Knowing your worth was step one.
Now make sure everyone at your company gets theirs

Keka's Compensation & Benefits software lets you build salary bands, benchmark roles against market data, manage variable pay, and run compensation reviews; all in one place. Set pay structures that are fair, defendable, and consistent across every level and team

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Fair, transparent, and future‑ready pay planning made easy

Why HR & Finance Teams Love Keka

Keka, the smarter way to manage compensation

Because it takes the chaos out of spreadsheets and gives teams accuracy, transparency, and peace of mind.

No more spreadsheet math:

Track salary revisions, incentives, and equity from one place.

Crystal‑clear forecasting:

Know your biggest expense—employee pay—months in advance.

Fairness built-in:

Catch gender or role pay gaps and fix them with confidence.

Easy for everyone:

HRs, managers and finance teams get guardrails, clarity, & control.

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What’s inside the report?

Avg CHRO earns 15x of an HR Associate

Avg HR Associate earns ₹8.5L. Avg CHRO earns ₹1.25 crore.
That’s not growth. That’s a different game.

Bangalore/Mumbai HRs earn 25–30% more than Tier-II HRs

Your PIN code is worth ₹20 lakhs as someone could earn 30% more for the same job. But here's the twist: remote work is shrinking that gap by 5% every year.

Mid-career HR (10-13 years) is your growth engine and your biggest flight risk

This is where HR shifts from execution to strategy and your top talent gets poached.

Tech/GCC HRs earn 30%+ above the avg HR salary

Tech pays more. For the same job. Not because they're better at HR, but because they think like data scientists. The highest-paid HRs don't manage people. They manage patterns.

HR working in MNC earn 4.3x than HRs working in startups

The biggest HR pay acceleration isn’t in startups or MNCs. It’s in 1,000–5,000 - employee companies.

HR Analytics/DEI roles grow 2–2.5× faster than traditional HR

Payroll & Compliance sees the flattest HR pay growth, while Analytics and C&B lead with 114% higher pay.

At Director+ level, only 55% of CTC is fixed pay

Fixed pay is dying
The rest? Variable, bonuses, equity. 1 in 3 senior HR roles in Tech now include ESOPs. HR leaders don't just earn salaries anymore. They own stakes.

HR could be 1st function to achieve gender pay parity by 2027

HR’s gender pay gap is already lower at ~9–10%, and with transparent pay bands, parity is within reach.

What’s inside the report?

Avg CHRO earns 12x an HR executive

Avg HR Executive earns ₹8.5L. Avg CHRO earns ₹1.25 crore.
That's a 15× gap within the same function.

Bangalore/Mumbai HRs earn 25–30% more than Tier-II HRs.

Your PIN code is worth ₹20 lakhs as someone could earn 30% more for the same job. But here's the twist: remote work is shrinking that gap by 5% every year.

Mid-career HR (1-13 years) is your growth engine and your biggest flight risk

Avg HR Executive earns ₹8.5L. Avg CHRO earns ₹1.25 crore.
That's a 15× gap within the same function.

Tech/GCC HRs earn 30%+ above the avg HR salary

Tech pays more. For the same job. Not because they're better at HR, but because they think like data scientists. The highest-paid HRs don't manage people. They manage patterns.

HR working in MNC earn 4.3x than HRs working in startups

Startup HR Salary: ₹11L.
MNC HR Salary: ₹47L. (4.3× jump)
But the real sweet spot? 1,000–5,000 employees — where pay compounds fastest (4× in 5 years).

HR Analytics/DEI roles grow 2–2.5× faster than traditional HR

Payroll & Compliance roles face flatter growth curves than any other HR function.

In contrast, Analytics and C&B managers earn 114% higher than HR’s median, and the gap widens to 40–45% at leadership levels.

At Director+ level, only 55% of CTC is fixed pay

Fixed pay is dying.
The rest? Variable, bonuses, equity. 1 in 3 senior HR roles in Tech now include ESOPs. HR leaders don't just earn salaries anymore. They own stakes.

HR could be 1st function to achieve gender pay parity by 2027.

With a current pay gap of ~9–10%—compared to ~16–20% in tech and marketing—HR is already ahead.

If we standardise pay bands, embed bias filters and publish increments, the finish line is within sight.

Our Research methodology

The 2025–26 SHRM × Keka Inside India
Pay Pulse analyzes 1.84 lakh validated
data points across.

600+ companies

across industries

10 industries and 10 cities

(including Tier-II hubs)

9 HR functions / job families
7 experience levels

from entry to CHRO

Straight from the C-Suite

“This data-backed report is a must for HR professionals who want to validate whether they're underpaid or earning what they deserve."

Abhijit S Rao
- CHRO

“Fair pay builds trust and engagement. This report helps us understand market realities so we can make better decisions to support our team."

Tapan Acharya
- Chief Revenue Officer (CRO)

“Understanding what we pay and why ignites a deeper conversation about fairness, motivation, and growth. This report gives meaning to those numbers."

Vishal Chopra
- SVP Marketing

Use real data to back your next
salary conversation

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FAQs

If you work in HR and want to know how your pay compares to others like you across India, this report is made for you. It’s for anyone curious if they’re being paid fairly.s

Our data comes from over 10,000 HR professionals across India, collected in partnership with SHRM. You might know SHRM as the world’s largest HR professional society. They set the standard for trustworthy, research-backed HR insights. This report reflects their high-quality data covering every major industry from IT/ITeS to Media, roles, and cities to give you a clear, real look at the market.

Instead of relying on guesswork and whispers, you can use real salary data to confidently ask for the pay you deserve, whether it’s for a raise or a new job offer.

Yes, this report leverages data from 80+ HR Family roles, 16 Departments, 10+ industries and 60+ Validation Interviews.

100%. Understanding what HR professionals earn at different experience levels helps you set goals and make smart career moves.

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