Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Returning from the US....What salary can one expect in India??


Earlier today, I was pointed to a post on ‘how much money do you need in India for a good lifestyle’!!

It makes an interesting reading..comparing notes on the various aspects of costing a home!

As a recruiter I have always been asked if there is a formula to convert ones US salary and reckon how much to expect in India!

And my standard reply..has been –‘please do not convert a dollar as 45rupees-but more around Rs 9 ( going by the famous United Nations theory of Purchasing power parity!)

But a more indicative pointer is that one can expect abt 20-30 % of the US salary for junior and middle management positions. For EDA, chip design and higher end skills this could go to 40%. And in those one –off senior management positions –a la R&D or Engineering Head- the Country Manager positions –it could go in the range of 60-70% of the last drawn US salary.

This has also been in consonance with the concept of outsourcing..as essentially it is driven by cost arbitrage, and most companies talk of a cost of operating in India as about one third of that in the US!!

But is a 100k salary in the east coast same as someone earning the same in the Silicon Valley??

The debate rages on…:-)!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Good article, Achyut...My views are : As long as there is some element of satisfaction in living, I dont think salary matters. There are people who earn 2 lakhs a month and are miserable due to various factors and some others who earn a middle sized income, but happy.