Bengaluru Software Engineers earn nearly 4x more than those in Ahmedabad: Report

The pay gap between software engineers across Indian cities has widened sharply, with Bengaluru maintaining its position as the country’s highest-paying hub for tech talent. According to Levels.fyi’s 2025 Salary Heatmap, the average annual compensation for software engineers in Bengaluru stands at nearly ₹35 lakh, almost four times higher than in Ahmedabad, where engineers earn around ₹9 lakh per year.

Levels.fyi, a California-based salary transparency platform, is widely used by professionals to benchmark pay across roles and industries. Its latest report offers a detailed breakdown of software engineering salaries across major Indian cities, drawing from verified, crowdsourced data.

The figures show a clear urban divide. Hyderabad follows Bengaluru with an average annual package of ₹30.26 lakh, while Delhi NCR comes next at ₹21.38 lakh. Pune and Mumbai hover just below ₹20 lakh, whereas Chennai records an average of ₹18.29 lakh. On the lower end of the scale, Kolkata averages ₹9.15 lakh, and Ahmedabad trails slightly behind at ₹8.97 lakh.

The findings underscore how tech concentration and job demand continue to shape salary structures across India’s urban centres. Bengaluru’s dominance is fuelled by its dense ecosystem of startups and multinational tech firms, including Amazon, Google, and Oracle, which emerged as the top-paying employers in the city.

Levels.fyi’s Salary Heatmap tool allows users to explore detailed compensation data by city, company, and experience level. It also breaks down pay components such as base salary, bonuses, and stock options, providing a transparent view of total remuneration.

According to India Today, Levels.fyi updates its figures in real time as more professionals share verified salary details. To maintain accuracy, the platform requires proof documents such as offer letters or tax forms and employs outlier detection and identity verification processes to ensure reliability.

While the data offers valuable insights into prevailing pay trends, the company cautions that crowdsourced information serves best as a guideline rather than an absolute benchmark, since figures may fluctuate based on company policies, experience, and evolving market conditions.