Bengaluru is India's paymaster

India's IT capital, Bengaluru has emerged as the top paymaster in the country with an average annual cost to company (CTC) per employee standing at Rs 10.8 lakh.

Yet another emerging tech city, Pune came second with an average annual CTC of Rs 10.3 lakh, followed by NCR (Rs 9.9 lakh), Mumbai (Rs 9.2 lakh) and Chennai (Rs 8 lakh).

"Bengaluru, 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 Rs 10.8 lakh," claims the Randstad Insights Salary Trends Report 2018.

Though at an entry level, up to six years of experience, Pune is the top paymaster, with a CTC of Rs 7.1 lakh, followed by Mumbai (Rs 6.5 lakh) and Bengaluru (Rs 6.4 lakh). At the middle and senior levels, Bengaluru is far ahead of other metros, with average CTCs of Rs 11.1 lakh and Rs 24.5 lakh respectively.

The growth of Bengaluru as the top paymaster has been propelled by the significant presence of IT, pharma and healthcare sectors, all of which feature in India's top paying sectors for 2018.

According to the report by the HR service provider, professionals from the pharma and healthcare industry are paid the highest in India with an average annual CTC of Rs 9.6 lakh across all levels and functions.

The second highest paying sector has been Professional Services, with an average pay of Rs 9.4 lakh, followed by FMCG (Rs 9.2 lakh), IT sector (Rs 9.1 lakh) and Infrastructure, Real Estate & Construction (Rs 9.0 lakh).

The report analysed one lakh jobs across 20 industry verticals and 15 functions.

In Bengaluru, Consulting and Advisory employees have the highest average CTC of Rs 11.8 lakh, followed by Sales – BFSI (Rs 10.4 lakh) and IT (Rs 10 lakh).

"A strong salary structure that strikes a perfect balance between internal and external pay equity is an imperative today for the organisations as it’s often the key to bring top talent on board and keep them motivated," Paul Dupuis, MD and CEO Randstad India said.