Salary / CTC Calculator
Estimate your approximate monthly in-hand salary from your annual CTC (Cost to Company).
How to use this calculator
Enter your annual CTC as stated in your offer letter and the approximate percentage of it that's Basic Salary, then click Estimate In-Hand Salary. It's meant as a quick ballpark for comparing offers, not a substitute for your employer's exact payslip.
Why CTC and in-hand salary are different
CTC (Cost to Company) is everything an employer spends on you in a year — salary components, employer PF contribution, insurance, and other benefits combined — while in-hand salary is what actually lands in your bank account each month. The gap is made of items that never reach your account (the employer's PF contribution, which is still your money but goes to your PF account) and deductions from your gross pay (your own PF, professional tax and income tax). In the worked example below, pay before income tax is 87.8% of CTC; income tax, which this estimate leaves out, then comes off that.
How the estimate is calculated
Basic Salary is calculated as your chosen percentage of CTC. PF is 12% of wages, and under the labour codes in force since 21 November 2025 wages include any allowances above half of your total pay (Labour Ministry FAQs on the codes), so the calculator uses Basic or half of CTC, whichever is higher. The employer's PF is subtracted from CTC to get Gross Salary. HRA is estimated at 50% of Basic, and Special Allowance absorbs whatever remains of Gross after Basic and HRA. From monthly Gross, the calculator deducts your own 12% PF contribution and a flat monthly professional tax to arrive at estimated in-hand salary — before income tax (TDS), which depends on factors this calculator doesn't have visibility into. PF is applied to the full wage figure; if your employer caps it at the ₹25,000 wage ceiling, your PF is lower and your in-hand pay higher.
Worked example
On a ₹12,00,000 annual CTC with Basic set at 50% and ₹200/month professional tax: Basic works out to ₹50,000/month, the employer's PF to ₹6,000/month, HRA to ₹25,000/month and Special Allowance to ₹19,000/month, for a Gross Salary of ₹94,000/month. After deducting ₹6,000 employee PF and ₹200 professional tax, estimated in-hand salary comes to ₹87,800/month (₹10,53,600/year) — before TDS is applied.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is my in-hand salary so much lower than my CTC?
CTC includes several components that never actually reach your bank account each month — the employer's share of Provident Fund, gratuity, insurance premiums, and other benefits are all part of CTC but paid out separately or later (some, like gratuity, only on leaving the company). What's left after also deducting your own PF contribution and taxes is your in-hand salary. How big the gap is depends mainly on the Basic share (PF is 12% of Basic, or of half your pay if Basic is lower, on both sides), whether your employer caps PF at the wage ceiling (₹25,000 a month since 17 September 2026), and how much income tax applies to you.
Why does this calculator not include income tax (TDS)?
Income tax depends on your tax regime choice, deductions, exemptions, and other income sources — factors this calculator doesn't have visibility into. What's shown here is your salary after PF and professional tax but before TDS, so your bank credit will be lower by whatever TDS your employer deducts each month.
Why does Basic start at 50%, and what if my offer letter shows less?
Since 21 November 2025 the labour codes define wages as Basic pay and dearness allowance, with any allowances above half of your total pay added back, and PF is worked out on those wages. So at least half of your pay counts for PF however the salary is split. Enter the Basic share from your offer letter: if it is under 50%, the calculator works PF out on half of your CTC instead. On a ₹12,00,000 CTC that is ₹6,000 of PF from each side a month and ₹87,800 in hand whether Basic is 40% or 50%. Before the codes, PF was worked out on Basic alone, and a 40% Basic gave ₹90,200.
What is HRA and why is it estimated at 50% of Basic?
House Rent Allowance (HRA) is a salary component meant to offset rental costs, and it can also reduce your taxable income if you actually pay rent and claim the exemption. 50% of Basic is a common structuring convention for employees in metro cities (40% is more typical for non-metro cities) — but the exact percentage is set by your employer's salary structure, not a fixed rule.
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