Salary hike calculator and in-hand planner — what your raise is really worth

How to use the salary hike and in-hand planner

1. Under I know, choose Hike % if you know the percentage, or New salary if you have an offer letter.
2. Enter your Current salary (annual CTC), then the Hike or the New salary (annual CTC).
3. Optionally enter Inflation to compare against to see your real hike.
4. Keep Plan my monthly in-hand pay ticked to see take-home pay before and after. Adjust Basic + DA as a share of CTC, Provident fund and Professional tax per year to match your salary slip.
5. Read the new salary, the increment, and how much more reaches your bank account each month.

What it does and when to use it

A hike is usually quoted on CTC (cost to company), but what you feel is the change in monthly in-hand pay. The two are not the same. Some of the CTC goes into PF and a gratuity provision, and income tax rises with income — sharply once you cross ₹12.75 lakh of salary in the new regime.

This planner does both jobs. First it works out the new salary or the hike percentage and the increment. Then, for Indian salaries, it runs your old and new CTC through our CTC to in-hand calculator and shows the monthly in-hand pay, the extra amount per month, the income tax before and after, and the share of the raise you actually take home. Use it during appraisal season, when comparing a job offer, or when negotiating a number.

How it works

Hike maths

• New salary = current salary × (1 + hike ÷ 100)
• Hike % = (new − current) ÷ current × 100
• Real hike = (1 + hike ÷ 100) ÷ (1 + inflation ÷ 100) − 1

In-hand pay (tax year 2026-27, new regime), the same steps as the CTC calculator:

1. Basic + DA = CTC × your basic share (50% by default).
2. Employer PF = 12% of basic (or of basic capped at the ₹25,000 monthly wage ceiling, or none).
3. Gratuity provision = basic × 15 ÷ 26 ÷ 12, about 4.81% of basic, following the Code on Social Security.
4. Gross salary = CTC − employer PF − gratuity provision.
5. Income tax on gross salary minus the ₹75,000 standard deduction, using the new-regime slabs, the rebate up to ₹12 lakh of taxable income (with marginal relief) and 4% cess.
6. In-hand = gross − employee PF − professional tax − income tax.

“Share of the raise you take home” is the extra yearly in-hand pay divided by the increase in CTC.

Worked examples

All figures come from the planner.

10% hike on ₹12 lakh CTC. The new CTC is ₹13,20,000, an increment of ₹1,20,000. Monthly in-hand pay rises from ₹85,396.15 to ₹93,955.77, an extra ₹8,560. Taxable income is still under ₹12 lakh, so there is no income tax before or after. You keep about 86% of the raise; the rest goes into PF and gratuity.

₹12 lakh to ₹15 lakh offer. That is a 25% hike. In-hand pay goes from ₹85,396 to ₹1,00,309 a month, an extra ₹14,913. Income tax rises from nil to ₹77,835 a year, so you take home 59.7% of the raise. The offer is still clearly better, but it is worth less than “25%” suggests.

15% hike on ₹20 lakh with 5% inflation. The new CTC is ₹23 lakh. The real hike is 9.52%. In-hand pay rises from ₹1,29,340 to ₹1,45,839 a month (66% of the raise), and income tax rises from ₹1,57,440 to ₹2,16,245.

A monthly figure. With the in-hand planner off, 15% on ₹40,000 gives ₹46,000, an increment of ₹6,000.

Limits and tips

• New regime only. If you use the old regime, compare both with the old vs new tax regime calculator.
• Fixed pay only. Variable pay, joining bonuses, ESOPs and perquisites are not modelled. If part of the hike is variable, enter only the fixed part.
• Employer NPS and other deductions can be set in the CTC to in-hand calculator.
• PF and gratuity are still yours. They are paid out later (gratuity after five years of service, except in cases such as death or disablement), so a smaller in-hand rise is not money lost.
• To see how inflation eats into savings over time, try the inflation calculator. For a UK salary, use the UK take-home pay calculator.