Salary calculator: CTC to in-hand
Turns a CTC offer into the number that actually reaches your bank account each month. It separates the parts of CTC you never see — the employer's PF contribution and the gratuity provision — from the deductions that come out of your gross pay.
Uses FY 2026-27 slabs · runs entirely in your browser
Your offer
Start with the annual CTC on the letter. Everything else has a sensible default you can adjust.
Provident fund
This is the single biggest reason two identical CTCs pay out differently.
The law only requires PF on the first ₹15,000 of basic, which is ₹1,800 a month each side. Many employers contribute on the full basic instead, which raises your retirement saving and lowers your take-home. Check your offer letter — it changes the monthly number materially.
Tax and state
Professional tax is a state levy, capped at ₹2,500 a year by the Constitution.
Where the CTC goes
Estimate only. Actual structures vary by employer — check your offer letter's salary annexure.
Why in-hand is so much less than CTC
Cost to company is exactly what it says: everything the employer spends on you. A good part of that never appears in your account, which is why a ₹12 lakh CTC does not pay ₹1 lakh a month.
- Employer PF contribution — counted in CTC, paid into your EPF account, not your bank.
- Gratuity provision — typically 4.81% of basic, set aside for a benefit you only receive after five years of service.
- Employee PF — deducted from your gross pay, again into EPF.
- Professional tax — a state levy, at most ₹2,500 a year.
- TDS — income tax deducted monthly by your employer.
The first two are the ones people miss when comparing offers. They are real money and they are yours, but they are not spendable this month.
The PF cap changes your take-home more than you expect
The Employees' Provident Fund Act requires contributions on basic wages up to ₹15,000 a month — ₹1,800 from you and ₹1,800 from your employer. Many employers instead contribute 12% of your actual basic, which on a ₹45,000 basic is ₹5,400 each side rather than ₹1,800.
On identical CTCs, the uncapped structure hands you roughly ₹7,200 less each month and puts it into EPF instead. Neither is wrong; it is a savings-versus-liquidity choice your employer has already made for you. Toggle the option above to see the difference on your own number.
Basic salary drives everything else
A higher basic raises PF, gratuity and HRA exemption together. A lower basic raises your immediate take-home but shrinks your retirement corpus and your HRA benefit. Employers usually set basic between 40% and 50% of CTC. Below 40% invites scrutiny, since PF authorities have challenged structures that shrink basic to minimise contributions.
Which regime for a salaried employee?
The new regime is the default and wins for most salaried people, because the ₹75,000 standard deduction plus the Section 87A rebate takes gross salary up to ₹12.75 lakh entirely out of tax. The old regime only pulls ahead once your deductions are large — roughly ₹8 lakh of 80C, 80D, HRA and home loan interest combined. Compare both regimes in detail.
Common questions
Subtract the employer's PF contribution and the gratuity provision from CTC to get gross salary. From gross, subtract your own PF contribution, professional tax and TDS. What remains is in-hand pay.
On basic wages plus dearness allowance. The statutory requirement stops at ₹15,000 a month of basic, which is ₹1,800 each side, but many employers contribute 12% of the full basic instead.
Because it is a cost the employer provisions for from day one. You become entitled to it only after five years of continuous service, and forfeit it if you leave earlier — which is why CTC overstates what most short-tenure employees actually receive.
It depends on your state and is capped at ₹2,500 a year by Article 276 of the Constitution. Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh charge the full ₹2,500; Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Gujarat charge ₹2,400. Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan do not levy it at all.
No. Variable pay and annual bonuses sit inside CTC but are paid separately, usually once a year and after TDS. This calculator removes them from the monthly figure so the number you see is what actually arrives each month.