CTC to in-hand salary: ₹6 lakh to ₹50 lakh, worked out

The number on the offer letter is not your salary

Cost to company is what you cost your employer. Some of it never reaches your account: the employer's own provident fund contribution, a gratuity provision that is paid only if you stay long enough, and often a group health premium. Then your own PF, professional tax and income tax come out of what is left. Our guide to decoding your CTC explains each line. This post does the arithmetic across the range of salaries people actually negotiate, so you can read an offer in one glance.

Every figure below comes from the same engine as the CTC breakdown calculator, run with its default structure for FY 2026-27:

• Basic salary is 50% of CTC, and HRA is 50% of basic.
• Employer and employee PF are each 12% of the full basic, with no wage ceiling.
• Gratuity provision is 4.81% of basic (15 days' wages for every 26 working days, spread over a year).
• A ₹25,000 health insurance premium is inside CTC. Professional tax is ₹2,400 a year. No variable pay.
• Tax is under the new regime: ₹75,000 standard deduction, slabs from 5% above ₹4 lakh to 30% above ₹24 lakh, the rebate up to ₹12 lakh of taxable income, and 4% cess.

CTC to monthly in-hand, FY 2026-27

Your own PF equals the employer's figure in every row and comes out of the monthly pay; professional tax is ₹200 a month. Income tax includes cess. At ₹50 lakh, taxable income is ₹44.80 lakh, still under the ₹50 lakh line where surcharge begins.

What the table shows

Up to about ₹14.19 lakh of CTC, there is no income tax at all. Gross salary in this structure is CTC less the employer's PF, gratuity and the insurance premium. While that gross stays within ₹12.75 lakh, the standard deduction takes taxable income to ₹12 lakh or less and the section 87A rebate, now section 156 of the Income-tax Act 2025, wipes out the slab tax. That is why in-hand climbs to 83.3% of CTC at ₹12 lakh, the best ratio in the table.

Just past that line, tax arrives quickly. At ₹15 lakh, taxable income is ₹12,73,925 and the tax is ₹73,932. Going from a ₹12 lakh to a ₹15 lakh CTC raises in-hand by ₹1,82,853 a year, about 61% of the ₹3 lakh increase. Our post on what to do with a salary hike covers the next step: deciding where the extra money goes.

Everything except tax is a near-fixed slice. Both PF shares, the gratuity provision, the premium and professional tax take 19% of CTC at ₹6 lakh and 15% at ₹50 lakh. Tax is what changes: nil up to ₹12 lakh, 4.9% of CTC at ₹15 lakh, 7.6% at ₹20 lakh and 19.2% at ₹50 lakh.

Two levers that move the result

The PF ceiling. EPF contributions are compulsory only on the first ₹15,000 of monthly basic, and many employers cap both sides at ₹1,800 a month. Run the ₹20 lakh CTC with that cap and the employer's saving moves into the special allowance: in-hand rises from ₹1,27,689 to ₹1,42,383 a month, while ₹1,96,800 a year less goes into your EPF account. Neither is wrong. The EPF calculator shows what that ₹1.97 lakh a year would grow to, and the post on the Voluntary Provident Fund covers putting some of it back.

The regime. Without rent or a home loan, the only old-regime claims in this structure are employee PF under 80C (now section 123) and professional tax. On a ₹15 lakh CTC with no rent paid and only the ₹90,000 of employee PF claimed under section 123, the old regime costs ₹1,81,436 against ₹73,932 in the new. The old regime only catches up when rent, a home loan and other deductions together pass the break-even worked out in our old vs new regime comparison. The old vs new regime calculator and the guide to choosing your tax regime take your own figures.

An employer NPS contribution is the one big deduction the new regime keeps, up to 14% of basic. The NPS tax benefits guide explains the limit, and the NPS hub lists the scheme returns.

How to read an offer with this table

1. Find basic first. PF, gratuity and HRA are all percentages of it. A 40% basic gives more cash now and less retirement saving than the 50% used here. The salary calculator lets you change it in one field.
2. Discount the gratuity line if you may leave early. It is paid only after five years of continuous service (one year on a fixed-term contract). The gratuity guide and gratuity calculator show what it becomes if you stay.
3. Ask whether PF is capped. It can swing in-hand by more than ₹14,000 a month at ₹20 lakh.
4. Check the tax line yourself. The income tax calculator takes taxable income straight from your payslip. Slab rates are on the Income Tax Department's site.

What this does not tell you

The structure is one reasonable default, not your employer's. Variable pay, meal cards, a car lease, an employer NPS contribution, or a state with no professional tax will each move the result. Employer PF and NPS above ₹7.5 lakh a year together are taxable as a perquisite, which matters only at the very top of this range. Bonuses are often taxed in the month they are paid, so monthly in-hand varies through the year even when the annual figure matches.

Once the monthly number is clear, the usual next question is what to automate from it. A SIP calculator is the simplest place to start. None of this is tax advice; check your payslip and Form 16 against the calculator before relying on a figure.