August 2026 – Mumbai – IT, Tech and AI Salary & Contractor Rates

The Reality Behind the Data

August across Mumbai’s tech ecosystem is defined by the acceleration from traditional cost-arbitrage to high-value global execution. Fuelled by booming BFSI, fintech hubs, and expanding Global Capability Centers (GCCs), global enterprises are aggressively deploying capital into Mumbai’s elite tech talent pool. While standard permanent volume hiring remains measured, specialised talent is seeing unprecedented hyper-growth—driving global YoY rate gains to the top of our international benchmarks (with AI roles surging up to +23.0% YoY).

The Agility Pull: Premium Engineers Escape Enterprise Slowdowns

Elite software, MLOps, and AI engineers across Mumbai are actively walking away from legacy outsourcing giants and massive financial corporations. This migration isn’t driven by regulatory friction or salary caps, but by corporate sluggishness. Top builders want to see their systems live in production rather than stalled in multi-stage management loops. Agile product companies, fintech platforms, and mid-market scaleups offering rapid deployment lifecycles and immediate ownership are capturing Mumbai’s top-tier technical minds moving into late Q3.

Infrastructure & Security Foundations Defeat the Hype

Pragmatic execution continues to outweigh speculative hype across Mumbai enterprises. Boards recognise that advanced AI frameworks are useless without secure cloud infrastructure and resilient data pipelines. Driven by global supply chain cyber threats, capital allocation remains focused on risk mitigation. Platform Engineers, DevSecOps Leads, and Cloud Security Specialists hold high leverage, providing the foundational stability required to deploy next-generation automation.

Note: Yearly salaries are displayed in Lakhs Per Annum (LPA) (e.g., ₹29.4L = ₹29,400,000 / year). Contractor Day Rates are flat INR amounts.

 

  •  
    JOB TITLE
    Yearly Low
    (Lakhs INR)
    Yearly Median
    (Lakhs INR)
    Yearly High
    (Lakhs INR)
    Annual % Change
    Contractor Day Rate
    (Raw INR ₹)
    Day Rate Change
    AI, Automation & Data
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Head of AI & Automation
    ₹3,270,000
    ₹3,850,000
    ₹4,540,000
    +17.0%
    ₹28,000
    +11.2%
     
    AI / Machine Learning Engineer
    ₹2,530,000
    ₹2,980,000
    ₹3,520,000
    +18.7%
    ₹21,000
    +12.5%
     
    AI Solutions Architect
    ₹2,820,000
    ₹3,320,000
    ₹3,920,000
    +16.3%
    ₹23,620
    +10.8%
     
    MLOps Engineer
    ₹2,320,000
    ₹2,730,000
    ₹3,220,000
    +17.5%
    ₹18,380
    +11.8%
     
    Automation / RPA Architect
    ₹2,380,000
    ₹2,800,000
    ₹3,300,000
    +11.0%
    ₹19,250
    +7.2%
     
    RPA Developer
    ₹1,630,000
    ₹1,920,000
    ₹2,270,000
    +8.3%
    ₹13,120
    +5.5%
     
    Data Science Lead
    ₹2,680,000
    ₹3,150,000
    ₹3,720,000
    +12.9%
    ₹21,880
    +8.5%
     
    Data Scientist
    ₹1,940,000
    ₹2,280,000
    ₹2,690,000
    +11.7%
    ₹15,750
    +7.8%
     
    Data Engineer
    ₹1,780,000
    ₹2,100,000
    ₹2,480,000
    +13.6%
    ₹14,880
    +9.0%
     
    Data Architect
    ₹2,530,000
    ₹2,980,000
    ₹3,520,000
    +10.3%
    ₹20,120
    +6.8%
     
    Business Intelligence (BI) Analyst
    ₹1,430,000
    ₹1,680,000
    ₹1,980,000
    +6.6%
    ₹11,380
    +4.5%
     
    BI Developer
    ₹1,630,000
    ₹1,920,000
    ₹2,270,000
    +8.0%
    ₹13,120
    +5.2%
     
    Power Platform / Low-Code Dev
    ₹1,780,000
    ₹2,100,000
    ₹2,480,000
    +13.4%
    ₹14,880
    +8.8%
     
    Prompt Engineer / AI App Dev
    ₹2,080,000
    ₹2,450,000
    ₹2,890,000
    +23.0%
    ₹17,500
    +15.0%
    IT Ops & Leadership
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    IT Director / CIO
    ₹3,570,000
    ₹4,200,000
    ₹4,960,000
    +7.3%
    ₹22,750
    +4.8%
     
    Head of IT / IT Manager
    ₹2,230,000
    ₹2,620,000
    ₹3,090,000
    +6.0%
    ₹17,500
    +4.0%
     
    IT Business Partner
    ₹1,940,000
    ₹2,280,000
    ₹2,690,000
    +7.7%
    ₹15,750
    +5.0%
     
    Service Delivery Manager
    ₹1,940,000
    ₹2,280,000
    ₹2,690,000
    +5.3%
    ₹14,880
    +3.5%
     
    IT Operations Manager
    ₹2,020,000
    ₹2,380,000
    ₹2,810,000
    +5.7%
    ₹15,750
    +3.8%
     
    IT Project Manager
    ₹1,780,000
    ₹2,100,000
    ₹2,480,000
    +3.0%
    ₹14,880
    +2.2%
     
    Program Manager
    ₹2,530,000
    ₹2,980,000
    ₹3,520,000
    +6.9%
    ₹19,250
    +4.5%
     
    Scrum Master / Agile Coach
    ₹1,940,000
    ₹2,280,000
    ₹2,690,000
    +1.3%
    ₹15,750
    +1.0%
     
    Business Analyst
    ₹1,630,000
    ₹1,920,000
    ₹2,270,000
    +6.3%
    ₹13,120
    +4.2%
     
    1st Line Support Technician
    ₹770,000
    ₹910,000
    ₹1,070,000
    +5.0%
    ₹5,600
    +3.0%
     
    2nd Line Support Engineer
    ₹1,040,000
    ₹1,220,000
    ₹1,440,000
    +5.9%
    ₹7,700
    +4.0%
     
    3rd Line / Senior Tech Support
    ₹1,340,000
    ₹1,580,000
    ₹1,860,000
    +6.7%
    ₹10,500
    +4.5%
     
    Helpdesk Manager / Service Desk Lead
    ₹1,490,000
    ₹1,750,000
    ₹2,060,000
    +5.5%
    ₹11,380
    +3.5%
    Infrastructure & Networking
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Infrastructure Manager
    ₹2,080,000
    ₹2,450,000
    ₹2,890,000
    +6.0%
    ₹15,750
    +4.0%
     
    Senior Systems Engineer
    ₹1,630,000
    ₹1,920,000
    ₹2,270,000
    +6.5%
    ₹12,250
    +4.2%
     
    Systems Administrator
    ₹1,250,000
    ₹1,470,000
    ₹1,730,000
    +3.7%
    ₹9,620
    +2.5%
     
    Network Architect
    ₹2,530,000
    ₹2,980,000
    ₹3,520,000
    +8.7%
    ₹19,250
    +5.8%
     
    Network Engineer
    ₹1,430,000
    ₹1,680,000
    ₹1,980,000
    +6.3%
    ₹10,500
    +4.0%
     
    Network Security Engineer
    ₹1,730,000
    ₹2,030,000
    ₹2,400,000
    +10.7%
    ₹13,120
    +7.0%
     
    Unified Communications Specialist
    ₹1,430,000
    ₹1,680,000
    ₹1,980,000
    +5.0%
    ₹10,500
    +3.2%
     
    Storage & Virtualisation Engineer
    ₹1,550,000
    ₹1,820,000
    ₹2,150,000
    +3.3%
    ₹11,380
    +2.2%
     
    Data Centre Engineer
    ₹1,250,000
    ₹1,470,000
    ₹1,730,000
    +7.0%
    ₹9,620
    +4.8%
     
    Site Reliability Engineer (SRE)
    ₹2,140,000
    ₹2,520,000
    ₹2,970,000
    +14.0%
    ₹16,620
    +9.5%
    Cloud & DevOps
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Cloud Architect (AWS/Azure/GCP)
    ₹2,820,000
    ₹3,320,000
    ₹3,920,000
    +12.7%
    ₹21,880
    +8.5%
     
    Principal Cloud Engineer
    ₹2,530,000
    ₹2,980,000
    ₹3,520,000
    +12.0%
    ₹20,120
    +8.0%
     
    Cloud Systems Engineer
    ₹1,730,000
    ₹2,030,000
    ₹2,400,000
    +9.6%
    ₹13,120
    +6.4%
     
    DevOps Engineer
    ₹2,230,000
    ₹2,620,000
    ₹3,090,000
    +11.3%
    ₹17,500
    +7.5%
     
    DevOps Lead / Architect
    ₹2,680,000
    ₹3,150,000
    ₹3,720,000
    +12.4%
    ₹21,000
    +8.2%
     
    DevSecOps Engineer
    ₹2,380,000
    ₹2,800,000
    ₹3,300,000
    +15.7%
    ₹19,250
    +10.5%
     
    Infrastructure as Code Specialist
    ₹2,080,000
    ₹2,450,000
    ₹2,890,000
    +10.5%
    ₹16,620
    +7.0%
     
    Cloud Migration Specialist
    ₹2,140,000
    ₹2,520,000
    ₹2,970,000
    +9.0%
    ₹16,620
    +6.0%
     
    FinOps Specialist
    ₹2,020,000
    ₹2,380,000
    ₹2,810,000
    +12.3%
    ₹15,750
    +8.0%
    Cybersecurity & Risk
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)
    ₹3,870,000
    ₹4,550,000
    ₹5,370,000
    +12.3%
    ₹29,750
    +8.2%
     
    Information Security Manager
    ₹2,530,000
    ₹2,980,000
    ₹3,520,000
    +11.0%
    ₹19,250
    +7.3%
     
    Cyber Security Engineer
    ₹1,940,000
    ₹2,280,000
    ₹2,690,000
    +13.0%
    ₹15,750
    +8.8%
     
    Cyber Security Analyst
    ₹1,430,000
    ₹1,680,000
    ₹1,980,000
    +9.9%
    ₹10,500
    +6.6%
     
    Penetration Tester / Ethical Hacker
    ₹1,840,000
    ₹2,170,000
    ₹2,560,000
    +11.3%
    ₹14,880
    +7.5%
     
    SOC Analyst
    ₹1,250,000
    ₹1,470,000
    ₹1,730,000
    +8.7%
    ₹9,620
    +5.8%
     
    Security Architect
    ₹2,680,000
    ₹3,150,000
    ₹3,720,000
    +14.3%
    ₹21,000
    +9.4%
     
    Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) Lead
    ₹2,230,000
    ₹2,620,000
    ₹3,090,000
    +10.4%
    ₹16,620
    +6.9%
     
    Identity & Access Management (IAM) Specialist
    ₹1,780,000
    ₹2,100,000
    ₹2,480,000
    +11.6%
    ₹13,120
    +7.8%
     
    Cloud Security Specialist
    ₹2,320,000
    ₹2,730,000
    ₹3,220,000
    +13.7%
    ₹18,380
    +9.0%
    Software & ERP
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Software Engineering Manager
    ₹2,680,000
    ₹3,150,000
    ₹3,720,000
    +9.3%
    ₹21,000
    +6.2%
     
    Lead Software Developer
    ₹2,320,000
    ₹2,730,000
    ₹3,220,000
    +9.7%
    ₹18,380
    +6.5%
     
    Senior Full Stack Developer
    ₹2,020,000
    ₹2,380,000
    ₹2,810,000
    +8.6%
    ₹15,750
    +5.7%
     
    Software Engineer (Python/Java/.NET)
    ₹1,840,000
    ₹2,170,000
    ₹2,560,000
    +9.0%
    ₹14,880
    +6.0%
     
    ERP / CRM Manager
    ₹2,230,000
    ₹2,620,000
    ₹3,090,000
    +6.7%
    ₹17,500
    +4.5%
     
    Solution Architect
    ₹2,620,000
    ₹3,080,000
    ₹3,630,000
    +10.0%
    ₹20,120
    +6.6%

 

If your company is thinking of hiring, do it now. As demand rises, so too with the rates of pay and the difficulty levels of attracting and securing the right talent.

If, however, your company is slowing down – beware! If your IT staff start to feel insecure, talent competitors and recruiters will find it very easy to persuade your staff to interview elsewhere. Despite the stress and negativity that may exist, take the time to focus on reassuring your team and, where appropriate, reward their loyalty. It’s a false economy to avoid salary increases for your best people. Doing so risks leave yourself vulnerable to losing key staff and the larger costs in both time and money of replacing them.

Should you be considering recruitment or simply would like some advice on anything recruitment related, please do not hesitate to give us a call and see how we can really help you to Recruit Someone Worth Recruiting.

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