This guide provides a comprehensive breakdown of AI engineer salaries in India for 2026, considering factors like experience, city, company type, and specialization. It highlights the significant growth in demand for AI talent, particularly in GenAI and MLOps, and offers strategies for maximizing compensation. The analysis compares Indian salaries with global benchmarks and outlines career progression paths in the field.
About the role
India's AI market was valued at USD 9.51 billion in 2024 and is forecast to cross USD 130 billion by 2032, with a compound annual growth rate of roughly 39%. This growth is leading to hundreds of companies competing to hire AI talent. As a result, demand for AI engineers is rising 40% year-on-year, while the skilled talent pool is growing at only 15-20%. This gap between demand and supply is the single biggest driver of AI engineer salary growth in India. Currently, around 11.7% of all job postings in India explicitly require AI skills, up from 8.2% a year ago. Salary growth has been averaging 15-20% annually and is expected to continue through 2030.
This guide details AI engineer salaries in India for 2026, breaking it down by experience level, city, company type, specialization, and skills. This information is current and specific, catering to both freshers planning their careers and hiring managers benchmarking compensation.
An AI engineer is a professional who designs, builds, and deploys AI systems that learn from data to solve real-world problems. They create intelligent applications such as chatbots, recommendation systems, fraud detection models, and GenAI tools that power modern digital products. It's important to distinguish AI engineers from ML engineers (who focus on training and optimizing machine learning models) and data scientists (who extract insights and patterns from data), as AI engineers building end-to-end systems and deploying them into production consistently earn more.
The average AI engineer salary in India is approximately INR 11 LPA according to Glassdoor, but this number varies widely. An entry-level AI engineer at an IT services firm might earn INR 6 LPA, while a senior Generative AI engineer at a Bengaluru product company could earn INR 55 LPA. The full salary distribution shows significant variations:
Level | Experience | Salary Range | Monthly Take-Home (Approx.)
--- | --- | --- | ---
Fresher | 0-2 years | INR 6 - INR 10 LPA | INR 40,000 - INR 70,000
Mid-Level | 3-6 years | INR 12 - INR 30 LPA | INR 85,000 - INR 2,10,000
Senior | 7-10 years | INR 30 - INR 60 LPA | INR 2,10,000 - INR 4,20,000
Principal / Architect | 10+ years | INR 60 - INR 80 LPA+ | INR 4,20,000 - INR 5,80,000+
The range is wide due to factors like company type, city, and specialization, which can create a 2x to 3x difference for the same experience level.
**AI Engineer Salary by Experience Level:**
AI engineer salaries in India vary significantly based on experience, depth of skills, and exposure to production-grade AI systems.
* **Entry-Level (0-2 years):** Typically earns between INR 6-12 LPA. Salaries at this stage depend heavily on strong Python skills, ML fundamentals, and hands-on project experience (internships, portfolios).
* IT services (TCS, Infosys, Wipro): INR 5.8 - INR 8 LPA
* Product companies and AI-first startups: INR 8 - INR 12 LPA
* IIT/NIT graduates at FAANG India: INR 15 LPA+
* Increased salary factors: Deployed ML projects on GitHub, knowledge of PyTorch or TensorFlow, familiarity with GenAI tools (LangChain, Hugging Face), internship/project experience in a real product environment, Kaggle ranking, or open-source contributions.
* **Mid-Level (3-6 years):** With experience in deploying models, working on real datasets, and using tools like MLOps and cloud platforms, salaries rise to INR 12-30 LPA. Engineers with GenAI or production deployment experience see faster growth.
* Production deployment experience is the biggest differentiator.
* MLOps skills (monitoring, retraining, maintaining models in production).
* Specialization depth (NLP, computer vision, or GenAI expertise).
* Company type: Generalist IT services engineers plateau at INR 15-20 LPA; product company peers earn INR 20-30 LPA.
* **Senior-Level (7-10+ years):** Senior AI engineers who lead systems design, scale AI products, and work on advanced domains like LLMs or MLOps earn INR 30-60+ LPA, with top product companies and GCCs offering even higher packages.
* Specialization (Generative AI and MLOps specialists command INR 45-60 LPA).
* Track choice (Individual contributor (IC) vs. leadership track).
* System design capability (architects who can design end-to-end AI systems).
* Company (Google India, Microsoft India, and Bengaluru-based product companies pay 50-80% more than IT services).
**AI Engineer Salary by Company Type:**
Company type is the biggest factor, with a 60-150% gap between IT services and top product companies for equivalent experience levels.
Company Type | Fresher | Mid-Level | Senior
--- | --- | --- | ---
IT Services (TCS, Infosys, Wipro) | INR 5.8 - INR 8 LPA | INR 12 - INR 20 LPA | INR 20 - INR 35 LPA
Consulting (Deloitte, Accenture, PwC) | INR 8 - INR 12 LPA | INR 18 - INR 30 LPA | INR 30 - INR 50 LPA
Indian Product Companies (Flipkart, Paytm, Razorpay) | INR 9 - INR 14 LPA | INR 20 - INR 35 LPA | INR 35 - INR 60 LPA
AI-First Startups | INR 8 - INR 14 LPA + ESOPs | INR 18 - INR 35 LPA + ESOPs | INR 30 - INR 55 LPA + ESOPs
GCCs (Walmart Tech, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs) | INR 10 - INR 18 LPA | INR 22 - INR 40 LPA | INR 40 - INR 65 LPA
Global Tech India (Google, Microsoft, Amazon) | INR 15 - INR 25 LPA | INR 30 - INR 55 LPA | INR 55 - INR 80 LPA+
**AI Engineer Salary by City in India:**
Salaries vary by city due to industry concentration and demand.
City | Mid-Level Range | Notes
--- | --- | ---
Bengaluru | INR 15 - INR 40 LPA | Highest benchmark nationally; home to Google, Amazon, Microsoft R&D, and 3,000+ AI startups.
Hyderabad | INR 12 - INR 28 LPA | Second-highest; Microsoft and Amazon have large AI operations; Telangana AI Mission driving GCC growth.
Mumbai | INR 14 - INR 35 LPA | Fintech premium from JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, PhonePe AI roles.
Pune | INR 10 - INR 22 LPA | Growing steadily; significant GCC presence from Persistent, Cognizant AI labs.
Delhi / NCR | INR 12 - INR 25 LPA | Strong startup and D2C AI hiring; edtech and e-commerce AI roles.
Chennai | INR 10 - INR 20 LPA | Zoho, Freshworks AI teams; SaaS-focused NLP roles are highest-paying.
**AI Engineer Salary by Specialisation:**
Specialization is a fast way to reach premium salary bands.
Specialisation | Mid-Level | Senior-Level | Premium over Generalist
--- | --- | --- | ---
Generative AI / LLM Engineer | INR 18 - INR 35 LPA | INR 35 - INR 60 LPA | 25 - 40%
MLOps Engineer | INR 16 - INR 30 LPA | INR 30 - INR 55 LPA | 20 - 35%
NLP Specialist | INR 15 - INR 28 LPA | INR 28 - INR 45 LPA | 15 - 25%
Computer Vision Engineer | INR 15 - INR 28 LPA | INR 28 - INR 50 LPA | 15 - 25%
AI Architect | INR 25 - INR 45 LPA | INR 45 - INR 75 LPA | 35 - 50%
Generalist AI/ML Engineer | INR 12 - INR 25 LPA | INR 25 - INR 40 LPA | Baseline
**Factors That Influence AI Engineer Salary:**
* **Experience Level:** 30-50% salary growth for well-positioned AI engineers every 2-3 years.
* **Company Type:** 60-150% gap between IT services and product companies.
* **Specialisation:** GenAI and MLOps skills add 20-40% to offers.
* **Portfolio Quality:** Well-documented GitHub portfolio with deployed projects significantly impacts interview conversion and salary negotiation.
* **Deployment & Production Experience:** Capability to take a model from experiment to production API commands a premium.
* **City and Cost of Living:** Bengaluru and Hyderabad pay 20-40% above the national average.
* **Negotiation:** Companies often have more budget than initial offers, leading to potential 15-25% improvement in final compensation with negotiation.
* **Education:** IIT/NIT graduates receive 25-30% higher initial offers on average, but practical experience closes this gap at 3-5 years.
**Skills That Increase AI Engineer Salary:**
Skill / Tool | Salary Impact | Why
--- | --- | ---
Python (advanced) | Foundation | Every AI stack runs on Python
PyTorch / TensorFlow | +10-20% | Core frameworks for model development
Generative AI / LLMs | +25-40% | Highest demand-supply gap in India
LangChain / LlamaIndex | +20-35% | Building LLM-powered applications
MLOps (MLflow, Kubeflow, Airflow) | +20-35% | Production deployment is where value is
Cloud Platforms (AWS/GCP/Azure) | +15-25% | Enterprise AI runs on cloud infrastructure
Vector Databases (Pinecone, ChromaDB) | +15-25% | Core to RAG and GenAI applications
Hugging Face Transformers | +15-20% | State-of-the-art NLP and LLM tooling
Docker + Kubernetes | +10-20% | Deployment and scaling
System Design (AI systems) | +30-50% at senior level | Required for architect and principal roles
**AI Engineer Salary Growth Trend (2020-2026):**
Salaries have nearly doubled since 2020 due to deep learning adoption and the rise of Generative AI. Annual growth of 15-20% is expected through 2030.
Year | Avg. Fresher Salary | Avg. Mid-Level Salary | Key Driver
--- | --- | --- | ---
2020 | INR 4 - INR 6 LPA | INR 8 - INR 14 LPA | Early ML adoption
2021 | INR 5 - INR 7 LPA | INR 9 - INR 16 LPA | COVID acceleration of digital
2022 | INR 5 - INR 8 LPA | INR 10 - INR 18 LPA | ML deployment at scale
2023 | INR 6 - INR 9 LPA | INR 12 - INR 22 LPA | ChatGPT triggers GenAI hiring surge
2024 | INR 6 - INR 9 LPA | INR 14 - INR 26 LPA | Enterprise GenAI rollouts begin
2025 | INR 6 - INR 10 LPA | INR 16 - INR 28 LPA | LLM engineering becomes standalone role
2026 | INR 6 - INR 12 LPA | INR 18 - INR 35 LPA | MLOps + GenAI create premium tier
**India vs Global AI Engineer Salary Comparison:**
India-based AI engineers earn less in absolute terms but the purchasing power gap is smaller. Remote roles for US-based companies offer significant arbitrage.
Country / Market | Average Annual Salary (Mid-Level)
--- | ---
India (Bengaluru, Senior) | INR 25 - INR 50 LPA (~$30K-$60K)
India (Remote for US firms) | INR 60 - INR 80 LPA (~$72K-$96K)
United States | $120,000 - $180,000
United Kingdom | £70,000 - £130,000
Germany | €75,000 - €130,000
Singapore | SGD 80,000 - SGD 140,000
Canada | CAD 95,000 - CAD 160,000
**Career Growth Path of an AI Engineer:**
AI engineer careers typically progress from model building to system design and leadership in production AI environments, with compensation increasing significantly.
* AI Engineer (0-2 yrs): INR 6 - INR 12 LPA
* Senior AI Engineer (3-6 yrs): INR 18 - INR 35 LPA
* Lead AI Engineer (6-9 yrs): INR 30 - INR 50 LPA
* AI Architect / Principal Engineer (9-12 yrs): INR 45 - INR 75 LPA
* Head of AI / VP AI / CTO Track: INR 75 LPA - INR 1 Cr+
**How to Increase Your AI Engineer Salary:**
1. **Switch to a product company or GCC:** Offers an immediate 60-100% salary reset.
2. **Build GenAI, MLOps, or LLM engineering skills:** Leads to 20-40% higher offers.
3. **Build a strong GitHub portfolio:** Increases interview conversion and negotiation leverage.
4. **Move to a high-paying city or target remote global roles:** Bengaluru and Hyderabad pay 20-40% above the national average; US remote roles offer high value.
5. **Negotiate every offer:** Can result in a 15-25% improvement in final compensation.
6. **Pursue cloud certifications strategically:** Can add INR 1-2 lakh annually and open doors at cloud-focused enterprises.
**Future Outlook: AI Engineer Salaries in India (2026-2030):**
Projected salary growth: Entry-level: INR 6-10 LPA (2026) -> INR 10-15 LPA (2030); Mid-level: INR 12-30 LPA (2026) -> INR 20-40 LPA (2030); Senior: INR 30-60 LPA (2026) -> INR 40-70 LPA+ (2030). Salary growth rate: 15-20% annually through 2030.
Emerging roles creating new salary bands include LLM Engineer, RAG Engineer, AI Safety / Alignment Engineer, Multimodal AI Engineer, and AI Infra Engineer.