025); HCLTech fresher salaries (13 January 2026); IT fresher salaries flat (9 February 2026).
Software Engineer Salary by City
Bengaluru and Gurgaon lead on Indeed's data at a little over ₹10 lakh, about ₹1.5 lakh above the national average of ₹8.79 lakh. On Levels.fyi, the senior median is ₹56.2 lakh in Bengaluru and ₹51.7 lakh in Hyderabad. The city matters less than the employer: the gap between a services firm and a product firm in the same city is far larger than the gap between cities.
Sources: Indeed: highest paying cities (11 May 2026); Levels.fyi: senior, Hyderabad.
Software Engineer Salary by Company
IT Services Companies
| Company | Software engineer average | Source (date) |
|---|---|---|
| Infosys | ₹6.04 lakh a year | Indeed, 240 job postings (16 August 2026) |
| Accenture | ₹5.30 lakh a year | Indeed, 641 job postings (11 October 2026) |
| Capgemini | ₹4.84 lakh a year | Indeed, 287 job postings (18 July 2026) |
| Cognizant | ₹6.94 lakh median total pay | Levels.fyi (25 October 2026) |
At Cognizant, Levels.fyi shows how pay moves with level: ₹4.8 lakh at L1, ₹7.4 lakh at L2 and ₹21.3 lakh at L3. In services firms, growth comes mainly from promotions and the yearly hike cycle; see how the Infosys salary hike works for an example.
Product Companies and Global Tech Firms
These are medians of total compensation, so they include stock, which vests over several years and changes with the share price. Compare the fixed pay in such offers separately.
Sources: Indeed company salary pages for Infosys, Accenture and Capgemini; Levels.fyi pages for Cognizant India, software engineers in India and Amazon SDE II India (October 2026).
Software Engineer vs Related Tech Roles
| Role | Average salary | Typical range |
|---|---|---|
| DevOps engineer | ₹7.65 lakh | ₹4.0–14.6 lakh |
| Software engineer | ₹8.79 lakh | Not published |
| Data engineer | ₹9.54 lakh | ₹4.9–18.5 lakh |
| Machine learning engineer | ₹11.43 lakh | ₹6.4–20.3 lakh |
| Data scientist | ₹12.09 lakh | ₹7.0–20.9 lakh |
All five figures are from Indeed India, so they are measured the same way. Roles that build and run machine learning systems average more than general software engineering. For a full breakdown, see our data scientist salary guide.
Sources: Indeed India salary pages for DevOps engineer (16 October 2026), software engineer, data engineer, machine learning engineer and data scientist.
Software Engineer In-Hand Salary: What a CTC Means Per Month
An offer letter shows CTC, but your bank account sees in-hand pay after PF, professional tax and income tax. Three common offers:
| Item (yearly) | ₹6 lakh CTC | ₹10 lakh CTC | ₹30 lakh CTC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic pay (50% of CTC) | ₹3,00,000 | ₹5,00,000 | ₹15,00,000 |
| Employer PF (12% of basic, inside CTC) | ₹36,000 | ₹60,000 | ₹1,80,000 |
| Gratuity provision (4.81% of basic, inside CTC) | ₹14,430 | ₹24,050 | ₹72,150 |
| Gross salary | ₹5,49,570 | ₹9,15,950 | ₹27,47,850 |
| Less employee PF (12% of basic) | ₹36,000 | ₹60,000 | ₹1,80,000 |
| Less professional tax | ₹2,400 | ₹2,400 | ₹2,400 |
| Less income tax (new regime, with 4% cess) | Nil | Nil | ₹3,97,130 |
| In-hand a year | ₹5,11,170 | ₹8,53,550 | ₹21,68,320 |
| In-hand a month | ₹42,598 | ₹71,129 | ₹1,80,693 |
Assumptions: tax year 2026-27, new regime with the ₹75,000 standard deduction (no tax up to ₹12 lakh of taxable income because of the rebate), no variable pay or stock, PF on full basic pay and ₹200 a month professional tax. Basic pay at 50% of CTC reflects the Labour Codes' rule that wages must be at least half of total pay. Your structure will differ, so check your own offer with the in-hand salary calculator and the salary breakup calculator.
What Raises a Software Engineer's Salary
- Employer type: the biggest single factor. The same title pays a few lakh at an IT services firm and several times that at a product company or global tech firm, as the company section shows.
- Level, not just years: pay jumps at promotions, such as moving from L2 to L3 or to the senior title, more than with each extra year.
- Your hiring track as a fresher: clearing a higher track such as TCS Digital or Prime or Infosys Specialist Programmer doubles or triples the starting package.
- Strong coding and system design: product companies hire through coding and design interviews, so these skills decide access to the highest-paying segment.
- Machine learning and data work: ML engineer and data scientist roles average more than general software engineering on the same platform.
- Proof of work: projects, open-source contributions and competitive coding results carry more weight than course certificates alone.
How to Check a Software Engineer Offer
- Benchmark like for like. Compare a services offer with Glassdoor or PayScale, and a product company offer with Levels.fyi for the same level and city.
- Ask for the full breakup. Fixed pay, variable pay, joining bonus, stock and its vesting schedule, and benefits.
- Work out the monthly in-hand. Use the in-hand salary calculator; the new regime has no tax up to ₹12 lakh of taxable income.
- Negotiate fixed pay first. Variable pay and stock depend on performance and the share price; fixed pay is certain.
- Check the hike cycle. When the next revision is due affects your real first-year pay. Compare offers with the salary hike calculator.
About This Guide
Who This Guide Is For
- Students and freshers comparing IT hiring tracks.
- Software engineers planning a job switch.
- Candidates comparing services and product company offers.
- HR and talent teams benchmarking engineering pay.
How the Figures Were Collected
Salary figures come from Glassdoor, PayScale, Indeed and Levels.fyi India pages, read in October 2026, each with its date and number of salaries where shown. These platforms rely on employee submissions or job postings, so they are indicators, not guarantees. Fresher packages come from published hiring bands and news reports, marked as reported where the company has not published them itself. The in-hand examples are our own calculation under the stated assumptions.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average software engineer salary in India in 2026?
About ₹6–9 lakh a year across the market. Glassdoor shows ₹6.06 lakh, PayScale ₹8.24 lakh average base salary and Indeed ₹8.79 lakh. At product companies and global tech firms, the Levels.fyi median is ₹30.6 lakh total compensation.
What is the salary of a fresher software engineer in India?
Usually ₹3.5–5.5 lakh a year. PayScale shows ₹5.37 lakh average total pay under one year of experience, and Indeed's entry-level average is ₹4.01 lakh. Higher hiring tracks and product companies pay much more.
What is the TCS fresher salary in 2026?
The reported TCS NQT bands are from ₹3.4 lakh for Ninja, ₹7.09–7.30 lakh for Digital and ₹9.09–9.30 lakh for Prime. Your track depends on your NQT score and interview.
What is a senior software engineer's salary in India?
At product companies and global tech firms, Levels.fyi shows a median of ₹56.2 lakh total compensation in Bengaluru and ₹51.7 lakh in Hyderabad. In IT services firms, senior pay is much lower and depends on the level.
Which city pays software engineers the most in India?
On Indeed, Bengaluru (₹10.37 lakh) and Gurgaon (₹10.29 lakh) lead, followed by Hyderabad, Mumbai and Noida. The employer matters more than the city.
What is the in-hand salary for a ₹10 lakh software engineer CTC?
About ₹71,100 a month under the new tax regime for tax year 2026-27, assuming basic pay of 50% of CTC, PF on basic and no variable pay. There is no income tax at this level because of the rebate.
Which companies pay software engineers the most in India?
On Levels.fyi, Broadcom (₹1.23 crore), Rippling (₹1.20 crore), Airbnb, LinkedIn and Stripe have the highest median total compensation in India. These figures include stock.
Why do salary websites show different software engineer salaries?
They measure different groups and kinds of pay. Glassdoor covers the whole market including IT services, PayScale reports base salary, Indeed uses job postings, and Levels.fyi covers mostly product firms with stock included.