Few facts first –
Pharma & Healthcare – highest paying industry in the country, followed by Professional Services and FMCG, which are the second and third highest paying industries in the country respectively.
Consulting & Advisory – highest paying job function in the country
Professional Services and FMCG – second and third highest paying industries in the country
FSI – highest paying industry for Junior and Senior level talent across all levels and functions
The IT capital of India, Bangalore, continues to lead the pack as the highest paying city in the country, with an average annual CTC for talent across all levels and functions standing at INR 10.8 lakhs according to Randstad Insights, the recently launched research and analysis division of Randstad India.
Bangalore topped the list in the 2017 salary trends report as well. Pune stands second at INR 10.3 lakhs, followed by NCR and Mumbai with an average annual CTC figure of INR 9.9 lakhs and INR 9.2 lakhs respectively. Chennai (INR 8.0 lakhs), Hyderabad (INR 7.9 lakhs) and Kolkata (INR 7.2 lakhs) are the other three names in the list of Indian cities paying the highest average salaries for professionals.
Randstad Insights’ report also reveals that professionals from the Pharma and Healthcare industry are paid the highest in India with an average annual CTC of INR 9.6 lakhs across all levels and functions. An increase in demand for specialist doctors and professionals with R&D skills were the primary reasons for the industry topping the charts this year. The roll-out of GST saw a spike in demand for implementation and compliance specialists, thus making Professional Services the second highest paying sector in the country, with an average salary of INR 9.4 lakhs.
The sector largely comprises of Management Consulting, Strategy, Accounting, Audit and Legal firms. FMCG, which was the highest paying industry in 2017, came in third with an average CTC of INR 9.2 lakhs. The IT sector, offering an average annual CTC of INR 9.1 lakhs and Infrastructure, Real Estate & Construction at INR 9.0 lakhs take the fourth and fifth position in the list as India’s most lucrative industries for professionals.
The ‘Hot Jobs for 2018’ – showcases roles in strong demand in the current job market, across industries, where talent in 6-10 year experience bracket are paid relatively higher remuneration (as much as 1.5 times higher) when compared to other professionals in the same salary range. Specialist Doctors top the chart with an average annual CTC at INR 18.4 lakhs, followed by Solution Architects at a CTC of INR 15.1 lakhs, Product Engineering Specialists at INR 14.8 lakhs and Blockchain technology experts at a CTC of INR 14.6 lakhs.
An interesting insight from this year’s edition of the Salary Trends Report (which arrives at the findings by analyzing the demand for talent) is that, compared to 2017, the average salaries have shown a downward trend from last year owing to the twin phenomenon of a decline in mid-level roles (which pay an average of 6-12 lakhs) and an increase in the number of entry level roles (which typically pay anywhere between 4-6 lakhs). The entry-level roles of the jobs analyzed increased from 38% last year to 51% this year, thereby pushing down the overall salaries. Randstad Insights Salary Trends Report 2018 analyzed 1,00,000 jobs across 20 industry verticals and 15 functions.
Other key findings from the 2018 Salary Trends Report:
Table 1: Highest paying job functions by city across all experience levels:
| City | Function | Average Annual CTC in INR |
|
Bangalore |
1. Consulting & Advisory | 11.8 lakhs |
| 2. Sales – BFSI | 10.4 lakhs | |
| 3. IT Professionals | 10.0 lakhs | |
|
Pune |
1. IT Professionals | 11.1 lakhs |
| 2. Finance & Accounts | 10.8 lakhs | |
| 3. Operations Roles | 10.3 lakhs | |
|
NCR |
1.Consulting & Advisory | 11.9 lakhs |
| 2. Operations Roles | 11.5 lakhs | |
| 3. IT Professionals | 10.8 lakhs |
Table 2: Highest paying cities by experience level:
| Senior level Talent (15 years+) | |
| Top 5 cities | Average Annual CTC in INR |
| Rank 1 – Bangalore | 24.5 lakhs |
| Rank 2 – Pune | 24.1 lakhs |
| Rank 3 – Chennai | 22.7 lakhs |
| Rank 4 – Mumbai | 22.3 lakhs |
| Rank 5 – Gujarat | 20.2 lakhs |
| Mid-level Talent (6-15 years) | |
| Top 5 cities | Average Annual CTC in INR |
| Rank 1 – Bangalore | 11.1 lakhs |
| Rank 2 – Pune | 10.9 lakhs |
| Rank 3 – Mumbai | 10.5 lakhs |
| Rank 4 – NCR | 10.4 lakhs |
| Rank 5 – Hyderabad | 10.3 lakhs |
| Junior level talent (0-6 years) | |
| Top 5 cities | Average Annual CTC in INR |
| Rank 1 – Pune | 7.1 lakhs |
| Rank 2 – Mumbai | 6.5 lakhs |
| Rank 3 – Bangalore | 6.4 lakhs |
| Rank 4 – NCR | 6.1 lakhs |
| Rank 5 – Kolkata | 6.0 lakhs |
Table 3: Highest paying industries by experience level:
| Senior level Talent (15 years+) | |
| Top 3 industries | Average Annual CTC in INR |
| Rank 1 – BFSI | 30.2 lakhs |
| Rank 2 – Professional Services | 27.3 lakhs |
| Rank 3 – IT | 26.7 lakhs |
| Mid-level Talent (6-15 years) | |
| Top 3 industries | Average Annual CTC in INR |
| Rank 1 – E-commerce | 11.7 lakhs |
| Rank 2 – IT | 11.0 lakhs |
| Rank 3 – Professional Services | 10.7 lakhs |
| Junior level talent (0-6 years) | |
| Top 3 industries | Average Annual CTC in INR |
| Rank 1 – BFSI | 5.5 lakhs |
| Rank 2 – Manufacturing | 5.4 lakhs |
| Rank 3 – FMCG | 5.3 lakhs |
Table 4: Highest paying job functions in India across all experience levels:
| Top 3 functions | Average Annual CTC in INR |
| Rank 1 – Consulting & Advisory | 13.4 lakhs |
| Rank 2 – Legal & Compliance | 10.9 lakhs |
| Rank 3 – Finance & Accounts | 10.0 lakhs |
Table 5: Highest paying job functions by experience level:
| Senior level Talent (15 years+) | |
| Top function | Average Annual CTC in INR |
| Consulting & Advisory | 34.0 lakhs |
| Mid-level Talent (6-15 years) | |
| Top function | Average Annual CTC in INR |
| IT-Tech | 13.1 lakhs |
| Junior level talent (0-6 years) | |
| Top function | Average Annual CTC in INR |
| Consulting & Advisory | 6.8 lakhs |
Table 6: 2018 Hot Jobs:
| Rank | Job Title | Average Annual CTC in INR |
| 1 | Specialist Doctors | 18.4 lakhs |
| 2 | Solution Architects | 15.1 lakhs |
| 3 | Product Engineering Specialists | 14.8 lakhs |
| 4 | Blockchain Technology experts | 14.6 lakhs |
| 5 | iOS Specialists | 13.9 lakhs |
| 6 | Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Specialists | 13.7 lakhs |
| 7 | AWS Specialists | 13.1 lakhs |
| 8 | Robotics Process Automation | 12.9 lakhs |
| 9 | Core Java Professionals | 12.6 lakhs |
| 10 | Android Engineers | 12.5 lakhs |
* List of roles with higher remunerations for talent in the 6-10 years experience bracket when compared to other professionals in the same salary range